Virginia Farm Pairs Crops With Solar Panels

A Piedmont community farm installed 42 solar panels above working crop rows, generating roughly 130 percent of its electricity needs.

Updated on Nov. 9, 2026 in Organic Food

Solar panels mounted on steel posts arch over green crop rows and raised planter beds on a Virginia hillside farm in warm late-afternoon light. — The Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows installed 42 solar panels above its crops in October 2025, generating roughly 130 percent of its electricity needs. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Should Virginia farmers be encouraged to add solar panels over their crops?

The Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows installed 42 solar panels above crops in October 2025, and the project was named co-recipient of the North American Solar Farm of the Year award. The solar garden occupies a quarter-acre corner of an eight-acre site run by a land conservation organization in the Virginia Piedmont.

Why it matters

The project shows how agrivoltaics, which combines farming with solar generation on the same land, can supply a farm's own power while keeping cropland in production. Its recognition at a national awards program highlights growing interest in pairing agriculture with renewable energy in Virginia.

The 42 panels sit 6 to 8 feet above crops in rows and raised planter boxes, covering a quarter-acre of the eight-acre site. The farm reports generating roughly 130 percent of its electricity needs, while the source does not disclose total wattage or yield comparisons.

The players

Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows

A Virginia Piedmont farm that pairs working crops with a solar garden on the same land.

Sandbox Solar

A solar developer whose vitivoltaics project in Colorado shares the North American Solar Farm of the Year award.

The details

Crops are planted in rows and raised planter boxes beneath the panels, and a backup battery system allows the farm to run on solar power and batteries alone for extended periods. In June, Virginia's governor and lawmakers held a ceremonial bill signing at the farm.

October 2025: Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows project launched.
June: Ceremonial bill signing held at the farm by Virginia's governor and lawmakers.
27 October: Award ceremony scheduled at Solar Farm House in Chicago.

Lifestyle Context

The Roundabout Meadows project is one of the agrivoltaics installations recognized by the North American Agrivoltaics Awards presented by Solar Farm Summit, placing it within a growing set of farms that share land between crops and solar panels. Its co-recipient, Sandbox Solar's Colorado project, indicates that the award is recognizing similar dual-use designs across regions.

Farm operators and landowners in Virginia can see how solar panels mounted 6 to 8 feet above crop rows can supply a farm's own electricity without removing cropland from production. The project's battery backup shows one approach to running a farm on solar power and storage for extended periods.

The takeaway

Agrivoltaics offers a way for farms to generate much of their own power while continuing to grow crops on the same acreage, and the Roundabout Meadows example demonstrates one configuration that works in the Virginia Piedmont.