Sponsors (2)
The bill protects prime farmland, soil health, and long-term agricultural productivity by denying federal support for energy projects on those lands, but does so at the cost of raising costs for developers and some landowners, adding administrative complexity, and likely slowing or shifting clean-energy deployment and related economic opportunities.
Farmers and rural communities keep prime farmland available for agriculture, preserving soil quality, long-term productivity, and farm income by discouraging conversion of the most productive land to utility-scale solar.
Homeowners and operators of projects sited off prime farmland retain eligibility for existing federal tax incentives (e.g., residential credit, Section 45Y), preserving financial support for most residential and non-prime commercial solar installations.
Taxpayers not involved in projects on prime farmland avoid subsidizing solar or energy-equipment installations that could reduce agricultural output or degrade prime soils.
Utilities, developers, and project investors lose eligibility for federal grants, loans, loan guarantees, and tax credits for projects sited on prime farmland, increasing project costs and likely slowing utility-scale solar deployment and investment.
Homeowners and farmers who place residential or on-farm energy systems on prime farmland lose federal credits, raising net installation costs and discouraging distributed solar adoption and related local clean-energy activity in rural areas.
The bill creates additional compliance and administrative complexity for taxpayers and the IRS to determine 'prime farmland' status and allocate or deny credits, increasing audit risk and administrative costs.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits federal funding and disqualifies federal solar tax credits for utility-scale solar projects and solar property placed on federally defined prime farmland, effective after enactment.
Prohibits federal agencies from using federal funds to support large, ground-mounted utility-scale solar projects that would convert federally defined "prime farmland," and removes federal tax incentives for solar equipment and facilities placed on prime farmland. The measure defines covered solar projects and prime farmland by cross-reference to existing federal farmland definitions and makes the tax exclusions effective for property and facilities placed in service after enactment. The bill affects federal grant, loan, and loan-guarantee support for utility-scale solar on prime farmland, and amends multiple Internal Revenue Code provisions to deny residential and investment tax credits for solar property and facilities located on prime farmland. Agencies and taxpayers will need to determine whether proposed projects are on land meeting the Farmland Protection Policy Act definition of prime farmland and whether installation would constitute a conversion of that land for agricultural use purposes.
Introduced November 20, 2025 by Marsha Blackburn · Last progress November 20, 2025