The generation of electricity and the production of food have a give and take relationship as they both require and compete for scarce resources like water and land. Suffice to say that the food value chain — from producing, storing, processing, then all the way to consuming — is also supported by electricity.
As someone in the power industry, I can confidently say that there is no such thing as a perfect energy source. While coal and natural gas can consistently generate electricity on demand and at scale, with its facilities taking up significantly less space per unit of electricity produced, it emits carbon dioxide.
Just to be clear, this essay is not meant to discourage the scaling of solar farms. After all, climate change is real and our global society needs to transition to cleaner sources of energy. Rather, what I am trying to point out here is the need for managed land conversion use.
Moreover, in both sectors, driving solutions home requires the participation of all its stakeholders from public to private to civil society. Outside of the already challenging aspects of farming, for instance, farmers need better farm-to-market roads and storage facilities, among others. Meanwhile, in the power industry, generators need a stabler and smarter transmission and distribution highway with sufficient capacities and geographical reach.