ABSTRACT
As the decarbonization-driven energy transition accelerates, land-intensive renewable energy technologies, and large-scale solar facilities (LSS) in particular, increasingly compete for rural land. In the Northeast United States, LSS development largely depends on private landowners’ decisions to lease land for LSS development. Little research has documented the characteristics of landowners who either agree or refuse to contract with LSS developers nor how they are likely to change their future land management, especially agricultural practices. Drawing on a survey of 1499 rural landowners (n = 584 responses) conducted in three counties of New York State, currently ranked 8th nationally in solar energy production, but with even more ambitious solar production goals, this study explores landowner beliefs, decision-making, and intended land management behavior concerning LSS development. Nearly half of respondents had been approached to lease land for LSS development. Farmland owners—compared to landowners who do not own land that is agricultural (henceforth “non-farmland owners”) were approached to lease more frequently but were less likely to lease if approached. More negative beliefs about LSS, stronger levels of opposition to LSS, and concerns about the solar development company are associated with observed lower rates of leasing among farmland owners. Farmers with LSS leases are three times more likely to indicate that they intend to use solar revenues to continue farming rather than as an agricultural exit strategy. Nearly half do not intend to change their agricultural practices. Based on these results we suggest that—at least in this context—concerns about farmland loss due to LSS may be overstated.