A group of 20 of Central’s women in horticulture explored the 100 per cent electric way of growing cherries on a visit to Forest Lodge Orchard last Friday afternoon (November 11).

Visit organiser Whitney Conder said it was refreshing to step outside of their own horticulture bubbles and see different sustainable ways to operate.

Forest Lodge is a six hectare cherry orchard ten minutes from Cromwell, which has 9,300 trees - using no fossil fuels to produce cherries.

Orchard manager Euan White took visitors on a tour of the orchard encompassing the electric frost fighting fans, the high density growing technique (upright fruiting offshoots or UFO), the electric ride on mower, the electric golf cart (which does the job of a quad bike) and the modified electric tractor and spray unit.

The electric pickman truck used on the orchard

One of the group takes the truck for a test drive.

Mike and Rebecca Casey founded the orchard in 2019 and the pair have been innovating ever since.

Euan showed the group the electric tractor modified by Loxley in Christchurch, it has a 20kw battery

The first carbon neutral Flexi house was built on site earlier this year and is used for staff accommodation and as a breakout space. It is a modular timber building; built to be weather tight in less than a day, and can be easily added to if it needs to change. 

Solar panels on the sheds harness the power of the sun into electricity, which is stored in batteries and runs everything from irrigation, the mower and other electric vehicles to the heat pump in the family home.

The excess solar power generated is sold back to the grid. Mike was a programmer and software developer previously, and he has created a programme that “knows when the electricity spot price is really low”. This allows the orchard to buy electricity to run the frost fighting fans for around one cent an hour.

The golf cart is charged while it is not in use, the only cost to run it is about 500mls of oil for the differential each year

Euan said the solar generation goes hand in hand with the winter slow down on the orchard.

“When the sun is shining it’s hot, we’re generating power to irrigate. When it’s not hot, there is no power and no irrigation needed…We’re clever when we plug things in and we [try] to optimise the way the system interacts with the grid.”

Irrigation is via a drip line directly onto roots, to use water efficiently. 

Rebecca said they would like to keep their cherries in New Zealand to target the “climate conscious consumer”. 

Following a trial of selling cherries at Farro Fresh in Auckland last season, the Caseys know they can charge 10 -15 per cent more for their cherries. 

Being 100 per cent electric does result in increased labour and time in some instances. Euan said their electric mower struggles with bigger weeds, meaning staff are mowing more frequently.

The electric tractor and spraying unit, while jaw droppingly quiet, does require four charges to cover the entire orchard (one hour to charge to 60 per cent of the battery).

The UFO growing system set up is “more labour up front” but then is quicker and easier for seasonal workers to pick fruit.

Solutions are coming to address the challenges; a electric mower with a 6kw boom is planned for more effective spraying and one day Euan plans to get a bigger and gruntier electric deck to go behind the tractor to manage longer weeds.

Along with more improvements to electric techniques, Euan urged visitors to imagine the next step for spraying or mowing; “no driver at all”. 

To learn more about Forest Lodge Orchard see their website.

The ‘Women in Horticulture Central Otago’ group can be contacted via Facebook. The group began to support, inspire and share knowledge within women in the industry. 

Walkabout to view the UFO growing technique at Forest Lodge Orchard