New York state officials issued an 11-page response last week disputing the assertion that large solar installations are converting productive farmland. The criticism stems from former President Trump's claim that the state was fast‑tracking solar projects on prime agricultural land. New York officials said that farmers can lease parcels to developers and retain the land for farming after the lease ends, citing a Cornell University study that found most lease‑payment recipients used the income to maintain or expand farming operations. The state energy agency released a guidebook last year showing that sheep and cattle graze beneath solar arrays on several farms and that zoning rules protect undeveloped land. A Solar Energy Industries Association report indicates solar farms occupy 0.13 percent of New York's 13,000 square miles of prime farmland, or 0.07 percent of all U.S. farmland, figures that are lower than those for golf courses and suburban development. Anti‑solar voices on social media, including influencer Alexandra Fasulo and former "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" musician John Rich, who was hired by the White House to advocate for landowners, continue to promote the land‑use narrative. In California's Central Valley, drought has led to fallowing of hundreds of thousands of acres, and some farmers lease land to solar developers as an alternative income source, according to the guidebook. The debate highlights tensions between renewable energy expansion and agricultural preservation, and New York's approach may serve as a model for other states confronting similar misinformation.