Investigating Farmers’ Attitudes towards Co-Existence of Agriculture and Renewable Energy Production ^†

Agri-voltaics (AVs) refer to combining agricultural activities and photovoltaic power generation. This dual use of the land has been identified as an important measure to address some of the main current and future social and environmental challenges. AVs constitute an upward trend at a global level. However, a limited number of studies have been carried out to identify the views of the interested parties, farmers, regarding the adoption of AVs on their agricultural lands. This paper reports research findings of the investigation of farmers’ views and attitudes towards the adoption of photovoltaics in agricultural lands. The non-parametric Mann–Whitney U Test was used in order to make comparisons between the group of participants that were willing to adopt AVs and those who were not. Chi-square (χ²) test of independence was performed to identify statistically significant relationships between farmers’ willingness to adopt AVs and their socioeconomic characteristics or variables that represent knowledge about agro-energy. The results reveal that educational level and age had a significant role on accepting the installation of PV agriculture. Farmers’ knowledge concerning agro-energy and their participation in farmers’ associations are positively related to their willingness to adopt AV as well.