No matter which way you slice it, the farm economy is in a challenging place right now. Farmers are running the numbers on their operations, and many are coming to hard conclusions: even after a good season, the numbers aren’t adding up.

Fertilizer costs are up. Fuel isn’t coming down. Equipment payments aren’t stopping. And the margins, that keep a farm in the family, keep getting thinner. For many folks, that means it’s time to start evaluating their options. Not to get rich. Just to stay afloat.

One of those options is putting solar panels on a portion of the farm acreage. Not replacing crops. Not giving up farming. Just using a small part of what they own to generate steady income and lower their power bills.

For a lot of farmers right now, that’s what solar actually is: not a political issue, not an environmental statement, just another way to make the math work. That’s where Washington often gets it wrong.

Too many of the debates around solar and agriculture treat it like a tradeoff: food versus energy, farms versus development. But that’s not what’s happening on the ground. Increasingly, farmers are doing both.

Agrivoltaics, pairing agriculture with solar, allows land to stay in production while also producing power. Sheep graze under panels. Crops grow alongside them. In some cases, the land is actually more resilient because it’s being managed more carefully. More importantly, it gives farmers something they don’t have enough of right now: certainty.

Commodity prices rise and fall. Weather is unpredictable. Input costs swing year to year. But a long-term lease or lower electricity bill is predictable. It’s bankable. It’s the kind of stability that keeps operations going. And in some cases, it’s the difference between keeping the farm or selling it.

That’s why programs like the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) have mattered for so long. They’ve helped farmers install energy systems, cut costs, and invest back into their operations. Not in theory, but in practice, in places like Arkansas, Kansas, and across rural America.

It’s easy to forget, but this has never been a partisan issue. Farmers don’t ask whether something is Republican or Democrat. They ask whether it works. REAP has worked.

Now, as all eyes are on the Senate’s work on the Farm Bill, lawmakers face a clear choice: support cuts to programs like REAP that enable farmers to choose renewable energy and lower long-term costs, or protect them. Cutting this critical program would be a mistake.

At a time when President Trump is focused on lowering costs, strengthening domestic energy, and rebuilding American industry, helping farmers generate their own power checks every box. It lowers operating expenses. It adds to local energy supply. It keeps more economic activity rooted in rural communities instead of sending it elsewhere.

It also fits squarely within a broader push for American energy independence. Energy produced on American farms, by American landowners, is about as local and as secure as it gets.

That doesn’t mean every project should move forward without scrutiny. Farmers understand land better than anyone, and they care deeply about how it’s used. But the answer isn’t to take options on the table entirely. The answer is to make sure those options are available and workable.

The Farm Bill has always been one of the few places in Washington where that kind of common sense still shows up. It’s one of the last major pieces of legislation where both parties have historically come together around a simple idea: if farmers are struggling, you help them.

That principle should apply here. Supporting agrivoltaics and programs like REAP isn’t about picking winners or pushing an agenda. It’s about recognizing what’s already happening across the country and giving farmers the flexibility to make decisions that keep their operations running.

Because at the end of the day, this isn’t really about solar panels. It’s about whether the next generation gets a chance to farm the same land. And whether Washington lawmakers are willing to support the people who make that possible.

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Tyler Bacon is the president of CB Solar Inc.,

which is based in Des Moines.