04/04/2026
I had the pleasure of visiting Mike Casey’s electric cherry farm in Central Otago last year. He spoke to a group of electricians, and I was impressed with his knowledge of our industry. Listen to his latest interview with Jack Tame below ⬇️
What Electric Orchardist Mike Casey argued for so coherently and passionately this morning on Q+A with Jack Tame isn't pie in the sky stuff. The electrification opportunity is there to be grasped.
Watch the full interview here (unless you're a fossil fuel lobbyist, you're likely to be impressed).⚡ https://loom.ly/ARLwKzs
Electrification stacks up economically for homes, most businesses and the country as a whole and, as we keep saying, solar, EVs, batteries, heat pumps and renewables are not woke, they just work. We just need to get past the culture war crap and help more New Zealanders deal with the cost of living crisis.
More electric machines running on New Zealand-made energy will also reduce our reliance on imported fuel and make our existing stocks go further for the machines that need it.
And, massive added bonus in case anyone has forgotten what's happening with the weather, there's no contest when it comes to emissions.
Right now, we're dealing with a crisis and we hope it doesn't come down to rationing. But we also need to learn from this and plan for the next one. We need to keep thinking big and building more cheap solar, wind and geothermal. But we also need to think small and electrify as many of our ten million fossil fuel machines as possible.
That's the bit that often gets overlooked but, as Casey said, a lot of a little is a lot. So, to all those politicians thinking about how to get the votes in the 'electric election', let's make New Zealand-made energy our North Star, let's run more electric machines on that energy and let's and do everything we can to create the world's most electric economy.
