Religious Studies Professor Part of $3.6 Million NSF Grant to Build First-of-Its-Kind Solar-Agriculture Lab

By Bethany Mauger and Kim Popiolek

Michigan State University scientists plan to build a first-of-its-kind outdoor lab to study how solar panels placed alongside crops could save water, improve soil health, and support ecosystems, all while boosting farmers’ bottom line and preserving farm production.  

The project, led by Earth and Environmental Sciences Assistant Professor Anthony Kendall, is made possible by a five-year $3.6 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. Gretel Van Wieren, Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at MSU, is among the senior research personnel on the project.

The interdisciplinary team, led by Kendall, will study existing solar parks to find out how the panels affect the soil and ecosystems surrounding them. Then, they’ll install a small array of 30 solar panels near corn and soybean fields to teach farmers, scientists, and other stakeholders how to repurpose underproducing portions of their fields for solar energy. 

The initial lab, set for the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS), will be small, but the group envisions eventually building a world-class 15-acre facility. Bringing this concept to life will help farmers visualize what this method could look like in their fields and how it could make farming more sustainable as costs rise.