Ontario's ban on solar farms on agricultural land is typically short-sighted

Once again, Doug Ford is following Danielle Smith's lead - he would dearly like to be seen as just as stridently right wing and populist as the Alberta Premier. This time, he is looking to ban ground-mounted solar panels on prime agricultural farmland in Ontario, particularly in specialty crop areas, and other energy projects being considered on such land will require an input assessment and municipal permission (but wasn't that always the case?)

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture professes itself all in favour of the move, which they see as a no-brainer and long overdue. The solar industry, on the other hand, obviously opposes it, warning that billions in potential investment could go elsewhere if the ban goes ahead, like with the similar announcement back in 2009, and with Alberta's more recent embargo on renewable projects.

At first glance, this seems like a prime example of a "global environmentalist vs. local environmentalist" dichotomy - local environmentalists prioritize land protection and stewardship, looking to protect biodiversity and local habitats (although intensively-farmed agricultural land is really not that useful for either of those things), while global environmentalists are more concerned with greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that all other issues pale into insignificance in comparison.

But, as usual, the issue is really not as black-and-white as it might appear, and a compromise position is readily available. The idea of agrivoltaics has been around for years. Solar arrays and crops can actually be mutually beneficial. For example, shade from solar panels can lead to more efficient water usage and protect crops and animals from the sun during the heat of the day. It maximizes the productivity of the land and creates a whole new income stream for hard-pressed farmers.

The Ford government continues to lurch from one extreme to another, with no reasoned strategy in sight. The first thing they did on being elected was to summarily cancel 750 renewable projects, incurring millions of dollars in costs and setting Ontario's climate change ambitions back years. In between, they have seemed to lend their support to electric vehicles and battery technology. Now, we've come full circle and renewable energy is back in the "bad" column.