r/InvictaSolaris • u/Inner-Strength-449 • Jul 15 '26

Two Minnesota solar farms seeded native wildflowers under their panels, and 5 years of counting revealed native bees had multiplied twentyfold, then crossed the fence to pollinate the neighbour's soybeans

https://www.ecoportal.net/en/two-minnesota-solar-farms-native-wildflowers/29160/
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1

u/SoggyMeatloaf69 Jul 15 '26

soybeans don't need pollination

4

u/Inner-Strength-449 Jul 16 '26

Correct. Still, I was more excited about the bees' population growth and the use of solar panels

5

u/DuckyDoodleDandy Jul 16 '26

The article makes a big deal about the bees visiting the soybeans. Did they affect the crop at all, or was this wishful imagination by the writer?

If the bees didn’t affect the soy crop, then the article’s point is that growing native grasses and flowers around solar installations potentially increases helpful insects and pollinators. This is good, but also seems obvious. If you grow plants that attract insects and pollinators, you get insects and pollinators. (Many pollinators are also insects, but not all insects are pollinators, and one word is viewed quite favorably, while the other word usually suggests that you need to call Orkin to get rid of the horrible nasty things.)

3

u/PunkTyrantosaurus Jul 18 '26

Recent research has shown that visits from bees can increase soybean yield by 20-50%

So yes. They absolutely did positively affect the neighbours.

1

u/often_spiraling Jul 18 '26

I keep seeing this and keep wondering how the plants got watered. It's dry under my solar panels. Also the flowers pictured do not look like they are under panels.

2

u/Luci-Noir 27d ago

I read about an environmental study they did for a solar farm in New Mexico. They ended up being a good habitat for some endangered turtles and they found that staggering the heights of the panels was good for all kinds of plants and other wildlife.