Welcome to the Spring Edition of the ASGA Quarterly Newsletter!
We're glad you're here. This is the place where you can learn the latest happenings in the world of solar grazing and agrivoltaics.
Grab a cup of coffee and read on to learn what ASGA and our partners are doing to help advance agriculture on solar fields.
Photo of the Month
Featuring Lexie Hain from Lightsourse bp and President of the ASGA Board of Directors
Census Report
The ASGA United States Solar Grazing 2024 Census Report is now available for the public!
The Census was created with grant funding from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as part of their InSPIRE Project. The Report provides a summary of Census highlights about the scale and reach of solar grazing.
ASGA is proud to offer Solar Grazing Certification Programs for farmers and solar industry professionals!
ASGA Certified Solar Grazing Training Workshop in Sulphur Springs, TX- May 5th to 7th
Sponsored by Enel North America and taught by the American Lamb Board, this workshop instructs farmers in the basic solar grazing training standards set by ASGA.
Registration is currently sold out!
*New* ASGA's Inaugural Solar Grazing Management Certification For Solar Industry Professionals! Sulphur Springs, TX - May 9th
This one-day workshop will provide a picture of day-to-day life with sheep on site for site operations and management teams, developers, asset managers, sustainability teams, and solar company employees. Sponsored by Enel North America.
Livestock Guardian Dogs in Solar Grazing: Why Are LGDs Essential for Solar Grazing
This fact sheet is a resource to send to solar companies, O&M providers, and other parties to help them understand why solar graziers use guardian dogs.
Both fact sheets were developed by solar grazier Amanda Stoffels (Stoffels Family Farm Agrivoltaics) and Bill Costanzo (Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension).
Sponsorship Updates
Here are a few highlights of what ASGA has accomplished with the support of our incredible sponsors and corporate members!
New Features for the ASGA Map - Open Grazing RFPs and Solar Grazed Sites!
Exciting news! We've added a new feature to the ASGA Solar Grazing Map that allows solar companies to add sites with open Requests for Proposals for solar grazing sites! Members can also add the locations of solar sites that are actively being grazed.
To add your listing, log into the ASGA Network and go to the Solar Grazing Map section to fill out the listing form.
Upcoming member virtual workshops and presentations:
04/30 - Fescue and Solar Grazing: An opportunity or time for caution?
05/14 - Business Planning for Solar Grazing: Getting Started
05/28 - Vegetation Management Expectations and Safety Protocols on Solar Sites
Network members: Keep up with upcoming workshops and webinars on our network events calendar.
1:1 Mentoring Sessions: ASGA Members can sign up for a 1:1 mentoring session every Monday night on the network.
Recent Solar Grazing Recordings and Articles
Solar Development 101 and How Developers Approach Solar Grazing Projects - Learn more here.
Recording: U.S. Sheep Numbers & the Opportunity for Solar Grazing Growth (ASGA Call 86) - Learn more here.
Financing Options for Solar Grazing Through the Sheep & Goat Innovation Fund (ASGA Workshop) - Learn more here.
Sheep Industry News from ASI
ASGA is excited to highlight one of our partners, the American Sheep Industry Association (ASI). ASI is the national association representing the interests of sheep producers located throughout the U.S. ASGA participated in their Annual Convention in Scottsdale, AZ this past January.
Here are the latest updates from ASI:
ASI recently released their new handbook, Targeted Grazing 101: Starting and Sustaining a Grazing Service Enterprise. This resource supplies those new to the targeted grazing industry with valuable information for getting started. ASGA is pleased to have had the opportunity to support the solar grazing section of this handbook as part of the publication review team. Thank you to Lexie Hain for providing her expertise! Learn more here: https://www.sheepusa.org/shop.
ASI also sent two leaders to testify at congressional committee hearings and took 50 sheep producer leaders from 16 states to Washington, D.C., to lobby on behalf of the industry. Learn more about ASI's efforts in Washington, D.C. here.
Hello Reader, How many sheep and acres were grazed on solar sites in 2024? What do we know about the ranchers and sites involved? To answer these questions, ASGA recently published the first-ever U.S. Solar Grazing Census with support by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). We learned much more than we anticipated and are excited to share our summary report with exciting new statistics on the rapidly expanding field of solar grazing! Access the 2024 ASGA Solar Grazing Census...
Hello Reader, The American Lamb Board (ALB) just announced their fall Solar Grazing Training Workshop for Pennsylvania! The workshop is an ASGA Certified Solar Grazing Training. All graduates will be officially certified by ASGA. Fall Workshop Details: Location: Shippensburg, Pennsylvania Dates: October 30 - November 1, 2024 Registration Fee: $200 Contact for Information: Camren Maierle at Camren@americanlamb.com Seats Available: Limited to 50 producers Register here Register Here To learn...
Hello Reader, The ASGA Team attended this year's RE+ renewable energy conference and made a big splash with a live sheep display and the world premiere of our solar grazing documentary film! With 45,000 people attending this year's conference, we wanted to make sure folks had a chance to see and understand the benefits of building strong partnerships with solar graziers. To open the show on Monday, we premiered the first ever solar grazing documentary to a packed audience and everyone loved...
