"We are some of the best food producers in the world yet New Zealanders don’t know that."
That, Forest Lodge Orchard owner Mike Casey believed, was one of the contributors to the rural-urban divide as the best produce continued to be exported overseas.
The term "journey" is one that tends to be on-trend and overused but, for Mr Casey, it was the right term for the trajectory he and wife Rebecca have been on the past few years. "It’s definitely what it feels like."
The couple swapped their big city lives in Sydney for rural Central Otago where they established their Mt Pisa cherry orchard in 2019.
But this was not just any old orchard; their mission was to reduce emissions on the orchard while producing high quality fruit.
Day-to-day operations, including irrigation, frost fighting fans and orchard vehicles now used the latest electric technology. Extensive on-site solar power had also been installed.
The success of that conversion to zero fossil fuel growing methods led to the establishment of New Zealand Zero, co-founded by Mr Casey, and a desire to share the knowledge and positive benefits with other growers.
A newcomer to the primary industries — Mr Casey was a software developer who started his career as a programmer at Westpac and Inland Revenue.
In Sydney, he started GradConnection, a tech start-up based on helping university students get into the right career, which was later sold to Seek — he discovered "how terrible" it was to sell commodity products.
Farmers and growers could not set the price — they were price-takers — and, with the likes of primary sector emissions plan He Waka Eke Noa, more costs were being piled on to them, he said.
In the cherry sector, the domestic market was underserved by the way markets were set up, "New Zealand grows the best cherries in the world [but] no-one really experiences them here".
Export cherries destined for overseas that did not make the cut were sold on the wholesale floor, then supermarkets where there was a "massive" mark-up.
NZ0 is changing the game by selling export grade fruit at an export price to New Zealanders. There had been a significant response from consumers this season and a significant portion of the Forest Lodge crop, possibly 10%, had been sold to New Zealanders.
By doing that, emissions were lowered "massively" by not freighting overseas. An urgent courier company was used to distribute the mail-order fruit while local orders were delivered by electric vehicle.
The goal over the next few years was to really grow that domestic business and "be the number one choice".
"We need to own our customers, have that relationship ourselves," he said.
And that was the same for other primary produce, including meat, "If we go down the path of He Waka Eke Noa, what can we do for farmers to have that access to customers?" he said.
Human relationships were built around sharing food, if that food was identifiable back to the farmer that grew it, then that relationship was also being shared, he said.
While climate change was now acknowledged as real and caused by humans, one of Mr Casey’s biggest concerns was that the effect on food was not. "We need to make sure we have really strong food production in New Zealand."
The three most important factors when it came to climate change were water, energy and food, he said. Planting out perfectly good food-producing land with pine trees was a "very short sighted way of doing things".
A report from Rabobank said Chile was by far the largest exporter of cherries in the southern hemisphere last season. The remainder came from South Africa, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.
New Zealand’s cherry industry remained relatively small; there were less than 1000ha of plantings and the majority were in Central Otago, compared to more than 2500ha in Australia.
New Zealand cherries attracted some of the highest prices in the world. They were predominantly bought as a luxury gift in celebration of Chinese New Year, with the largest export volumes going to Taiwan followed by China, Vietnam and Thailand, the report said.
At Forest Lodge, there was very much an open-door policy, reinforcing the potential and viability of fossil fuel free grown produce.
The Caseys’ goal was to be transparent, particularly around what they were spending and the returns they were getting.
Mr Casey had convinced himself "beyond any form of doubt" that the path they had chosen was the right thing to do — he was just yet to convince any other grower to go down that path.
As a newcomer to the industry, he was very grateful to those growers who had helped the couple to grow top quality fruit on their 9300 trees.
In return, he hoped that through new technology, knowledge and what he had been learning, they could hopefully make a higher level of return.
Roughly, there was about $600,000 extra capital costs involved in establishing the zero fossil fuel orchard. To pay that all back, in operational savings, would take about seven years.
"If you’re starting with a blank canvas, it’s a no-brainer to go down the path of electrification," he said.
For existing growers, with existing technology which had to be replaced, it would take closer to 11 to 13 years.
But what it all really hinged on was not the Caseys’ operation becoming more efficient, but other businesses becoming less efficient due to the price of diesel.
Mr Casey stressed he did not want to scare people, nor did he want to preach to them. But his energy costs were "almost zero" and others were paying $40,000-$50,000 a year and those costs could go higher.
He wanted to "sit in the middle", and be a real world example of what was possible. He wanted to be transparent through providing the numbers and "let people make up their mind".
Freight was a problem for the cherry industry and potential mitigation was something Mr Casey was working on.
New ways of doing things had to be looked at, whether that was opening up to new markets like Australia, sea freight, or selling portions of crops to New Zealanders.
He was looking ahead 10 or 20 years from now, as to what the cherry industry would look like. It was not sustainable to put all the cherries on a plane to Asia.
With certification for zero fossil fuel farming, producers could position themselves as providing a favourable product for the end consumer.
It was not just about cherries; already there was interest from honey and fruit producers and he was keen to get wider farmers and growers involved.
"It’s building an on-ramp and highway for success in that area so other growers can drive on very easily," he said.
The couple had no regrets about their move from the city to the country. Central Otago was chosen because of the adventure activities the region afforded and it was also a "fantastic place" for children.
The biggest challenge was adjusting to having no friends in the area when they first arrived. But they now had an "amazing" network of friends.
Mr Casey had never previously set foot on a farm — "my whole career was focused around a keyboard and a screen" — so it was a big learning curve.
He wanted to become more practical — "so I became more practical" — and he loved the farming lifestyle.
It was a lot of work but a lot of freedom came with that. There were always challenges but there had been nothing that was insurmountable.
When the couple bought their 9ha property, the land was in lucerne. Being a businessman, and having capital to invest after the sale of the GradConnection, he was looking at planting something to get the best return from the land.
Grapes were dismissed; he candidly admitted to having spent too much time drinking in Sydney. A large part of city living involved "takeout and walking home from the pub overnight".
In his early 30s and feeling overweight, he realised he needed to get healthy so wine production was not ideal for him. Central Otago was known for its stone fruit and cherries appealed.
He was also a regular investor in New Zealand and Australian start-ups with a focus on climate and emissions reduction technology
This season at Forest Lodge had been "pretty good". Picking started about Christmas Eve and the last pick was yesterday.
When asked if he had tired yet of eating cherries, Mr Casey confirmed he had not, adding there was always "a cherry or two" that got missed on a tree.
"I’ve just been eating them constantly. Maybe my time will come."
