Two large industries in Wyoming are energy and agriculture, and an upcoming seminar in Gillette will explore how the two can best co-exist.
Ranchers and the energy industry both typically need large swaths of land for things like grazing cows or drilling for gas. Sometimes this means an energy company will enter into a contract with a rancher to use that private land.
“There's some really great examples where it's been a win-win situation,” said Randall Violett, associate director of the University of Wyoming’s ranch management and agriculture leadership program. “These companies come in, put up these wind turbines, and then now all of a sudden, the rancher has a really good road infrastructure on their place.”
Violett added that there can be challenges too – like making sure the language in a contract stipulates the needs of a rancher.
“Giving surface access to a solar field, and then later wanting to bring sheep into graze underneath solar panels,” he said. “If you don't have that established in the lease at the very onset, you're not going to be able to do that.”
So the upcoming seminar called Energy Innovations in Ranching will cover tips on these kinds of contracts and just general, helpful information for both industries. It’ll feature a panel of speakers starting at 5 p.m. at the Gillette College’s Technical Education Center.
“Those panelists will discuss various questions such as challenges of balancing ranches’ needs with energy development,” Violett said. “What are the benefits of working collaboratively with energy leases? Is there an opportunity for ranchers in the carbon market? And then, what's the future hold or what's there?”
The seminar will be available remotely too. For more information click here. It is part of a series of University of Wyoming-hosted seminars throughout the year that have a special focus on agriculture. Two others this spring will focus on running a family business and water issues in the region.
