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#Solar companies partnering with #MaineFarmers for land management
by Jamie Azulay, Jul 28, 2026
#HollisME - "#Nexamp, a #RenewableEnergy company with several solar farms in Maine, is working with local farmers to manage the land beneath its panels. In Hollis, Jonathan Tibbetts was contracted to bring his flock of about 40 #sheep to an approximately 20-acre field.
" 'Basically, what their job is, is to keep the grass below the panels,' Tibbetts said. 'When we leave, we don’t necessarily want it to look like a lawn, but we want the vegetation managed.'
"Nexamp leases the land, and it prefers to avoid heavy machinery powered by #FossilFuels to maintain it.
" 'It’s kind of a no-brainer. It’s more #sustainable. The costs are good,' said Keith Hevenor, Nexamp's communication manager. 'It’s safer in a lot of ways than running mechanical mowers through #SolarFields where you can kick up a rock or do some sort of damage.'
"Nexamp is grazing 2,000 acres across sites in the United States. Eighty sites, with a combined 600 acres, are being grazed in Maine. These partnerships keep operations environmentally friendly while also supporting #LocalAgriculture.
" 'Land access for farming is getting harder and harder for every farmer,' Tibbetts said.
"Tibbetts was running out of space on his farm, but now his business is growing with access to the Nexamp field.
" 'I can go out and put sheep on solar and make an income,' he said. 'To me, that’s still agriculture. It’s just not what people are used to.'
"The partnerships reflect a new age of agriculture, which some farmers are adjusting to while others are struggling to accept the changes.
" 'Solar is controversial, but the reality of it is, it’s here,' Tibbetts said.
"Hevenor hopes the critics who say solar companies are stealing farmland eventually come around. He argues the company is only borrowing these fields temporarily.
"State-mandated decommissioning plans allow the land to return to its previous use if that is what the property owner chooses to do.
" 'If you come in here and build an #AmazonWarehouse or a #Datacenter or a neighborhood, it’s permanently gone,' Hevenor said.
"Hevenor said many of the landowners Nexamp leases from are farmers themselves.
" 'I can see how somebody in their 70s who’s just trying to keep the farm and is looking for some type of income, who isn’t able to farm the way they were 20 years ago, it’s an avenue for them to keep their farm,' Tibbetts said.
"Nexamp has fields out of state being grazed by pigs and cattle. Hevenor said that could be a possibility in Maine in the near future."
Watch video:
wmtw.com/article/solar-compani…
#SolarPunkSunday #MaineFarms #SolarEnergy #RenewablesNow #Agrovoltaics
