Delegate Wayne Hartman talks solar panels on farmland

MARYLAND. – Delegate Wayne Hartman addressing solar issues that have impacted local farmland. Over 9,000 acres of solar in Worcester and Wicomico counties can be taken up for leases by these solar companies.

It’s due to the Renewable Energy Certainty Act, that was put in place at the 2025 Legislative Session. The state of Maryland put that in place to meet its renewable energy goals, but Delegate Hartman believes that local farmers need to be more educated on what comes with signing these leases.

He said the poultry industry is one of the biggest on the Eastern Shore.

“A lot of these solar fields come in and strip the top soil. The top soil is stripped and sold, then they put the solar panels in. So in 15-20 years, when these solar panels are not of any use, it’s basically a brown field, there is top soil there to put that farmland back into operation.”

Hartman says all farmland is not the same, and that taking away local control completely has devastated the area. He pushes for solar to be put on parking lots and rooftops instead.