Governor Gretchen Whitmer is expanding the amount of Michigan farmland where commercial solar arrays can be built.
Whitmer made the announcement Monday with the director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The department is allowing land enrolled in the Farmland and Open Space Preservation Program to be used for larger solar arrays.
Laura Sherman is president of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council. She says farmers are open to the solar panel plan.
"In general there are a lot of farmers who see this as just another crop that they would like to be able to harvest."
There are more than three million acres of farmland currently enrolled in the land preservation program.