BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 7, 2022
Aroostook County’s farmers aren’t sacrificing soil for solar yet, but the potato industry and farm preservationists are keeping close tabs on Maine’s largest tracts of prime growing land. Alternative energy developers have targeted some of Maine’s farmland as ideal sites to set up power arrays, because they favor large pieces of land that are easy to access, flat and located close to power transmission lines. Aroostook boasts the largest parcels of farm acreage in the state, so any loss of tillable soil means a hit to the state’s potato industry.