Sponsors (2)
The bill protects prime farmland and agricultural productivity by denying certain federal incentives for energy projects on top-quality soils, but does so at the cost of higher solar project costs, slower local and utility-scale clean‑energy deployment, greater siting pressures elsewhere, and added compliance burdens.
Farmers and rural communities: prime farmland is less likely to be converted to utility-scale or residential solar, helping preserve soil quality and long-term agricultural productivity.
Farm owners and operators: retain land availability for agriculture and the potential to sustain farm income rather than losing productive acreage to large solar projects.
Homeowners, taxpayers and existing non-prime-farmland project owners: most residential systems and solar facilities sited off prime farmland keep eligibility for current federal tax incentives (so incentives for non-prime installations are preserved).
Solar developers, utilities and electricity customers: denial of grants/loans and tax credits for projects on prime farmland raises project costs, reduces financing options, and likely slows clean energy investment.
Homeowners and farmers who put solar on prime farmland: lose federal residential or facility tax credits for installations on prime soils, increasing out‑of‑pocket costs and reducing local rooftop and on‑farm solar adoption.
Clean electricity expansion and national resilience: slowing or blocking utility-scale solar on widespread prime farmland can reduce near‑term growth in clean generation capacity, with implications for energy supply and national security goals.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Bars federal funding and federal tax credits for residential and utility‑scale solar installations sited on prime farmland, for property/facilities placed in service after enactment.
Official title: Prohibit the head of a Federal agency from using Federal funds for certain solar energy projects that would result in the conversion of farmland, to exclude from certain tax credits relating to clean energy facilities placed in service on prime farmland, and for other purposes.
Introduced November 20, 2025 by Marsha Blackburn · Last progress November 20, 2025
Prohibits federal agencies from using federal funds to support ground‑mounted, utility‑scale solar projects that convert prime farmland, and removes or disallows multiple federal tax credits and investment credits for solar property (residential and utility) sited on prime farmland. The changes apply to property or facilities placed in service after the date of enactment. The bill defines "prime farmland" by cross‑reference to the Farmland Protection Policy Act and applies the prohibition across federal grant, loan, and loan guarantee programs as well as several Internal Revenue Code credits (residential clean energy credit, Section 45 production credit, Section 45Y, Section 48 energy credit, and Section 48E clean electricity investment credit).