As solar panels spread across upstate New York, some mourn lost farmland

GLEN – The first time a solar developer tried handing Clark Egelston a flyer about leasing his farmland, he dismissed it outright.

"I, in the nicest way possible, told him to get lost," said Egelston, 33, a fourth-generation farmer in Montgomery County, west of Albany.

But economic realities intervened, and Egelston ultimately leased more than half his farm to a solar project that altogether will cover 2,000 acres, a large portion of which is now productive agricultural land.

It’s a decision farmers are increasingly making across upstate New York, where hundreds of solar farms now dot the landscape as Gov. Kathy Hochul pushes ahead with plans to boost the state’s solar output.

But the change is also provoking a backlash, as some worry about disappearing agricultural landscapes. Hochul’s Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, is making solar farms an issue in the election and has vowed to stop the growth altogether.

"Kathy Hochul’s industrial science projects are doing nothing but enriching foreign companies while driving up your energy costs," Blakeman’s campaign said in a statement.

Some localities, including Montgomery County, are going to court to slow down or block further expansion of utility-scale solar projects.

Renee St. Jacques, director of public policy for the New York Farm Bureau, said solar development is a tough subject among the bureau’s members.

While the growth of solar power has provided some farmers with a financial lifeline, the bureau is worried about the loss of productive agricultural land. Jacques said once farmland is turned over to solar development, it is years before it can return to use.

"We don't want to take away the right of the farmer to do what they would like to do with their private property, but to find ways to disincentivize putting solar in certain areas," she said.

State's push for solar

Today, solar energy is a relatively small part of the state’s overall energy picture, which is overwhelmingly reliant on natural gas and dual fuel power generation.

But Hochul is touting the state’s progress in building more solar farms. She announced earlier this month that the state had reached 8,000 megawatts of distributed solar power.

And on June 3, New York set a new solar generation record when solar supplied approximately 29% of statewide electricity demand during the noon hour, according to NYSERDA .

"This is low-cost, reliable clean energy that is delivering cost savings for families and businesses while expanding the availability of renewable energy," Hochul said earlier this month.

The majority of solar farms in New York State are relatively small, but two permitted for Genesee County in Western New York will cover more than 7,000 acres combined.

And while most of the larger solar farms are upstate, there are at least two on Long Island that cover more than 200 acres.

Solar developers often prefer farmland because the land is already cleared, typically drains well and they can offer landowners prices that far exceed what they might otherwise make.

Egelston and his wife Mackenzie, 34, had been planning an expansion of their Jersey cow dairy farm in the town of Glen. The hope was the expansion would put the farm on stronger financial footing.

But the pandemic killed their expansion plans as milk prices plummeted. And discussions with other farmers changed their view — a solar lease for part of their land would offer the Egelstons steady income they might not otherwise see.

"It really opened our eyes that we should be diversifying in some manner or another, so that the next time this happens with the milk market, we're not right up against it," Egelston said.

Fighting developers

In Montgomery County, where Egelston farms, solar developers have received or are seeking permits for solar projects that would cover up to 18,000 acres in the county, or 7% of the county’s 403 square miles, according to the county’s Real Property Tax office.

That includes five projects of 2,000 acres or more. One would cover 4,000 acres.

The county, which has about 50,000 residents and a long tradition of farming, contains major transmission lines that make it easier for developers to send their solar power to the state’s electrical grid. It also has relatively cheap land values.

But the county is fighting the solar developers. This spring, it filed two lawsuits against the state Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission after exhausting its administrative appeals.

The county argues the projects violate local laws and that ORES, the state agency overseeing where these solar projects can go, is riding roughshod over the wishes of local governments as the state tries to reach its renewable energy goals.

"The county's position is not that we have an issue or want to tell farmers what to do with their land," said county attorney Megan Mannion. "It's that we don't want New York State telling Montgomery County what is going to happen with the land here, it's completely taken the step of local control out."

Regulatory oversight

Since 2020, the state has required all renewable energy projects of 25 megawatts or larger to receive a siting permit from the Office of Renewable Energy Siting.

The office’s goal is to help streamline the process while also avoiding or minimizing potential environmental impacts from those large projects.

ORES Interim Director Jason Zehr said the office doesn’t choose where the projects go or get involved in agreements between landowners and developers.

Instead, ORES is supposed to make sure projects comply with local laws.

ORES can also exempt developers from local laws and zoning requirements if it finds they are "unreasonably burdensome," under the state’s climate law.

"This is a long-standing practice in New York through decades of development of projects of all types," Zehr said.

But it has frustrated Mannion and other local government officials, who argue that it infringes on their home rule rights.

The county passed a law in 2024 aimed at limiting the cumulative impacts of multiple solar projects, some of which would sprawl across hillsides for miles.

It is also lobbying its state representatives to introduce legislation putting a cap limiting the amount of solar development that could be placed in one county.

'Hard lifestyle to do'

The outcome of Montgomery County’s lawsuits will have a direct impact on farmers in the county who see solar development as a lifeline for their farms.

The Egelstons raise several hundred Jersey dairy cows on their family farm. Clark is the fourth Egelston to farm the property. His father and uncle, both in their 70s, still help out.

But it is hard to keep the farm going. "I have watched everyone struggle so much, and a lot of the farmers I know are in terrible health." Mackenzie Egelson said.

The Egelstons signed on to the Mill Point Solar project, which will cover more than 2,000 acres, leasing 200 of the roughly 380 acres they own.

Their decision has led to blowback none of them expected, Mackenzie said.

The Egelstons are frustrated at times by other county residents who argue the solar farms will ruin the scenic farmland vistas in the county.

Those views: manicured fields filled with rows of corn and hay, are the result of hard work by farmers barely getting by, Mackenzie said.

"You just assumed that you could come and buy an acre or two and continuously forever be surrounded by someone else's hard work. And we aren't making enough money to survive doing it that way," she said. "And so, what would you have us do?"

For farmers like the Egelstons, economic pressure is forcing them to take a hard look at their business. The state has fewer dairy farms but is producing more milk, saturating the market.

Considering inflation, farmers aren’t paid much more for their milk than they were 40 years ago, but their costs have skyrocketed, Clark Egelston said.

"It’s a very hard lifestyle to do, and business to be in," he said.

A recent study from researchers at Cornell University found that farmers who signed large-scale solar leases were three times more likely to use that revenue to reinvest in their farming operations, which is what the Egelstons plan to do, rather than leave the business.

Clark Egelston said if the solar project is built, his family will still raise dairy cows, but not as many.

He said he takes pride in providing milk for families. With a solar array, his farm will also be providing power.

"While it's not quite the same, I understand, but at least the land is still going to provide something for everyone," he said.

He said that without the solar project, the family dairy farm would likely eventually be sold to a larger farm or subdivided into residential lots to pay off debt.

"I'm not saying it'll be tomorrow or five years from now," he said, "but the reality is everything is pointing toward not going to survive."