Solar contaminating potatoes? Nope

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 11:30:57 -0500

Here’s a new one: anti-solar folks are making up nonsense about how if farmers allow solar panels on their fields – in this case, potato fields in particular – they’ll ruin that land forever, oh my god, say it isn’t so.

Well, it isn’t so. It’s in the same vein as the “offshore wind farms hurt whales” bullshit. It’s pure fantasy, per this writeup from Canary Media, In new attack on solar, lawmakers spread myths about potato farms. For one, the purported danger is shards of material that might be left behind after the panels are removed. So right off, that’s like thirty years down the road. Hardly some imminent danger. And as for the question of foreign objects or contaminants on the field, it just seems silly. There’s never trash that blows in, or leaked oil from machinery? Not to mention whatever poisons they use as pesticides. Spare me.

Anyway, it’s all baloney. If anything, solar panels probably help crops grow under and in between them. This kind of FUD will seem funny in another few years.

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Solar contaminating potatoes? Nope