Massachusetts dairy farmer earns $1,000 a week from solar field that replaced a Walmart deal

A Massachusetts dairy farmer once considered selling an awkward, hard-to-farm patch of his property to Walmart. Instead, he turned the 11-acre slice into a solar field that now provides a steady lease income, while rooftop panels have nearly wiped out the farm’s $1,400 monthly electricity bill. The story was told by John Nagy in Notre Dame Magazine in 'The Sun Farmers', a feature also republished by the Let’s Share the Sun Foundation. It follows George Hunt Jr., whose decision to combine farming with solar power created a new source of income without giving up the land. His experience shows how a property that seemed unsuitable for crops could still contribute to the farm, the local energy supply and the family’s long-term plans. Read on to know more about it here:A difficult piece of farmlandHunt’s farm was a working dairy operation, with hundreds of acres and a herd of about 250 cows. Like many dairy farmers, he had to balance the costs of running the farm against the uncertain returns from milk. He also wanted to leave his children a business that could support a decent quality of life without requiring them to milk an enormous herd every day.One part of the property presented a...