Made in the shade

Kenneth Armijo grew up on a chile farm in Sabinal — between Albuquerque and Socorro — where he learned from his family the importance of agriculture.

Today, he’s a principal R&D systems engineer and scientist at Sandia National Laboratories and made headlines in 2022 when he began to experiment with roasting chile using concentrated sunlight.

Armijo is the subject of “Harvesting the Sunshine, Conserving the Rio Grande,” a segment of the New Mexico PBS series “Colores!” The episode will air at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 14, on New Mexico PBS, channel 5.1. It will also be available to stream on the PBS app.

Armijo’s story caught the attention of “Colores!” producer and director Tara Walch.

Armijo has developed revolutionary photovoltaic systems to protect crops and conserve water in the Rio Grande Valley.

“I was actually looking into the Lemitar chile peppers and how they grow,” Walch says. “I’m always interested in farming practices and farming stories, and I wanted to know more about this variety of chile. I found out randomly about how Ken had done this project in 2022 and was working on a new project with some local farms. It was a no-brainer.” 

The episode explores an agrivoltaics research project at Rio Grande Community Farm in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque.

Walch says agrivoltaics research provides information to enable farmers, ranchers and other agricultural producers to determine whether they could gain value from installing solar energy systems while keeping their land available for agricultural purposes. Since installing a solar energy system is a long-term investment with an expected system lifetime of 25 years or more, having accurate research and analysis available helps stakeholders make informed decisions.

Walch was amazed at how Armijo is utilizing technology to keep innovating the agricultural industry.

Armijo noticed that on his family’s farm, the bushes shaded by trees seemed to yield more berries.

He decided to place solar panels over crops to keep them from getting burned by the sun. With some of the solar panel systems, Armijo is able to raise and lower each panel, providing the opportunity for more or less sunlight. There are also transparent panels for crops that need full sun.

“With this innovation, it can even protect crops from hail,” Walch says. “This is how he wants to innovate in the farming practice to keep the culture that he grew up in. This innovation helps farming culture and practice help create systems that can be sustainable. That’s what really intrigues me is that he has found a way to create a community around innovation.”

Walch filmed the segment in August and September in Medanales and Los Ranchos.

She says with the changing landscape and ecosystems, she’s often looking for stories that showcase human innovation for sustainability.

“What fascinates me is people being creative and taking into account their cultural values,” Walch says. “Ken is a perfect example of the new and old world coming together to create something that benefits the entire community.”