Year Awarded 2023
FFAR award amount $881,526
Total award amount $1,763,053
Location Lawrence, KS
Program Seeding Solutions
Matching Funders University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc., Kansas State University, Michigan State University, Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Inc.
The High Plains Aquifer provides irrigation to support a $3.5 billion agricultural economy across eight states, but due to decades of groundwater extraction, water levels have fallen dangerously low across much of the aquifer. Researchers at the University of Kansas are studying the integration of solar panel arrays outfitted with rain collection gutters on farmland to recharge groundwater and provide marketable electricity to growers.