California Farmers Convert Water-Stressed Land to Solar Energy Projects

Farmers in California's Central Valley are increasingly converting water-stressed farmland into solar energy projects as intensifying droughts and strict pumping limits under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act make traditional agriculture untenable. This shift supports the state's legal mandate to achieve 100% clean electricity by 2045, a goal that the California Energy Commission estimates will require between 0.5 and 1.3 million acres of in-state solar development.

Westlands Water District, the region's largest agricultural water agency, approved the conversion of 135,000 acres into a solar network in December. In Kern County, developer Avantus is planning the Buttonbush project, which aims to become the largest solar-plus-storage installation in the United States by covering nearly 12,000 acres to generate two gigawatts of electricity.

The transition has sparked a legislative and political divide over the Williamson Act, which provides tax protections for farmland preservation. While the California Farm Bureau opposes removing the fees associated with breaking these agricultural contracts, the Kern County Farm Bureau has broken with the state organization. The regional bureau supports a bill proposed by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks to ease those fees, arguing that landowners must have the flexibility to adapt their property use as water availability declines.