Electric cherries
After proving he could run a cherry orchard without burning a single fossil fuel, Mike Casey is keen to move other growers towards electric tech.
In 2019, Mike Casey sold a successful software start-up in Sydney and became a Cromwell cherry farmer, despite knowing little about horticulture. But that lack turned out to be an asset, forcing him to think outside the square. Three years on, he’s at the helm of the world’s first 100% electric, zero-fossil-fuel commercial orchard: Forest Lodge.
Cashed up and idealistic, he and his wife Rebecca bought six hectares of land, planted 9300 cherry trees, and smiled at the thought of the 3.8 tonnes of carbon those trees would sequester annually. “I was naïve enough to think that was all I’d need to do to create a carbon sink.” After a few back-of-the-envelope calculations, he clocked the dirty diesel debt his productive orchard would rack up: 60 to 80 tonnes of annual carbon emissions.
With the electrical revolution still in its infancy in New Zealand, Mike had to think creatively. He swapped the orchard quad bike for an electric golf cart from China (fitted with off-road tyres and raised suspension), a mower from the United States and frost-fighting fans from South Africa. He installed an offgrid solar and battery system to run the irrigation, but decided to connect to the national grid to eliminate fossil fuels entirely. Costing $150,000, it was a gutsy financial move that will take 18 months to pay off if Mike is able to sell his cherries for a 15% premium.
An agricultural torch bearer for the
Net Zero 2050 goal, Mike co-founded New Zealand Zero (NZ0) to build the certification and brand associated with zero-fossil-fuel farming. “I wanted to be the first independent grower for a much bigger movement. I will not solve the climate crisis by only doing this myself. We have to change how we think of business from being protective to being collaborative in many ways.”
With orchard manager/co-owner Euan White looking after day-to-day operations at Forest Lodge, Mike can focus on NZ0. This means walking the talk with farmers rather than sitting in an office telling them what to do. “I’m sharing all my numbers – what I spent my capital on, what the cost savings were – to de-risk it for them. At the end of the day, the only way we’ll solve the climate crisis is if we prove to growers that electric tech is far superior from a bottomline perspective as well.”
That pitch was market-tested in January 2022 with the first Forest Lodge cherry harvest. Mike was able to price-trial at selected Farro Fresh supermarkets and he sold those first cherries for three times the price of others on the market and shifted the same volume.
Turnover for that first crop was $26,875 (wholesale), with a heartening grower return of $13.80 per kilo. Much of this season’s crop will go to a buyer in Taiwan, and online pre-sales will mostly snap up the rest. Come summer 2025-26, and the Forest Lodge cherry yield should reach 100(ish) tonnes.