Bishop’s journey into solar grazing began at her six-acre farm in Newfield, New Jersey. With limited pasture available and a growing need for space for her sheep, she began looking for alternative grazing land.
What began with a simple observation beside a solar field turned into an unusual farming business in New Jersey. When Julie Bishop noticed workers repeatedly mowing vegetation beneath and around solar panels, she saw an opportunity to put her sheep to work instead. What started as a small flock grazing a single site eventually grew into a full-time solar-grazing operation, pairing livestock with renewable-energy infrastructure, states an online observation piece by the Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. It also states that Bishop became a member of the American Solar Grazing Association, finding value in a network focused on sharing knowledge and improving the way livestock and solar installations can coexist. Her experience also brought her a position as an ASGA board advisor, taking her work beyond her own flock. What started as a vision of sheep-shaped potential in a field of solar panels has emerged as a model for how farming and renewable-energy infrastructure can co-exist on the same land. Image Courtesy: Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.