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Somerset County famer Rich Perkoski is all smiles about the solar project on the roof of his barn on his several-hundred acre farm.
Rich received a $110,208 Rural Energy for America grant for the project. The Rural Development investment was obligated in 2023 to help Main Street Milk LLC, a dairy farming operation, purchase and install a 140.4-kilowatt (kW) solar photovoltaic system.
Since the solar panels were installed, Main Street Milk’s electricity bill has decreased from $2,500 a month to just $74, Mr. Perkoski said. It’s a stark difference for a farm staffed by five employees managing 300 cows.
The panels power the farm’s electricity, heating and milking processes, providing energy to milk cows with a vacuum pump and keep fresh milk cold, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The farm has been in operation since 2015.
“It’s going to lower the cost to operate, so that will make the farm more profitable to buy more cows, plant more crops and buy electric tractors,” Perkoski said. Since installing the panels, the farm has already purchased additional lighting for the barn and plans to buy more cows, employees said.
The average age of farmers is on the rise, USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small said during a visit to the farm to make a national program announcement. Federal investments can help farms cut costs to ensure their future survival.
Mr. Perkoski, who has spent a decade at Main Street Milk, said he hopes to pass down his farm one day because “it’s just the right thing to do.”
“When I talk with new and beginning farmers, they are concerned about the transition, too,” Small said on Oct. 3, 2024, during a visit to the farm. “How do we keep farmland in operation?”
“Your life’s work — your family’s life's work — continues to feed our nation, feed the world, and ensure our national security through food security. That’s why these investments matter.”
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