Learning how to live with solar developments was top of mind for many Tuesday at the annual Indiana University Rural Conference in French Lick.

Presenters showed how they manage vegetation and raise sheep around a solar development on their land.

Dana and Paul Cummings own Sunovis Ranch in Franklin. Their focus on ‘solar grazing’ is a form of agrivoltaics, or the practice of using the same land for energy and agriculture.

“We raise Katahdin sheep, and those are hair sheep who are really, really good at mowing the grass, so that's what we focus on, and we have a good time doing it,” Dana said.

Those sheep help maintain the vegetation under the panels, while also being a livestock that can be sold as income similar to cows and chickens.

Other agrivoltaics include planting native grasses and pollinators, or using the space for bee hives.

Dana hopes that raising sheep becomes more popular in Indiana.

“As a mom, as a native Hoosier, as a business owner in the state, I would just underscore that for anyone who's thinking about it, how wonderful it is to live with and kind of coexist with sheep,” she said.

Other topics discussed at the conference included the value of historic preservation and how to prepare rural students to be AI-Ready learners.