Solar panels are popping up on farms across the country with the aid of government subsidies.

In one such case, the Alberta government recently opened a program to offer grants to farmers to install solar panels on their land.

Ontario farmer Erin Leduc, who has had a 250 kilowatt solar contract with the Ontario Power Authority at her family’s operation in Moose Creek for five years says a similar program helped them and they are more than pleased with the results.

Leduc tells Rural Roots Canada it provided them with another revenue stream.

“Looking back now at how well and how nice it’s worked we definitely wished we had done more,” Leduc says.  “There’s no question that we never had the opportunity to do so little in terms of work and generate good monthly cash flows.  As a grain farmer that’s not something that we’re accustomed to as much either, it’s been a steady revenue for us.”

She says she convinced her parents and brother to get on-board with the program.

“It seemed almost too good to be true to be subsidized to do this for a return on the project were really good when they had originally introduced it.  It was about an 11 year pay back on your investment and it’s a 20 year contract.”