An economic case for small scale solar-wind-augmented agriculture in exurban localities

Abstract

Background: In addition to energy security and independence, infrastructure development, food production, agricultural resource management, and food security are increasingly becoming principal concerns for local and global affairs with public policy deliberations for economic, environmental, and new business initiatives. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the frailty of global supply chains and hastened the acceptance of remote work culture, motivating an urban exodus to exurbs and nearby rural communities. Globally, climate change has led to food scarcity and food supplies have been weakened by ongoing hostilities, commodity inflation, and political nationalism in banning exports. A potential solution for this is distributed small scale agriculture; which can increase food self-reliance, lower global demand, and can help achieve more equitable food availability. Methods: This paper presents a framework for designing an automatable farm for exurban locations with new population growth, identifying and quantifying the bounds on additional long-term economic benefits on an assumptive framework based model. The framework is based on localized, small scale modified pumped storage and gravity fed irrigation, where solar and wind provide the energy requirement. An economic case is made by contrasting capital cost to estimated reduction in food wastage and revenue from excess energy generation. Results: Using multidimensional US agricultural, energy, and economic data, a non-conventional economic analysis estimates that a 20% reduction in food wastage (due to use of exurban agriculture) over 10 years equates to USD $31.8  billion. This capital applied to exurban agriculture can be recovered in 10 years, plus setting up the infrastructure for long term agriculture and or local energy production for local consumption or export for additional revenue. Conclusions: Exurban agriculture, located closer to demand centers, leads to reduction in overall agriculture energy needs, improving food security and wastage. Additional energy production can generate revenue or reduce local grid-energy demand.