The dinner table decisions sparking renewable innovation in agriculture

Mike is the latest in a long line of renewable electricity innovators in New Zealand, passionate about self-sufficiency and finding alternatives to fossil fuels. 

Hailing from Central Otago, Mike has electrified all the machines on his farm and demonstrated how the transition away from diesel can reduce emissions and save farmers tens of thousands of dollars annually. 

Mike is also the CEO of Rewiring Aotearoa, a New Zealand charity dedicated to electrifying millions of fossil fuel machines as quickly as possible. 

His work builds on New Zealand’s long history of renewable electricity innovation. 

 

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Let there be light…and hot water

In 1888, the wealthy gold mining town of Reefton became the first in the southern hemisphere to have electric public lighting, and in 1958, New Zealand built the world’s first wet steam geothermal electricity power station. 

And the world’s first all-electric home at Tauranga was designed by groundbreaking engineer Lloyd Mandeno in the early 1900s. Powered by hydroelectricity, it featured the world’s first electric hot water storage system.

Lloyd, an electrical engineer and inventor from a farming family in the Waikato region, invented the single wire earth-return or SWER grid system of electrical reticulation, now used in many parts of the world to distribute electricity cheaply over long distances. 

Capturing carbon, without the release

Fast-forward to 2019, Mike Casey had a revelation after buying some land and decided to plant a cherry orchard to reduce emissions. 

“We thought planting lots of cherry trees was a pretty good option as far as climate action went, but when we hired a climate scientist to assess our decision, she delivered an unexpected statistic,” he said. 

“If we ran the orchard conventionally and bought equipment like diesel tractors, motorbikes, sprayers and frost-fighting fans, we would be pumping out around 50 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, or about 18 times the carbon we’d be sucking up via our cherry trees.”  

Mike’s answer was to run the orchard with 21 different electric machines, powered by solar energy, batteries and New Zealand’s renewable grid.  

“By shifting our focus from trees that capture carbon to using machines that just don’t emit it, we have reduced our on-farm emissions by around 95% compared to the status quo,” he explained. 

“We also save tens of thousands of dollars on diesel each year, and we are confident we will have a negative energy bill soon because we’re selling electricity back into the grid at times of high demand.” 

Rewiring farms, and reframing dinner table chat

Rewiring Aotearoa’s Electric Farms paper showed New Zealand’s farmers could reduce their operational costs by generating their own electricity through mid-scale solar and battery systems and feeding electricity back into the grid. 

While the electric farm machines are more expensive upfront, Mike said they are cheaper in the long run and often perform better than their fossil fuel equivalents. 

Through Rewiring Aotearoa, Mike is hoping to change the focus of homes and businesses too. 

He believes ‘dinner table’ decisions about how to heat the water, keep the house warm, cook the food and take transport are likely to have the biggest impact on an individual’s emissions tally. 

“I do a lot of public speaking and when I explain this, it’s clear that not a lot of people are aware of it,” Mike said. 

“The traditional approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions has been to concentrate on high-emitting sectors like agriculture, aviation, or manufacturing, but small fossil fuel machines in households account for around 30% of the total domestic emissions. 

“That number is much higher when you factor in all the machines in businesses and on farms. And the technology exists to replace them today. 

“There is a real lack of awareness about how much of an impact you can make by swapping machines that run on fossil fuel for more efficient, better-performing electric options – and that’s what we’re trying to address.”  

These days, Mike says electricity is not only good for the environment, it makes economic sense as well. 

“Whether in the home or on the farm, electrification is a real win-win. It’s not just the right environmental decision anymore, it’s the right economic decision. We just have to figure out how to make it easy.” 

We wrapped up our chat with Mike with four questions that give us a glimpse into his world and what he’s bringing to the evoke^AG. 2025 table.

1. What’s on your agenda in the lead-to evoke^AG. 2025?

I’m spending a lot of time refining our key messages around the future of electrification in agriculture, energy, and beyond.  My days are filled with preparing presentations, meeting with industry partners, and connecting with innovators who are shaping the future of sustainable energy. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes coordination to make sure our session delivers real value to the audience.

2. Describe your session in one sentence.

My session will delve into the electrification of various industries, discussing how the shift to clean, renewable energy can drive greater sustainability, innovation, cost saving, and resilience in agriculture – and the ways other sectors might be able to benefit too.

3. The three words that best describe your presentation style?

Engaging, solution-oriented, and forward-thinking

4. One question that keeps you awake at night?

How do we accelerate the adoption of electrification across industries while ensuring that the transition is equitable and inclusive for all communities, especially those who might not have the resources or infrastructure to make the shift? 

Don’t miss Mike on day 1 of the evoke^AG. 2025 program in keynote presentation, ‘Electric cherries: The world’s first 100% electric, zero fossil fuel orchard’. Find the full program here.