The owner of the world's first zero fossil-fuel orchard, located in Central Otago, shared his pioneering journey to fully electrify his 6ha orchard at the New Zealand Agricultural Show in Christchurch at the weekend.
Forest Lodge Orchard's entire commercial operation - from New Zealand's first electric frost fighting fans, to irrigation, tools and vehicles - is powered by electricity, as well as with power generated and stored on-farm using solar and batteries.
Owner Mike Casey is trialling a converted electric tractor and expects delivery of New Zealand's first fully electric tractor next year.
He said it was important not to let perfection be the enemy when it came to making changes on-farm.
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"We need to start by looking at the choices we make for things we can control, like the equipment we use on our farms.
"I have gone ahead and done everything I can do to eliminate reliance on fossil fuels, but farmers can also adopt a step-by-step approach if they want to start going down the same path."
One option for gradual change was to replace older equipment at the end of its lifespan with new electric equipment, Casey said.
"I know that not everyone can replace everything all at once, especially if they are not starting from scratch like we did, so I think another way to look at it is when things need replacing."
During his presentation, Casey provided itemised data showing the payback periods and the amount of carbon saved for the full electrification of his farm, including upgrades for connecting to the grid and the purchase of frost fighting fans, tractor conversion and equipment, an electric sprayer, and an electric vehicle.
"For the full electrification of everything on-farm, there is an incremental payback of seven years and a full payback period of 13 years."
The orchard harvested its first crop of fossil fuel-free cherries last year and Casey said the key to improving the payback of electrification and solar energy was marketing a premium product which consumers were willing to pay more for and backing this up with hard evidence.
To help other farmers with this, he has created a new NZ0 certification which is independently audited by AsureQuality.
This certification has strict rules around fossil fuels which means that food producers cannot offset their emissions but instead need to provide evidence of change regarding fossil fuel use.
"This is a vital part of providing consumers with an authentic certification because the words ‘carbon neutral' do not necessarily mean that the consumers are getting a sustainable product."
Casey has already shown more 1000 farmers around his farm. "I am always keen to share what I have done with others. If we can plant a seed of change then the climate will thank us later."
Casey found one of the main barriers to setting up a fully electric operation was finding an insurance product that would cover the risk of power cuts to his electric frost-fighting fans during the vulnerable spring growing months.
Luckily GSI Insurance Partners Christchurch director Sean Lysaght and Vero created a policy that met his needs.
"We approached Vero, and they were willing to collaborate with us to create a new and innovative insurance policy that would cover Mike for any loss of product due to power cuts," Lysaght said.
