Using Solar Power For Agriculture

Climate change is a troubling issue for mankind in this century. Each day, the earth’s temperature rises, thanks to the greenhouse gases several sectors emit, including the amount of fossil fuel they use up. On the other hand, warmer temperature also comes with its effects, such as floods, droughts, and early frost.

With the above-mentioned environmental concern, solar energy appears to be our saving grace. If you’ve observed quite well, you will notice that all sectors are trying to dump the use of the many eco-unfriendly fossil fuels and adopt the use of renewable energy in solar power system.

One of those sectors is the agriculture sector. The agriculture sector can benefit a lot from the use of this clean form of energy. Due to the increasing population of the world, the need for agricultural produce is on the rise as well.

The use of solar energy in agriculture

Solar power at the helm of daily functions

Solar energy can come in handy in several ways; this form of energy can be used for solar irrigation; it can likewise be used to pump water for livestock and crops. There is a huge need to design or probably re-designs buildings in such a way that they become able to trap heat that is present during the day time when everywhere is heated up.

Some livestock needs a frequent supply of fresh air to remain in the best health condition. Systems that can power coolers and other types of such boxes can be designed to avoid wasting money on electricity bills.

There is a cost-effective approach to achieving this, and it is by asking whoever is in charge of designing your building to design the structure of the building in a way that it optimizes the sunlight that it gets.

With the aid of solar water heaters purchased from a solar company in Malaysia, you can provide hot water for the cleaning of your cattle and pen. You can also use the warm water from these solar water heaters to warm and stimulate cows’ udders. Sunlight emanating from the sun can be used to power homes and agriculture houses with the aid of solar panel systems.

The use of solar energy in drying up crops and grains

During the traditional air-drying, a huge number of agricultural produce is damaged. With the aid of the solar drying method, this agricultural produce can be dried faster and at an even rate rather than leaving them outside where they become prone to birds, insects, and worms.

Perishable goods are often very hard to dry, and a huge proportion of these goods end up being damaged. With the use of solar drying, you can dry perishable goods without the fear of it getting damaged. This will reduce the number of damaged crops and would lead to an increase in profit on the part of the farmer.

Solar dryers come in diverse types, such as direct drying (solar box dryer), indirect drying (solar cabinet dryer), mixed-mode drying (solar tunnel dryer), or hybrid drying (hybrid solar/ biomass cabinet dryer).

Benefits of using solar energy for agriculture

The irregularity in the supply of electricity has led to several losses on the part of the farmers. There are lots of benefits attached to the use of solar energy, and below are a few of these benefits.

Very cheaper compared to fossil fuel

On farms that take up an extensive area of land, the use of solar energy will be quite less expensive compared to when using fossil fuels to provide energy for the large farm. Of course, the installation of these solar panels will be quite expensive, but when installed, you will enjoy its use without paying a dime.

An advanced approach

Unlike other sectors, the agriculture sector is quite slow to adopt technological benefits that come with the advancement of technology. By using this form of energy to power certain agricultural activities, the agriculture sector proves that they are open to more technological advancement.

With the increase in the use of solar energy to run certain agricultural activities, businesses and researchers will be forced to provide farmers with more technologically equipped tools.

Takeaways

Farmers have found themselves embroiled in the issue regarding global warming since climate change affects the agricultural produce. As the world population increases, the need for food would skyrocket as well. With the aid of solar power in the agriculture sector, we can check climate change and combat the problem effectively.