Apparently (google search), there are 3 key reasons deserts aren't optimal. 1. Sand/dust storms cover the panels which require frequent cleaning. 2. Extreme heat damages the panels and 3. The infrastructure needed to transport electricity from remote desert areas to urban centers is quite costly.
The article explains, it's an added benefit to leave the land to fallow while solar panels provide higher income on that land. The ideal solution would be a system of easy solar panel disassembly/relocation on a different section of the land.
How is that, if the landowner is being paid? Gubmint pays all the time not to farm certain lands anyway. Being paid by a utility, for example, means gubmint doesn't have to.
All valid points. With the current overproduction of grains it wouldn’t be a loss for our food system. What bothers me about solar is that if we need to reclaim the land for farming in the future it will be extremely expensive to remove the solar system. I’ve seen some setups where they continue to graze animals in the solar fields and thats ok with me. But a few solar installations around here have the panels so close together that animals won’t work. I don’t like looking at them either. A nice green field is much more aesthetically pleasing.