Day: March 4, 2026

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Cornell Study Finds Solar’s Threat to NYS Agriculture May Be Overstated – Morning Ag Clips

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Cornell Study Finds Solar’s Threat to NYS Agriculture May Be Overstated – Morning Ag Clips

ITHACA, N.Y. — New York state farmers who signed large-scale solar leases were three times more likely to say they’ll use the revenue from solar to invest in their farms than to reduce operations, according to a new study.

Nearly half of the farmers with leases said they did not plan to change their agricultural practices at all.

The study, published Feb. 21 in Rural Sociology, dispels the myth that farmers will give up farming, with its unpredictable returns, when offered lucrative solar leases for their land

“People have been talking about this for a long time, but nobody had asked quantitatively: For farmers, if you sign a lease, what do you intend to do?” said principal investigator Richard Stedman, professor and interim director of the Cornell CALS Ashley School in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “It’s a reasonable conclusion from this study: Large-scale solar does not appear to be the death of farming.”

The findings were based on the survey responses of 584 landowners in three New York state counties most likely to have large-scale solar development. Landowners owned 30 or more acres that were classified as rural, agricultural or vacant and were adjacent to transmission lines or substations. The researchers found that nearly half of the respondents had been approached by large-scale solar developers; farmers were twice as likely than non-farmers to be solicited but were less likely to sign leases.

Truck Shopping Day 🛻

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Just visiting one dealership today, looking at a nice but quite overpriced, aged SuperDuty. But it will be interesting to see how this goes, even if I’m pretty certain not to buy today. At any rate, it will determine whether or not I want to keep looking at Ford or if I should consider other options.

I feel like I’ve studied the markets carefully, have a fair price to negotiate from, 🤝 and are ready to take a look and potentially buy a truck, but not today. I am a bit concerned about buying a truck that has been rotting for so long, but like anything if the price is right and the dealership and truck is right.

I told them I would be at work by 11 AM, 🏢 as today is a session day, and I don’t want to get bogged down or waste time making a deal today. Today is just for looking at defects on the truck, going for a test drive, developing a productive relationship with the salesman. Then if I decide to move forward, I will put in a bid for the truck, what I think it’s worth based on condition, market numbers and ultimately what it’s worth to me. Truck doesn’t have the slide-in camper certification, but it will have plenty of payload capacity, so I can add a sway bar later, but I’m leaning against a slide in camper.

Then I’ll ride to work. 🚴 We will see from there what my impression of the truck is and if I want to go with the SuperDuty or if I should test drive some other trucks. The way I look at it is it just a start to figure out what direction to go. Then I’ll work, head home, and get some sleep. 🛌 I am so high strung about this all that I didn’t sleep well last night. Maybe I fear I’ll love the truck a bit to much.