Karhoff, Quin E., Endres, A. Bryan, Guarino, Jessica L. & Swanson, Tyler J. Renewable Energy in Illinois: The Agrivoltaics Contribution. Southern Illinois University Law Review, 48. Summer 2024.

This letter aims to illuminate the legal issues and challenges surrounding agritourism liability and agritourism legal definitions, which are overlooked in the tourism literature. By demonstrating a lack of a clear and consistent agritourism definition and its impacts on liability exemption laws in the US, we discuss the legal and industry-wide complications surrounding an ambiguous definition and argue that this ambiguity may discourage agritourism expansion and operation sustainability, lead to inequity among various forms of agritourism businesses, and undermine agritourism visitors’ right.

In this Perspective, we review the clashing narratives around the role of hydropower in the United States' (US) energy future. In doing so, we reveal how hydropower is regarded as a keystone for the renewable energy transition but also viewed as a harmful technology with significant negative environmental and social impacts. These narratives can be seen in the contrasting future renewable energy visions of US government agencies, the hydropower industry, NGOs, and Tribal governments. We review critical lessons learned from past dam- and hydropower-related challenges to reimagine a just energy future for the US that bridges diverse sectors, jurisdictions, and values. We conclude by highlighting some key paths forward that might result in more resilient and adaptive water and energy systems as the country strives to decarbonize.

Amid a tumultuous legislative session, Congress has extended the current Farm Bill through fall 2024. The extension will provide some certainty to farmers while also giving lawmakers an additional year to deliberate the merits of the five-year, $700 billion funding package. This extra time allows lawmakers to more thoroughly consider innovations and investments that will shape the future of American agriculture – including “agrivoltaics,” a new practice that melds farming and solar energy.

Solar grazing is on the rise in the United States with dozens of new operations springing up across the country. However, with all of this growth in mind, an important question remains: if a grazier wants to enter the solar grazing market, how much will it cost, and how much revenue can they generate? Budget templates exist that can provide a grazier with guidelines, but hard data on grazier costs and revenues is more difficult to come by.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Bock Agricultural Law & Policy Program set out to answer this question as a project through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s ASTRO InSPIRE Seed Grant Program. Undergraduate students Tyler Swanson and Quin Karhoff, supported by Post-Doctoral Researcher Jessica Guarino and Professor A. Bryan Endres, conducted a survey of American solar grazing practitioners to gather data on common capital and labor investments, as well as operation sizes and revenue streams. The researchers hope that the findings of the survey will help graziers interested in entering the solar grazing market better understand what costs and revenues they can expect and contribute to more accurate budget tools for potential solar graziers. The results of the survey are included in their fact sheet The Economics of Solar Grazing.

Agriculture is a staple of American life. While metropolitan regions exist throughout the nation, it rarely takes more than an hour of driving to find yourself on a road surrounded by fields of grain, livestock, or other commodities that feed and clothe the world. Yet, increasingly, you may find yourself on a similar road surrounded by a field harvesting a far different product: solar energy. At first glance, an environmentally minded traveler may view solar fields as an encouraging sign of a brighter future independent of fossil fuels; however, this perception misses a critical insight into the tensions and conflicts that went into the conversion of that field from agricultural land to a solar site.

Guarino, J. & Swanson, T. “Agrivoltaics in Illinois: A Regulatory and Policy Guide.” AgriSolar Clearinghouse. https://www.agrisolarclearinghouse.org/the-illinois-agrivoltaics regulatory-and-policy-guide-analyzes-state-and-local-laws/. February 1, 2023.

Swanson, T. “Crypto's Dark Secret.” Q Magazine, (4):2. https://q.sustainability.illinois.edu/cryptos-dark-secret/. February 23, 2022.

Guarino, J., R. Endres, T. Swanson and B. Endres. “Defining the Bounds of Booming Agritourism.” farmdoc daily (12):19, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, February 14, 2022.

Guarino, J., R. Endres, T. Swanson and B. Endres. "It’s Pumpkin Patch Season and Agritourism is Booming—But What Exactly is Agritourism?." farmdoc daily (11):152, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, November 4, 2021.