The agricultural industry is a significant contributor to climate change because it makes up 46.5% of the total emissions released in New Zealand. Agriculture is a major industry in NZ and orchards make up 15% of this. However Mike Casey is leading the way not only for NZ but for the world with his fully electric, fossil free, 6 hectare orchard in central Otago
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In order to achieve this the first step that Mike took was switching his diesel tractors to electric, these cannot be found anywhere in New Zealand so he had to order them from California. He has also replaced all of his other diesel run equipment such as back up generators and frost-fighting fans, by doing this it has eradicated his use of fossil fuels completely. In addition to this by ditching fossil fuel engines and going electric he has decreased is yearly bill by $57 000
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Mike hopes that other farmers will follow in his footsteps to help decrease their impact on the environment and he has already shown over 1 thousand farmers around his farm.
“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.” -Mike Casey
