This is a conversation with Greg Barron-Gafford, Associate Professor at the University of Arizona. In some rural communities, solar is known as “the last crop.” Leasing large tracts of land that can no longer be farmed can keep the land in the family and the family in business. But are there ways that solar can help restore agriculture? Manage water resources? Sustain regenerative farming? Please join us in conversation with scholars and scientists studying these questions to learn how our energy futures are connected to the land, water, and food and to a more local way of life.
Greg Barron-Gafford’s work has largely been based in the drylands of the world. He has worked for the last 18 years in the southwestern US studying Earth System science, plant ecology, and the impacts of climate and land-use change. In 2011, he began studying photovoltaic installations and pushing for ways to co-locate native plant restoration and food production alongside renewable energy from photovoltaics (agrivoltaics). In recent years, his work has extended globally thanks to multinational partners that span physical and social sciences, engineering, and community development. Greg Barron-Gafford is author or co-author of about 80 articles in scientific journals and is excited to participate in this meeting around this great food-energy-water solution.