A solar energy project built on farmland in Anglesey, UK
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
The boom in solar energy around the world has led to huge numbers of panels being installed on prime agricultural land, taking quadrillions of calories out of the global food supply.
More than 5000 square kilometres of the world’s surface was covered by solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in 2018 – 1655 times more than in 2003. Much of that has happened on cropland that could produce enough food to feed millions of people, according to a study by Wu Xiao at Zhejiang University, China, and his colleagues.