On land where sparse grass supported little cattle, electricity now brings in more money than any agricultural use.
For Greg Kesler, a fourth-generation rancher in Millard County, Utah, some of the least productive ground on his Double Dollar Ranch has become its most valuable asset. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, as cited by the Times of India, Kesler has leased about 1,100 acres to solar developers, who own and operate the panels while he collects lease income. On land where sparse grass supported little cattle, electricity now brings in more money than any agricultural use.
The arrangement has not replaced the ranch so much as underwritten it. The report says the ranch has more than doubled in size over the past decade, with the solar revenue helping fund the purchase of neighbouring properties and the expansion of the family's cattle and horse operation. Cattle and horses remain central, and the ranch still hosts team roping events and runs an internship programme. The idea, according to the report, came after Kesler encountered a solar project while working in Hawaii and wondered whether similar infrastructure could work at home. His land already had access to a transmission line and a large substation, advantages that made it suited to energy development.
The venture has spread within the family. Kesler's son, Landon, has built a business maintaining solar panels on the ranch while also servicing projects elsewhere, the report adds. For a family operation facing the cost pressures common to livestock farming, a dependable lease cheque offers a cushion that commodity prices cannot.
The wider stakes are fiscal as well as familial. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that large solar projects can generate substantial property-tax revenue for rural communities and school districts. The Clover Creek project in Juab County, near Mona and visible from Interstate 15, holds more than 200,000 panels and produces about 80 megawatts. Sheep graze around the panels during the growing season. Since becoming operational in 2021, the facility has generated more than $1.03 million in property taxes, roughly half of it to the Juab School District, and is expected to produce about $5.7 million over its projected 20-year lifespan. The district has used the money to accelerate purchases of computers, 3D printers and robotics equipment, and to support a swim team and gaming club.
Not everyone sees the trend as benign. During Utah's latest legislative session, lawmakers approved legislation restricting certain tax incentives for solar projects sited on agricultural property, intended to discourage large installations on productive farmland. Kesler's view, as reported, is that landowners should have more freedom over how less productive portions of their property are used.
What the reports do not establish is how widespread such leases are, what terms Kesler secured, or how the new state law will affect projects already operating. Those details are not yet confirmed. What the Kesler case does illustrate is a practical question for rural economies under pressure: whether energy can become a supplementary crop, and whether the tax revenue it generates can sustain the schools that depend on the land around them.
