Co-locating Agriculture and Renewable Energy Production (agrivoltaics) to Create Resilient Food, Energy, and Water Systems in Drylands

Food and energy security challenges are widespread across drylands, where crop productivity is predicted to decrease under warmer average temperatures, heatwaves, and increased variability in precipitation. Water is already scarce, and increased drought is driving policy change that further restricts water allocation for irrigated agriculture. Because nearly 30% of our global population lives in these regions, building resilience across food, energy, and water systems remains a critical challenge. To avoid a food vs. fuel land use conflict, agriculture and renewable energy production can be co-located using the integrated systems approach of agrivoltaics. We have built a multi-national coalition with diverse specialties in physical and social sciences, development, and capacity in international programs in the region. We take a holistic view-point that builds on literature around ecosystem services and sustainable development goals to better capture the benefits of this shared land use, which include increased revenues, extended daily patterns of plant function, increased solar panel efficiency, extended growing seasons, increased market added values, cooler / shaded working conditions for farm laborers, reduced irrigation and increased water use efficiency, opportunities to retain agrarian identities within communities, and resilience in light of a rapidly changing climate.