In New Jersey, farmland is helping researchers explore whether livestock farming and solar power can successfully share the same land. At the centre of the project is a small herd of beef cattle grazing among rows of vertical solar panels, which have been installed without replacing the grass beneath them. While the cows continue their normal routines of feeding, resting and moving around the field, scientists are monitoring how the panels affect both the animals and the farm field.According to New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station: Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program, following where the cows choose to graze, rest and seek shade, while also measuring the quality of the pasture, the project hopes to understand whether land can continue supporting healthy livestock without giving up its role in producing renewable energy.
How cows in New Jersey are proving farmland can produce food and electricity
The project forms part of Rutgers University’s agrivoltaics research programme, which explores ways of using agricultural land for both food production and solar power.Unlike the tilted solar arrays commonly seen beside roads or on dedicated solar farms, these panels stand vertically. They are also bifacial, meaning they collect sunlight from both sides. The arrangement leaves broad strips of pasture between each row, giving cattle room to graze while allowing farm machinery to continue operating.Rather than treating livestock as an obstacle to renewable energy, the trial asks whether grazing animals can remain an ordinary part of a working solar site.
How Blossom, Misty and Flurry are helping scientists study cattle behaviour
The cattle involved belong to Rutgers University’s teaching herd, where they are already used for undergraduate agricultural education. Four Angus cows: Ideal, Queen, Fizzle and Blossom graze alongside two Herefords, Misty and Flurry.For the researchers, the cows’ daily habits are just as important as the grass beneath them. Cameras positioned around the site capture photographs every five minutes, building a detailed record of where each animal spends its time. That allows the team to compare whether the cattle favour areas close to the solar panels, remain in open pasture, or gather beneath specially built shade shelters instead.The study also examines whether different layouts influence behaviour. Some panel rows stand closer together than others, while clearance beneath the panels varies across sections of the site. These subtle design differences could affect how freely cattle move around the pasture.
PC: Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program
Can grazing land remain productive beneath solar panels
The research is not limited to animals. Grass itself is under close observation.Vertical solar panels cast changing bands of shade as the sun moves across the sky, creating small differences in temperature, moisture and light levels. Those changes may alter how quickly forage grows or influence its nutritional value for grazing livestock.If pasture quality remains strong under these conditions, farmers could potentially continue raising cattle without sacrificing productive grazing land to energy infrastructure. The answer is unlikely to be the same for every site, which is why detailed measurements throughout the growing season matter as much as the electricity generated above the field.
How one field could produce both food and renewable energy
The experimental site has been carefully organised so that different solar layouts can be compared under similar conditions.Three separate replicated blocks contain multiple panel configurations alongside control pastures without any solar panels. Within each configuration, rows differ in spacing and ground clearance, making it possible to compare how design choices influence both vegetation and livestock behaviour.Having repeated versions of each arrangement also strengthens the statistical reliability of the findings, reducing the chance that differences are simply the result of weather or natural variation between pastures. The trial reflects a broader question facing agriculture as demand for renewable energy continues to grow. Solar developments often compete with farmland, particularly in regions where productive agricultural land is limited.Agrivoltaics offers a different approach by asking whether the same field can serve more than one purpose. If grazing remains healthy while electricity production continues efficiently, farmers may have another option for making use of their land without giving up livestock production.For now, Blossom, Misty, Flurry and the rest of the herd are simply following familiar routines grazing, resting, drinking and moving through the pasture. Those ordinary behaviours are providing researchers with the evidence needed to understand whether carefully designed solar arrays can become a practical part of everyday farming rather than replacing it.