By teaming up with its local rural electric co-op, a northern Iowa hog raiser has found a way to reduce its monthly electric bill while im­­proving its environmental performance.

Reicks View Farms of Lawler in Chickasaw County recently built a 664-kilowatt solar array near a substation owned by MiEnergy Cooperative, an electric co-op based jointly in Cresco and nearby Rushford, Minnesota. MiEnergy...