Does Version 5 support on-farm solar energy for irrigation or drying?

Version 5 does not currently include an accounting method for on-farm solar or wind energy generation. This is a known limitation described in the metric revision documentation.

The Version 4 treatment of on-farm solar energy was considered inaccurate because it assigned 0 energy use and 0 GHG emissions to operations powered by on-farm solar, such as irrigation pumps or grain dryers. A complete and accurate method would need to include upstream impact factors associated with the manufacturing of solar panels and energy storage systems — similar to how the platform currently accounts for the upstream impacts of fertilizer manufacturing.

If on-farm solar energy generation is prevalent in your project, please contact Field to Market staff so we can begin planning to address this data gap.