Morris exploring policy shift to using farmland for renewable energy
The new agriculture: From food farms to solar farms
Across the U.S., government agencies and energy developers are looking at agricultural land to develop renewable energy resources like wind and solar.
Researchers will examine the policy shift from protecting farmland at all costs to promoting renewable energy over other uses. They will begin with a case study from California, which favors renewable energy development instead of agriculture, and make policy recommendations that could be applied to renewable energy development in Western New York.
The project’s principal investigator is Jessica Owley, associate professor in the UB Law School. Her collaborator is Amy Morris, an environmental scientist at Aspen Environmental Group, a West Coast-based environmental organization.
