Partnership Spotlight: Solar

Building successful solar pairings to support farmer education in North Carolina

Strata Solar/ Lance Tabor- Reidsville, NC

Project size: 40 acres 

Rockingham County, NC

Type of operation: Sheep

Objective 1: Contracted Solar Grazing

Step by step:

• June 2021: Lance attends NC Choices’ solar presentation and actively seeks solar sites.
• Aug. 2021: Site visits conducted with Strata and Lance
• Nov. 2021: Proposal and vegetation management plan submitted. Lance accepted
• March 2022: ~20 sheep move onto the site
• April 2022: 21 additional sheep move onto the site
• Summer 2022: Fence repairs

Summary:

Lance Tabor attended an NC Choices presentation on the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development program.  After learning about solar site pairing for new farmers, he reached out to NC Choices staff with interest knowing his farm was in close proximity to multiple solar sites and in need of additional affordable acreage to expand his operation.  NC Choices scoped multiple sites and was able to arrange for a meeting with Lance and Strata solar.  Per the timeline above, Lance was able to move sheep onto the site and double his herd capacity within a matter of weeks. He manages the complete mowing and grazing management of the site and uses guard dogs for predator control.  Lance actively seeks additional sites to make solar grazing encompass an even larger part of his work schedule.

Sample Vegetation Management from ASGA (sample template here)

Sheep move onto grazing site

Partnership Spotlight: Solar

Building successful solar pairings to support farmer education in North Carolina

Renew Petra Solar/ Alex Grier- Asheboro & Salisbury, NC

Project size: 38 acres 

Randolph & Rowan Counties, NC

Type of operation: Sheep

Objective 1: Contracted Solar Grazing

Step by step:

• 2020: Alex contacts NC Choices interested in solar grazing.
• Jan 2021: NC Choices connects Alex with Renew Petra as a potential grazer for a 33 acre solar in Asheboro NC. 
• Feb 2021: Alex submitted a proposal and grazing plan. Both parties agreed Alex would manage mowing and grazing of the entire site. Contract, including payment and maintenance, is finalized.
• March/April 2021: In preparation for grazing, Alex overseeded some of the site with rye, fescue, and clover and reinforced fencing to keep out predators.
• April/May 202: Alex purchased and moved a total of ~20 ewes on the site for the initial run to graze the spring/early summer.  Areas with no grass initially established, did not get grazed until new forage was established later in the fall season.
• Fall 2021: Alex secured a grazing contract on a second 5 acre solar site with Renew Petra.

Summary:

When beginning farmer, Alex Greer with 37 Roots Farm, contacted NC Choices with an interest in solar grazing, he was raising a handful of sheep on his grandfather’s farm with no land access options to expand.  Although eager to expand his livestock, he struggled to justify the investment needed given the small scale of his operation.

Alex completed the NC Choices’ solar grazing inquiry sheet as part of the beginning farmer project early into the project.  NC Choices was eventually able to identify a 33 acre solar site just south of the farmer’s location that was available for grazing via Renew Petra solar company.  The site was 32 miles away from his farm, so it’s a little further than he preferred but given his limited expansion options he was willing to explore it.  All parties met at the site to review the area and discuss expectations.  Renew Petra shared their expectations and guidelines for vegetation maintenance such as ensuring that the vegetation does not exceed 18 inches in order to prevent vegetation touching or shading the panels.  Weeding, herbicide use, and other parameters were included. Renew Petra requested that Alex submit a proposal outlining his plan to the company including a general grazing plan and negotiations commenced.  NC Choices  was able to provide Alex with example budgets, solar contract templates, and resources from partners such as the American Solar Grazing Association.  Alex submitted his proposal and after a few weeks both parties agreed Alex would maintain the site through grazing and mowing at his discretion in order to meet the requirements.  The team noticed some evidence of coyotes entering the site, so trapping and assessing fence parameters were top priority followed by overseeding of some areas with desirable forages before introducing sheep.   After a couple of months of demonstrating the ability to manage this site Alex was able to secure a second site location through Renew Petra.

Sample Vegetation Management from ASGA (sample template here)

Early site visit and spotted predator entry points

Sheep move onto site

Partnership Spotlight: Silvopasture

Building successful silvopasture pairings to support farmer education in North Carolina

Raising Roots Farm- Hickory NC

Project size: 8 acres on a 40 acre farm

Catawba County, NC

Type of operation: Pasture Swine Operation

Objective 1: Establishing silvopasture in a mature mixed forested area.

Step by step for Raising Roots Farm:

• July 2019: Site visit to evaluate the property
• August 2019: Technical assistance support and pasture pork management resources and paddock design for silvopasture systems shared (scroll below for resources). 
• July 2021: Areas at farm fenced and utilized for pasturing pigs.  Natural forages utilized for initial use.

Brandon Berry owns and operates Raising Roots Farm in Hickory, NC which raises Gloucester Old Spot hogs on pasture.  Having maxed out his production pastures on his home farm, Brandon was able to lease an additional 40 acres of pasture to expand his beef and swine production.  The new pasture contained approximately 32 acres of open pasture and 8 acres of wooded area.  In the initial plan, cattle would utilize the open pasture and the wooded areas would be utilized for hog production.  The hogs would be used to clear the understory vegetation and cool season grasses could eventually be established which would prevent erosion and allow cattle to be utilized to occasionally graze the forages and help with preventing nutrients from building up.

As the BFRD project progressed, Brandon was in a multi-faceted expansion of his farm which included building a butcher shop on the farm to gain control of his meat processing and to become the centerpiece for agritourism.  Unfortunately in 2020 the pandemic disrupted the expansion and delayed the butchershop opening until later in 2021.  This delay and the covid based uncertainty put a strain on the farm which in turn delayed the implementation of the silvopasture development for this program.  Brandon was, however, able to utilize the information provided from NC Choices and NCSU to develop some smaller silvopasture systems at his home farm until he will be able to develop the plan on the leased land in the near future.

Site, forage, and planning

Resource links applied to Brandon Berry/Raising Roots Farm

• Penn State Extension: Forage Chicory
• Forages that can be used with Hogs
• Forages for North Carolina: General Guidelines and Concepts
• Outdoor Hog Production: Rangeland and Pasture Management
• Overseeding in North Carolina
• Outdoor Hog Production: Pasture Pig Production in California Oak Woodlands

Partnership Spotlight: Silvopasture

Building successful silvopasture pairings to support farmer education in North Carolina

Eliza Lawdley/ Clay Lawdley- Durham, NC

Project size: 27 acres 

Durham County, NC

Type of operation: Goats/ Poultry

Objective 1: Developing a silvopasture system in overgrown immature pine forest

Step by step:

• Fall 2020: NC Choices Learned of interested farmer and land opportunity through BFRD project outreach and partnership with land trusts.
• Fall 2020: NC Choices originally attempted to pair the Lawdley family with another beginning farmer and rancher but the pairing didn’t develop.  The family then decided to continue with an internal family lease to support Eliza’s access to farming the land.
• Spring & Summer 2021: NC Choices met with Eliza to plan out small scale livestock budgets, grazing plans, lime and fertilization ratios to establish forage, and silvopasture design ideas for her livestock operation. 
• Fall 2021: Eliza built the movable poultry shelters
• Fall 2021: Temporary fencing and pasture management supplies secured 
• Summer 2022: 900 broilers and goats are introduced to the site. 

Summary:

Beginning farmer, Eliza Lawdley, secured long term access to land from a family member, Clay Lawdley. All 28 acres of the property were forested; with young 15 year old Loblolly Pine and lots of secondary growth. The land was once part of an 80 acre tobacco farm. Before NC Choices worked with Eliza, she had completed tree thinning on her own. Over the past several years, she worked with consultants and family to clear parts of the property.about 11 acres of open area from unhealthy pine plantation plantings (the pine was so thick that you literally could not walk through it in some places) and hired a logging team to thin out the pine stands to about 50% of their former density through a silvopasture model referred to as an alley cropping model.  The overall layout of the farm is based on a sustainable design concept called “keyline design” which places an emphasis on maximizing beneficial water use of a property.

Their goals for the farm are to continue developing innovative agroforestry systems to raise food for their family and “graduate” out into the agroforestry zones with livestock, for which they needed technical assistance and support. However, none of the agroforestry areas are fenced and water on the property is also a challenge as they have one well that only gets 1.5 gallons per minute and one well that gets 1/2 a gallon/min.

Thus, these factors were taken into consideration when introducing livestock and silvopasture management. NC Choices agreed that livestock that would do well with these constraints would be chickens, turkey, or sheep and goats (or small numbers of ducks and pigs). NC Choices recommended starting with approximately 100-300 birds to fertilize fields to start (not enough to help the trees) but focus on developing the pastures in the alley/pasture as a starting place. Funding would need to be secured for predator protection. Eventually working up the size of the poultry flock. At the same time, a small herd of goats could assist with clearing and land management under the canopies. NC Choices assisted with production budgets, grazing plans, and processing considerations for meat birds.  Eliza’s farm is now selling meat to the public following a managed grazing plan.

Site meeting discussing alley cropping with livestock

Animals and infrastructure

Partnership Spotlight: Silvopasture

Building successful silvopasture pairings to support farmer education in North Carolina

Andrea Chandler Farm – Pittsboro, NC

Project size: 8 acres

Chatham County, NC

Type of operation: Small ruminants/ cattle/ poultry

Objective 1: Establishing silvopasture in a successional forested area.

Step by step:

• Fall 2019: Learned of farmer and landowner through project outreach on listservs and public forums.
• Fall 2019: Initial farm visit to evaluate landowner property. Worked with area Extension Forestry agent to assess the site. No mature pines, so no real pine value at the current stage. Landowner did not want to wait years for select pines to mature. Assessed thinning ratio at present stage.
• Sept 2020: Contractor thinned trees using forestry mulcher head on a skid steer.  The contractor established lanes by clearing out 30 ft swaths of trees and leaving approximately 20 lanes of trees in between lanes.  Those lanes of trees were then selectively thinned to eliminate the sweet gum trees, scrubby pines, and other undesirables leaving the better pines, maples, and other select hardwoods. 
• Fall 2020: Began clearing woody residue by hand from mulching reseeding area and burning it. Once cleared the open areas are ready to be prepped and planted to forage.
• Fall 2020: Applied lime, fertilizer, and seeded fescue.
• Spring 2021: Temporary fencing installed. Animals introduced and fed hay to build up nutrients from residue

Summary:

Ursula Vernon reached out for help in developing her property to support a small farmer.  This farm, like many in rural NC, was originally a tobacco farm many decades ago.  The tobacco farm was fallow (or perhaps planted, we don’t have accurate historical information on that) to grow up into trees that were harvested for timber approximately sometime in the late 90s after which it grew up in densely populated pine and assorted softwoods. The initial visit with the area with the NCSU Extension Forestry Specialist determined that there was very little to no market value for the timber due to the small diameter of the trees and the small acreage of the tract so thinning would not be offset by any income from timber.  Given that information, NC Choices assisted the landowner in locating a few contractors to look at the property knowing that she would have to pay for the services of clearing the property.  The first contractor was secured to thin and remove the trees for pulp but ended up not being able to start due to conflicts with other work.  A second cortractor was found with a forestry mulcher and was able to start immediately.  This contractor brought in two skid steers with forestry mulcher heads and worked for 3 days to thin the site to allow for approximately 60% light penetration to the ground.  The landowner had a budget of $20,000 to complete the clearing which only allowed for the thinning of 7 of the 8 acres.  The challenge to this method was that mulching created a thick layer (up to 8-9” in spots) of woody debris across the ground.  To make the ground suitable for planting, this debris would have to be removed or broken down.  

Andrea Chandler, a military veteran farmer moved onto the site and began the process of clearing and breaking down the debris to prepare for planting.  This was accomplished with two approaches.  First was the introduction of ruminants to the property and feeding them hay.  The residue from the round bales combined with the manure from the animals coated the woody mulch and provided the nutrient sources necessary to expedite the breaking down of the mulch.  These feeding areas were rotated as adequate material was deposited to cover the mulch.  This method was based on the popular regenerative agriculture practice of bale grazing to replenish nutrients.  The second approach was to clear areas by hand raking the mulch up and burning to remove the debris and expose the soil so that grass seeds could be planted.  These techniques resulted in a slow process for developing forages but since the vast majority of the budget was dedicated to thinning the timber it was necessary to make this part as low cost as possible for the farmer.

Initial assessment

Clearing

Hay Sun

Animals moved

Partnership Spotlight: Solar

Building successful solar pairings to support farmer education in North Carolina

Strata Solar/ Troy Givan- Reidsville, NC

Project size: 40 acres

Stokes County, NC

Type of operation:  Sheep

Objective 1: Contracted Solar Grazing in NC

Step by step:

• Fall 2018: Project team reviewed interested beginning farmers against nearby solar sites within a 20-30 mile radius, assessed capacity, herd size, and skill sets.  Troy Givan was identified near a few Strata Solar sites.  Google earth and site visits conducted to ensure suitable panel and site design for grazing.
• Fall 2018: Through industry introductions, the project team met with select representatives within Strata’s Operations and Management (O&M) and Sustainability team.
• Winter 2019: The team discussed maintenance details such as continual grazing and mowing management under contract with farmer or seasonal grazing in conjunction with O&M contracted mowing services. The team determined continual grazing and mowing management under contract with farmers was the best course of action.
• Winter 2019: Expectations set as to grazing height and lease requirements to secure a partnership agreement.  See Sample Solar Grazing Contract (BFRD), Sample Solar Grazing Contract (ASGA), Sample Vegetation Management (ASGA)for more details.
• April 2019: Budget negotiations began including considerations such as amendments, mowing labor, conditions of the site that are pasture vs non-grazable areas, insurance costs, and detail.  See sample solar budget template for more details.
• June 2019: Lease templates finalized in addition to a supplemental grazing management plan for both parties to help ensure proper site management.
• July 2019: Sheep introduced to Strata solar site.
• Fall 2019: Givans secured a second grazing site through Strata after demonstrating successful management of the first site.

Summary:

Troy Givans, a graduate of NCSU’s Animal Science program, owns and operates a 250 ewe katahdin sheep operation on his family farm in Reidsville NC.  Strata Solar approached NC Choices about providing opportunities for grazing on some of their solar sites and a site was made available near Givans Family Farm.  Being an NCSU Animal Science alumni with an interest in solar grazing made Troy a natural fit so NC Choices reached out to see if he was interested in the opportunity.

Being this was the first pairing of the project for NC Choices and Strata, the majority of time was spent outlining the lease and working through the budgetary process.  For example, our team sought to strike a balance between commercial insurance requirements, which were cost prohibitive for small farmers, and the liability protection needed for Strata given the level of activity taking place on the site. Strata was willing to work with us to adopt policies that adhered to these limitations.  NC Choices was able to work with Strata and Givans to determine an agreeable price per acre payment in exchange for full vegetation management by Givans.  Negotiations were aided by gaining a general understanding of what Strata was currently paying for mowing, site maintenance, and other landscape related expenses.  The price per acre rental cost also differs from the open market price per acre cost of a cleared pasture. Considerations such as the portion of grass located outside the fence reduces total grazeable acreage.  Also, labor requirements such as hauling water and liability coverage to access the site all add costs.

Often the soil requires amendments, especially in the early years, to establish forage further adding to costs. If properly outlined, a good contract takes these variables into account so a farmer can manage the site for multiple years.  Once a site is established, farmers can gain efficiency by adding more sites.   Our team was very pleased when Strata offered a second site to Troy after a successful demonstration of management of the first site demonstrating a win:win for both parties.