In January, Michigan Republican state Rep. Cam Cavitt posted a 51-second clip to Facebook labeled “Solar Farm SECRET.” In the segment, he claimed that farmers in his district couldn’t grow potatoes on land where solar developments were sited.
“Frito [Frito-Lay] did the same with the potato growers up by us,” fellow Michigan Republican Rep. Dave Prestin told Cavitt in the clip. “Any field that had solar panels installed on it will never be allowed to grow potatoes for human consumption due to the leaching.”
More than 1 million people viewed that video. …
PepsiCo, which owns Frito-Lay, told Canary Media that the company “has not issued blanket guidance to growers that fields with solar installations will not be accepted.”
Nor is there any published evidence that solar farms have a negative impact on potato farming, according to experts consulted for this story.
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Nevertheless, this false claim about solar is gaining some traction. Like other forms of misinformation about renewables, it helps fuel local pushback to proposed energy installations.
The claim comes amid a broader wave of opposition to building solar arrays on farmland.
