Perdue Farms has become the first U.S. poultry producer to have pollinator-friendly ground cover at a company solar installation. Located at the company headquarter’s 5-acre solar field inSalisbury, Maryland, the pollinator-friendly ground cover consists of a variety of flowering plants that provide food in the form of nectar and pollen during each growing season. It contains a mixture of plants that bloom from early spring to late fall, so that flowers will be available when pollinators, such as honey bees, are active. The species were selected to be low-growing to keep from shading the panels, as well as deep-rooted to be resilient to periods of intense sun and rain.
The ground cover seeds were planted in 2018. This is the first year the habitat has been in bloom. Perdue is requiring all its future solar projects include pollinator-friendly ground cover.
