Farming’s next frontier: Solar energy

For farmers across America, planting season is well underway.”In this in this area, I’ve had some mint here, you know, peppermint, seed corn, commercial corn, soybeans,” said Indiana landowner Norman Welker.But rather than seeds, a group of farmers in Northwest Indiana is putting steel piles into their ground. The reason? To harvest something other than crops from these fields.”We’re collecting the sun’s energy and turning it into, you know, into immediate use power,” said Welker.Norman Welker is one of roughly 60 landowners in Starke and Pulaski counties who are renting their land to Doral Renewables for the creation of one of the largest solar farms in the U.S.”We’re farming the sun, yep. Except we’re able to harvest it every day of the year instead of just, you know, from that April to September timeframe,” said Welker.Known as the Mammoth Solar Project, the $1.5 billion effort is…

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