SB 683 Puts Farmland First as Maryland Pushes Solar Expansion

By MDBayNews Staff

As Maryland continues its aggressive push toward renewable energy, a growing backlash has emerged from rural communities worried that clean-energy mandates are coming at the expense of productive farmland. A new bill introduced in Annapolis aims to answer that concern without abandoning the state’s solar goals.

State Sen. Jason Gallion has introduced Senate Bill 683, the Solar Siting and Preservation Credit Act of 2026, a proposal designed to steer large-scale solar projects away from prime agricultural land and toward more appropriate locations.

Gallion’s message is simple: Maryland should not have to choose between clean energy and food production.

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What SB 683 Does

SB 683 focuses on where solar projects are built, not whether solar should be built at all. The legislation creates a credit system that encourages counties to count solar projects on preferred sites toward their clean-energy targets.

Under the bill, counties could “credit” solar installations located on:

• Brownfields and previously disturbed land
• School rooftops and school-owned property
• Underutilized or non-productive parcels

These projects would count toward existing solar acreage limits, reducing pressure to site large solar arrays on productive farmland—especially land within Maryland’s Priority Preservation Areas.

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A Response to Growing Rural Concerns

Across Maryland, farmers and rural residents have raised alarms about utility-scale solar projects replacing crop fields and permanently removing land from agricultural use. Critics argue that once farmland is converted, it is rarely returned to production.

SB 683 reflects a center-right approach to energy policy: market-oriented, pragmatic, and conservation-focused. Rather than banning solar on farmland outright, the bill uses incentives to guide development toward sites that make more economic and environmental sense.

Gallion has framed the issue as one of balance—protecting rural character while still meeting the state’s clean-energy mandates.

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Clean Energy Without Sacrificing Agriculture

Supporters of the bill argue that rooftop solar, brownfield redevelopment, and reuse of disturbed land are common-sense solutions that have been underutilized. They also note that these sites often reduce permitting conflicts and local opposition, speeding up project timelines.

By contrast, opponents of farmland solar warn that current policies create perverse incentives, pushing developers toward large, open tracts of agricultural land simply because they are cheaper and easier to assemble.

SB 683 attempts to correct that imbalance.

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The Broader Policy Debate

The bill enters a General Assembly already divided over energy policy, land use, and rural-urban tensions. Progressive lawmakers continue to prioritize rapid renewable deployment, while many center-right and rural legislators are increasingly focused on land preservation, food security, and local control.

Whether SB 683 advances will signal how seriously lawmakers are taking concerns from farming communities that feel sidelined by Annapolis-driven mandates.

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Why It Matters

Maryland’s farmland is a finite resource. Once it is gone, it is gone for good.

SB 683 presents a rare opportunity to align environmental goals with agricultural preservation—an approach that could serve as a model for other states struggling with the same tension. The question now is whether the General Assembly is willing to slow down, site smarter, and acknowledge that clean energy policy must also respect the land that sustains Maryland’s rural economy.

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