EECA funding helps winegrowers adopt solar and battery systems
Winegrowers interested in exploring solar and battery systems on their vineyards could tap into funding and advice through a new funding programme.
 The panels with 200kw capacity have been installed in a paddock at the farm at Oaonui, near Opunake.
		  	
		  
		  		  
		  The panels with 200kw capacity have been installed in a paddock at the farm at Oaonui, near Opunake.
		  
		  
		  
	  Installing 400 solar panels at their Taranaki piggery and cropping operation will have significant environmental, financial and animal welfare benefits for the Stanley family.
The panels with 200kw capacity have been installed in a paddock at the farm at Oaonui, near Opunake.
Karl Stanley, who runs the long-established farm with family members, expects the power generated will initially supply about 70 per cent of their daily energy use, with the aim of expanding that to 100% soon.
“We will be feeding the power straight to the piggery rather than selling it to the grid because we get a greater benefit that way,” says Stanley, who estimates the payback time on the investment will be just over four years. The family’s electrician Sinclair Electrical installed the panels.
“Currently our power bills are around $110,000 a year and we expect to cover about $65,000 to $70,000 of that to start with. Most of our power is used during the day, so this makes total sense.”
The indoor piggery has around 500 sows and 5,000 grower pigs at any one time and the major power costs to the business are heating to provide the ideal temperature for their pigs, as well as ventilation, lighting and running electronic equipment such as feed mills.
“The cost savings were the major attraction but it also means less impact on the environment. We all want to reduce our footprint but it has to stack up financially. If it makes sense financially, then we want to do it.”
Having land-based panels in a paddock, like many solar farms, means the land can also still be used for grazing.
“We’ll still be grazing sheep in there and the panels have the additional benefit of providing shelter and shade so the animals can be nice and cool in summer and get under cover if it rains. It’s an ideal use of the land while we’re getting electricity out of it at the same time.”
Previous innovations carried out on the farm have already been recognised with the Stanleys among winners in the 2020 Taranaki Ballance Farm Environment Awards and the Hills Laboratory Agri-Science award.
The farm has not used any commercial fertilisers for decades. Instead, effluent produced in their indoor piggery is piped to land through an irrigation system. The maize, hay and silage produced as a result is sold to other local farms, which means it doesn’t have to be trucked in from further away.
Other measures to reduce energy use include converting all lighting in the business to LED.
“We’ve been doing the baby steps,” says Stanley. “But this is a big leap.”
NZPork is working with farmers to achieve a carbon neutral commercial pig farming sector by 2050.
The comparatively small environmental footprint of commercial pork farmers in New Zealand is a significant attribute of the sector. Pig farming currently contributes just 0.2% of New Zealand’s total Greenhouse Gas agricultural emissions.
Acclaimed fruit grower Dean Astill never imagined he would have achieved so much in the years since being named the first Young Horticulturist of the Year, 20 years ago.
The Ashburton-based Carrfields Group continues to show commitment to future growth and in the agricultural sector with its latest investment, the recently acquired 'Spring Farm' adjacent to State Highway 1, Winslow, just south of Ashburton.
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has blasted Fonterra farmers shareholders for approving the sale of iconic brands to a French company.
A major feature of the Ashburton A&P Show, to be held on October 31 and November 1, will be the annual trans-Tasman Sheep Dog Trial test match, with the best heading dogs from both sides of the Tasman going head-to-head in two teams of four.
Fewer bobby calves are heading to the works this season, as more dairy farmers recognise the value of rearing calves for beef.
The key to a dairy system that generates high profit with a low emissions intensity is using low footprint feed, says Fonterra program manager on-farm excellence, Louise Cook.

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