WILLIAMSTOWN, MA -- Don Zasada has owned Caretaker Farm in Williamstown for four years now. The organic farm relies on renewable resources to harvest their crops. But Don has been wondering for a while now how the farm can lower its carbon footprint even more.
"What's interesting to me is when I look around at the landscape, it's amazing how little of the sunlight we actually are able to use for electricity," said Caretaker Farm co-owner Don Zasada.
Until now, that is. Thanks to $64,000 in state grants, the farm can now harvest sunlight.
"We felt it was really important, since sustainable agriculture is our focus here, that we should be more reliant on a source of renewable energy and what a perfect thing for this farm to be generating our own energy by harvesting the sun," said Caretaker Farm co-owner Bridget Spann.
One of the oldest organic farms in Massachusetts has been practicing sustainable agriculture for decades in Williamstown. But as Ryan Burgess tells us, they now have a new crop to harvest. And rather than growing from the ground, it's actually shining from the sky.
They're able to harvest the sun because they installed a series of photovoltaic panels that'll provide 90 percent of all the energy used at the farm.
"We're very excited about this opportunity. We have different solar panels around the farm to power electric fences and pumps and so on, but this is a whole new step for us, so it's been exciting," said Zasada.
The entire solar project cost a total of $90,000. Although the farm did get a lot of money in state grants, they still had to pay $26,000 of their own money. That was a huge commitment, but one they say is already paying off.
"For us, global warming is a major consideration. We hope that we will be farming here for a long time in this climate as we know it now, and that others will follow us," said Spann.
Others may follow and the climate may change, but for now, Caretaker Farm is just happy to bask in the sunlight, which is forever green.