How Our Agri Solar Farm Is Expanding Land Access to Fight Hunger

A strong local food system is a powerful tool for fighting hunger. When local farmers have what they need to succeed, they provide affordable, nutritious food to their community. Yet many immigrant and resource-limited farmers can’t afford to buy or lease land while they launch or grow their farming operation. To fight hunger, we need new pathways to land access for emerging farmers. 

In partnership with US Solar, The Food Group began exploring Agri Solar in 2023, the practice of farming between solar panels, and how it could expand access to affordable farmland for emerging farmers. Through our Agri Solar Farm Program, good soil around solar farms is used to grow food that flows back into Minnesota communities.

Our farmers sell their produce to food shelves, affordable grocery programs, and local school districts. By providing long-term leases at $1 to farmers like Winifred and Bai, we’re building our local food system and sharing food with neighbors who need it most.

Winifred and mother-son farming duo Bai and Bao are among three farm partners to sign ten-year leases to grow at our Agri Solar Farm. All are graduates of our Incubator Program at Big River Farms, where farmers have access to land and resources and gain hands-on experience growing food.  

The Agri Solar Farm Program builds on that foundation, providing a stable space to apply their skills and build their farm business. Farmers also get access to water, produce cooler and packing sheds, market support, and shared farm equipment, further reducing the cost burden.  

Before moving to the US, Winifred grew up helping her grandmother grow food in a one-acre garden in Sierra Leone. Winifred began gardening again in the US and eventually enrolled in the Incubator Program at Big River Farms. She now runs Oniwede Farms.  

Winifred is currently selling to Albertville and Buffalo school districts and has already harvested over 100 pounds of sweet peppers and 150 pounds of cucumbers from her Big Lake plot. Farm–to-school partnerships like this increase access to nutritious, locally grown food for food-insecure students. 

Bai is one half of the mother-son regenerative vegetable farm, BaoBai’s Harvest. Bai and Bao are graduates of The Food Group’s Incubator Program, where they learned new farming techniques and developed skills to grow both food and a business.  

He’s excited to have time to learn the soil, refine his growing technique, and improve their crop yield for years to come. 

Rather than relocating to a new plot when a short-term lease ends and starting from scratch, our program provides long-term land access. This gives farmers time to invest in the soil, learn the land, and forge lasting market connections.  

BaoBai’s Harvest currently provides food for local food shelves and affordable grocery programs. For Bai, a decade-long lease means opportunity to secure new opportunities and break into new markets.

The Food Group is honored to partner with emerging farmers like Winifred and Bai to fight hunger by expanding land access and delivering affordable, locally grown food to our neighbors in need.