August 20, 2025 – Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will move to block taxpayer dollars from being used to build solar panels on viable farmland. In addition, the agency will prevent panels manufactured by foreign “adversaries” like China from being used in agency projects.
Speaking at an event this week in Tennessee, Rollins said federally supported solar farms have made it harder for farmers to access affordable land. She and other Republicans partially blame the loss of farmland across the country on an increase in solar projects.
“Our prime farmland should not be wasted and replaced with green new deal subsidized solar panels,” Rollins said in a statement announcing the decision.
The USDA plan largely targets the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), a program that farmers use to lower energy costs. If fully implemented, the plan could limit options for farmers to fully maximize energy savings.
“Farmers in Maine and across the country have embraced REAP because it delivers,” Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) said in an email to Civil Eats. “Blocking them from installing solar panels or small wind projects means higher operating costs, fewer opportunities to reinvest in their land, and less resilience against climate-driven disruptions.”
Projects will no longer be eligible for REAP loans if applications include plans for ground-mounted solar systems larger than 50 kilowatt-hour, or those that cannot document historical energy usage, according to the agency. Wind and solar projects will also no longer be eligible for the USDA Rural Development Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program, whose loans go to lenders that then support farms and rural businesses.
“Farms and rural businesses have a large variety of sizes and operations, and you can’t help but think that having such an arbitrary limitation can hurt farmers who could benefit from cost savings with more flexibility,” said Richa Patel, a climate policy specialist for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
Patel said she is concerned the announcement will increase the number of farmers who believe applying for REAP funding is “not worth it.” The Trump administration has already tightened REAP funding requirements and delayed the most recent REAP application cycle.
Nearly 20,000 farmers and small rural businesses have received REAP awards since the program’s creation in 2008, helping them produce their own energy or improve energy efficiency within their business, said Samantha Levy, a senior policy manager at American Farmland Trust. The group is focused on preserving farmers and land through conservation practices, and by incorporating solar arrays into operations. This farming method, also known as agrivoltaics, can be a way to reduce energy cost risks and diversify revenue streams. (Link to this post.)
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