by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 16, 2025
Mounting photo voltaic panels above crop fields can enhance working situations for farmworkers in addition to produce meals and electrical energy on the identical land, in keeping with analysis to be offered on the AGU 2025 Annual Assembly in New Orleans. Employee interviews and discipline measurements point out that agrivoltaic techniques present shade, cut back publicity to excessive warmth, and assist farms keep away from situations related to harmful warmth stress.
The examine focuses on agrivoltaics, during which photo voltaic arrays are put in over or alongside crops in order that vitality and agriculture share the identical acreage. Farmworkers reported that the panel buildings give them entry to shade throughout harvesting and different duties, lowering how typically they have to work in direct solar. They described feeling much less fatigued on the finish of the day when in a position to rotate duties underneath the panels and relaxation in shaded areas.
Lead researcher Talitha Neesham-McTiernan of the College of Arizona drew on 4 years of fieldwork on agrivoltaic farms, a lot of it performed throughout sizzling Arizona summers. She noticed that each scientists and laborers routinely scheduled essentially the most strenuous duties for occasions after they may work underneath the photo voltaic arrays. “It simply appeared to be one thing that folks in these techniques have been doing, however no one within the analysis space was speaking about it,” she stated.
Warmth poses a serious occupational threat in agriculture, the place staff are estimated to be 35 occasions extra more likely to die from heat-related sickness than individuals in non-agricultural jobs. Neesham-McTiernan famous that local weather change is anticipated to accentuate this threat, growing the worth of sensible methods that may restrict warmth stress within the discipline. “[Agrivoltaics] is not a one-size-fits-all resolution,” she stated. “It could possibly’t be used in all places. However with the specter of warmth, we want a catalog of how we are able to shield farmworkers. With out them, we will not feed ourselves. Defending them and their our bodies ought to be paramount to everybody.”
Farmworkers pointed to a number of particular advantages from working underneath the panels. They reported that shade from the arrays diminished solar publicity throughout peak noon hours and that with the ability to step out and in of shaded rows helped them handle warmth by the day. Neesham-McTiernan recounted one employee’s description of how the association left them feeling much less exhausted by the top of a shift, which in flip affected their vitality ranges exterior work.
The shaded buildings additionally assist hold ingesting water cooler, which is vital for stopping warmth sickness. “They’ll pop their bottles underneath the panels they usually keep cool all day,” Neesham-McTiernan stated, “fairly than it being, as one of many farmworkers described it, like ingesting tea.” Staff emphasised that entry to chill water all through the workday supported their means to maintain working safely in excessive temperatures.
Past shade and water, the panel helps themselves supply a bodily help throughout lengthy hours within the discipline. “Each farmworker stated one profit was with the ability to lean towards the beams that maintain up the panels, simply to take the load off a bit,” Neesham-McTiernan famous. She stated these small ergonomic benefits wouldn’t seem in sensor information alone however clearly affected each day consolation.
To quantify the thermal setting, the analysis staff put in sensors that recorded air temperature, humidity, wind velocity and photo voltaic radiation on agrivoltaic farms and on comparable open fields. They used these information to calculate moist bulb globe temperature, a composite heat-stress index generally used to determine hazardous outside working situations. Evaluating the 2 settings allowed the staff to hyperlink employee experiences with goal modifications in environmental stress.
Measurements confirmed that agrivoltaic fields may decrease moist bulb globe temperature by as much as 5.5 levels Celsius, or about 10 levels Fahrenheit, relative to open fields. Neesham-McTiernan estimated that this drop can mark the distinction between situations the place work should cease and situations the place staff can proceed with mandated relaxation breaks, similar to pausing each hour. She confused that when these marginal good points accumulate over a full workday, a rising season and a profession, their impression on well being and productiveness turns into substantial.
The examine additionally in contrast staff’ perceptions with sensor readings throughout totally different elements of the farms and occasions of day. In some circumstances, individuals and devices didn’t absolutely agree on which areas felt hottest or most comfy. Neesham-McTiernan argued that assessing occupational warmth stress requires each physiological and experiential data, as a result of metrics alone can’t seize how individuals truly really feel and performance throughout extended outside labor.
Neesham-McTiernan plans to increase the analysis to farms in different local weather zones to find out whether or not agrivoltaic heat-mitigation advantages maintain in several environmental situations. Future work could embody nearer monitoring of physiological indicators and well being outcomes, aiming to hyperlink the noticed microclimate modifications underneath photo voltaic panels on to employee well being metrics. The mission highlights thermal consolation and security as central components in evaluating agrivoltaic deployment, alongside vitality output and crop efficiency.
Analysis Report:Farmworker experiences reveal heat mitigation advantages of agrivoltaics
Associated Hyperlinks
American Geophysical Union
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