Green energy or fields

The projects share something in common: They would take large swaths of farmland out of production and cover them with black, slanted panels 9 to 12 feet high.

It's an issue that more and more small towns and their farmers will face as New York State pushes toward the goal embodied in a law passed this year of drawing 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.

The power and the money may be green, but the fields will be black – with solar panels.

"It will also do another thing," Bockhahn said. "It will preserve a big chunk of land for 40 years, because it's a 40-year contract. If you don't do something with it, they all get split up into house lots."

Jack Honor, EDF's project manager, said the company already has about 1,800 acres under contract in Concord and Sardinia.

"It's good, flat farmland in a community that's supportive," Honor said. "Both towns that we're in have passed laws that encourage solar development. We anticipate that we would be able to sign up 100% of our land by around the end of the year if things go well."

"At this point, the Town Board isn't for it or against it," said Drake, the Concord supervisor.