Purdue University
Solar premium for farmland is 1.4 percent per mile, says analysis
A comparison of farmland sales in Indiana indicates that land rises in value by 1.4 percent for each mile it is closer to a commercial-scale solar energy facility, said a graduate research assistant at Purdue University. The analysis gave weight to a rising belief that energy production was becoming a factor in land prices.
Consumers: Prices are fairer at the supermarket than at restaurants
Farmer interest in solar leasing doubles since winter
One in five U.S. farmers has actively discussed leasing land for a solar project — twice as many as in February, according to a survey released by Purdue University on Tuesday. Developers offered high payments in many cases and, overall, 6 percent of landowners have signed a solar energy lease, according to the monthly Ag Economy Barometer.
Little mixing of crops and solar panels in agrivoltaics, so far
The infant industry of agrivoltaics most often combines a large solar farm with pollinator-friendly vegetation rather than crop production, said USDA analysts. In the near term, the land might also be used for sheep pasturage or for high-value crops such as blueberries, but most farm equipment is too big to work around the panels.
Farmers say carbon contracts ought to pay more
The small portion — 2 percent — of corn and soybean farmers who have signed carbon contracts said they were ready, if required, to change their production practices to earn the money, said a Purdue University poll on Tuesday. Most growers said the payment rates were too low to entice them.
Soil, people, landforms are factors in tree diversity
For more than 200 years, scientists have known that tree diversity — the number of different types of trees found near each other — is highest near the equator and diminishes moving into the middle and higher latitudes. The conventional explanation for this decline in local species richness has been temperature and precipitation.
How many species of trees? 73,000 worldwide
Some 64,000 species of trees are known worldwide, but that's nowhere close to the real number, according to a research project involving 100 scientists worldwide. In a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists estimate 9,400 species are yet to be discovered.
With harvest at hand, farmers’ coronavirus thoughts turn to marketing
Signs of Covid-19 slump in Indiana farmland prices
Farm managers, land brokers, appraisers, and other professionals attribute a modest decline in Indiana farmland values in the first half of the year, a trend expected to continue into the winter, to disruptions accompanying the coronavirus, said Purdue University on Thursday. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Record USDA support flowing, but farmers say more federal assistance will be needed
‘Quite large’ amounts of corn and soy land were not planted
Declining investment in public ag research threatens innovation, report says
A new report from Purdue University, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and other groups says that public spending on agricultural research in the United States has plummeted, threatening innovation and public access to information. At the same time, it says, ag research is becoming increasingly privatized.