Futures

Solar Grazing: Livestock on Solar Farms, from (20290830.)

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Summary

import nltk from nltk.tokenize import word_tokenize from nltk.corpus import stopwords from nltk.probability import FreqDist # Process the text text = “What is Solar Grazing? It’s the practice of grazing livestock on solar farms. Sheep are the most common solar grazing animals, as they are the best-suited species. Sheep are naturally suited to the job of solar grazing. They enjoy the shade of the solar panels on hot days, napping and grazing where humans would struggle to reach. They are resourceful foragers, walking to search for vegetation that might otherwise become a shady nuisance for the solar company. For the safety of the existing, low-mount solar arrays, goats, cows, pigs, and horses are not recommended. December 3, 2020 webinar on solar grazing with sheep. Speaker is Lexie Hain, Executive Director of the American Solar Grazing Association. The webinar is hosted by Susan Schoenian, Sheep & Goat Specialist, University of Maryland Extension. May 6, 2019 webinar on solar grazing with 101. Speakers are Lewis Fox and Lexie Hain, founders of the American Solar Grazing Association. The webinar is hosted by Larissa Mackenna, Food Animal Concerns Trust. Why Solar Grazing? Ground mounted photovoltaics (PV) are expanding in size and number nationwide, and the most desirable sites for solar projects are often already in cropland. Solar grazing keeps farmland in farm production. Farm incomes are down, and solar grazing allows farmers to increase and diversify revenues without taking land out of food production. Solar grazing contributes dairy, meat, and wool to regional markets. Solar grazing reduces or eliminates the need for mowing at solar sites, reducing emissions and costs. With solar grazing, the vegetation at solar sites becomes a source of nutrition and a pasture for sheep. What advice do you have? Solar grazing has many strong voices supporting this emerging industry. Grazing management firms and farmers with targeted grazing businesses are emerging across the country. The webinar to the right was recorded on Feb 11, 2021. It is a Question and Answer session with 5 ASGA solar grazing practitioners. The panel discussion brings more depth to the other webinars recorded above. February 11, 2021 panel discussion on solar grazing with 5 representatives from the American Solar Grazing Association. Speakers are Dr Judy St Leger, ASGA Board & Dutch Barn Farm, Julie Bishop, ASGA Advisor & Solar Sheep LLC, Lewis Fox of Agrivoltaic Solutions & ASGA Board, Brock Phillips of Carolina Lamb & ASGA Member and Lexie Hain, Executive Director of the American Solar Grazing Association. The webinar is hosted by Larissa McKenna, Food Animal Concerns Trust.” # Tokenize the text tokens = word_tokenize(text) # Remove stopwords stopwords = set(stopwords.words(‘english’)) filtered_tokens = [token for token in tokens if token.lower() not in stopwords] # Calculate word frequencies freq_dist = FreqDist(filtered_tokens) # Get top 10 most relevant keywords top_keywords = freq_dist.most_common(10) KEYWORDS = [keyword for keyword, frequency in top_keywords] # Identify themes or categories THEMES = [‘solar grazing’, ‘livestock grazing’, ‘renewable energy’] # Summarize the text summary = “Summary: Solar grazing is the practice of grazing livestock on solar farms. Sheep are the most common animals used for solar grazing due to their suitability. Solar grazing helps keep farmland in production and allows farmers to increase and diversify their revenues without taking land out of food production. It also contributes dairy, meat, and wool to regional markets and reduces the need for mowing at solar sites, resulting in reduced emissions and costs. Solar grazing has gained support from various stakeholders, including grazing management firms and farmers with targeted grazing businesses. Panel discussions and webinars provide more in-depth information about solar grazing and its benefits.” print(KEYWORDS) print(THEMES) print(summary)

Keywords

Themes

Signals

Signal Change 10y horizon Driving force
Solar Grazing Grazing livestock on solar farms More widespread practice Increase in ground mounted photovoltaics
Sheep as solar grazing animals Use of sheep for solar grazing Increased use of sheep for solar grazing Sheep’s natural suitability for the job
Other animals not recommended for solar grazing Limited animal options for grazing Continued restriction on animal options Safety concerns for low-mount solar arrays
Webinars on solar grazing Information sharing and education More knowledge and awareness Promotion and support for the solar grazing industry
Solar grazing keeps farmland in production Preservation of farmland for farming Continued farmland use for solar grazing Economic benefit for farmers and increased revenues
Solar grazing contributes to regional markets Supplying dairy, meat, and wool Increased availability of regional products Diversification of revenue streams for farmers
Vegetation at solar sites becomes pasture Utilization of vegetation by livestock More efficient use of land Reduction in mowing needs and associated costs
Emergence of grazing management firms Growth of targeted grazing businesses Increased availability of grazing services Expanding interest and demand for solar grazing
Panel discussion on solar grazing In-depth discussion and insights Increased understanding and collaboration Exchange of knowledge and best practices in the industry

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