Cattle under solar, electric cherry farms 🚜
For the first time in five years we are about to sell out at the National Renewables in Ag Conference! 30 tickets left so get in quick esp if you’re a farmer. I don’t want you missing out.
Tragically my partner Jon was killed in an accident on our farm 2 weeks ago.
I couldn’t call the ambulance 50m from my house due to poor ph reception. This needs to change.
The Renewables in Ag Conference, 4 July in Toowoomba will go ahead with help from those around me.
Chatted to
@guardian
about the absurd claim that 1/3 of farm land will be lost to renewables. 🌾☀️
You can
#farm
around wind turbines and graze sheep under
#solar
.
Accident on our farm today & not only could our employee not get phone reception but when he did get a text through, the phones didn’t work in Narromine to call 000 due to tower upgrades. That’s dangerous
@Telstra
!!
Let people know alternative 000 is 1122 when towers are down.
A farmer in Tassie got in touch after seeing this
@thelandnews
article, because he’s keen to switch to solar.
I often feel I don’t do nearly enough to address the
#climateemergency
but if you’re a farmer taking action, keep telling your story as you never know who’s listening
A lovely lady drove 6 hours from Sydney today to take a photo of her dog in our cotton 😆
For her Instagram page mind you, but that’s dedication!!
@cottonfarmgirl
@andypbray
@claireo_booth
To all my
#farmer
followers, please be careful when driving ATVs. My partner was thrown from one and killed.
We are waiting for the police report as there was something wrong with the accelerator.
Work Safe told me it’s one of the top reasons farmers are killed.
In India, solar panels are built over canals to save billions of gallons of water from evaporating & creates renewable energy at the same time!
@knovhov
We’ve waited 7 months to pick this
#cotton
crop. Much has fallen off the plant due to rain/hail but he’s giving it a good go. Crossing fingers for not too many break downs (we’ve had 2 already today).
I recently took international landholders considering hosting
#solar
& grazing merinos under panels to a couple of solar grazing operations in the Central West. Thanks to the farmers who hosted our group.
Key take away points: a 🧵 (1/4)
Definition of disheartening. Trying to revegetate a farm in Australia.
Planted >1,300 trees last winter before the very wet season. Checked today - not one survived 😫
Added to that, fleabane has overtaken the strips we sprayed in prep for the seedlings.
@olympiayarger
Harvest done and dusted. 2,700 tonnes wheat = 4.4 millions loaves of bread.
Only 3 winter crops in the last 6 years thanks to drought and floods. Shows what we are missing out on globally as these events become more frequent.
I was grateful before but even more so now, that 320 ppl were able to gather in Dubbo in May to share renewables opportunities in ag.
Important to continue conversations to decarbonise our sector ensuring its future in more ways than one.
@simonahac
@farmingforever
Just on our farm, we’ve replaced a lot of diesel used for pumping, for solar. Saves 500 tonnes of carbon a yr!
Many other farmers I speak to in my work, are passionate & active, quietly doing their bit to invest in
#renewables
, reveg parts of their property & measure carbon.
Australian agriculture is well on the way to net zero climate emissions, thanks to leadership from across the sector.
This includes net zero 2050 (economy) target by
@nationalfarmers
.
Net zero by 2030(!) targets by
@meatlivestock
and
@graingrowersltd
+ many more.
@p_hannam
Finally a move in the right direction. When will people like
@Barnaby_Joyce
understand farmers like ourselves are impacted by more unpredictable weather, drought, fire and floods. Farmers need action on climate change. Not tomorrow but today.
Biodiversity credits would be nice but the real joy from creating and preserving habitats on farms is the privilege you get to enjoy our beautiful wildlife up close.
#farmlife
#WildOz
Flying to
#Wagga
for the Renewables in Ag Conference..dust storms, drought, fires ravaging the country- my heart goes out to those affected.
A 250 strong crowd will gather this Thursday, sharing knowledge & taking action to reduce emissions & transition to on farm renewables.
What my daughter refers to as ‘the solar panels birthday’ - we launched our 500kW
#solar
diesel irrigation pump 1 year ago. We’re on track for a 5 yr pay back even with a few glitches along the way. Solar: building farm resilience!
@afsnsw
@MarkCoultonMP
#WorldCottonDay
Had a great chat w my Conference farmer speaker re large scale solar & wind.
Imagine if farmers were more proactive & collectively negotiated 2 ensure;
-good biosecurity measures
-local roads improved
-wealth shared w neighbours
-large community funds
-ag/habitat under panels
Our first
#Safflower
crop!
Safflower can be used as a high end biofuel. It’s used as a lubricant for engines replacing petroleum based products. What a plant!
One of humanity’s oldest crops according to
@abclandline
@Oscarthefarmer
Clean Green Ag has arrived! Here’s a snapshot of the numbers for our farm’s 500kW solar diesel pump. The price drop in solar means large scale solar irrigation is a viable options for farmers. 5 year pay back - no brainer.
@afsnsw
@ReAquasolarpump
@farmingforever
@nswirrigators
My point being - it ain’t easy and all this talk of carbon sequestration through plantings. 🤨
Farmers need support and help. Third un-successful year for tree planting for us.
Hear from farmers & how they’re using renewables to cut costs. Experts will discuss working out the business case for on-farm renewables. Our Conference website is live! Register now to save your spot.
@AnikaMolesworth
@NationalFarmers
@simonahac
As we transition to renewables, hear directly from farmers who are farming under solar, wind turbines & transmission next week 14 Oct at 10am.
Canadian & Aussie farmer speakers.
@progressiveagri
@kinburnsheep
@bjbyrnes
@farmingforever
Register below.
@MarcFennell
@garigalAnj
Can relate. My 8 year old and her friend set up a pet shop in her bedroom and they’d ask if I was double vaxxed and where was my proof, everytime I came in to buy something.
Bit of a chickie re-education campaign going on here.
A fox was trying to get in while our chickies were trying to get out yesterday.
🤦🏻♀️
#farmlife
#chickens
Shout out & big thanks to volunteer fire fighters!
From the call @ Narromine station took 6mins for trucks to be rolling.
Woken at 1am last night to a neighbour yelling there was a 🔥.
Didn’t realise it was on our farm & the embarrassing bit - we weren’t even the first there.
@PWMXGEN
@guardian
Sheep love the shade under panels and vegetation does grow.
Article below gives a good outline - pics are from Tom Warren’s farm which is only an hour from me.
1 millionth panel about to be installed at the Bowen Solar Farm in
#Wagga
! The farm will host 100 bee hives, plant clover so hopefully the white flowers reflect light onto the bifacial panels & trial grazing sheep. What a way to end a renewables in ag focused week!
@FreeAnna1
Dust storms to
#floods
on our farm in just a few short years.
#Farmers
are facing increasing viability - impacting their business sustainability & the cost of everyone’s food.
#ClimateActionNow
That’s my orphaned joey!
With a broken pelvis (he recovered) holding a ball for ‘enrichment’. How it ended up becoming a gif is beyond my social media skills.
This is the first-place winner in GrainGrowers' Calendar Competition! Taken by Karin Stark from NSW, she won $1,000 for her shot ‘Sunset Girl’.
Congratulations Karin!
#ruralaustralia
#farmlife
📸 View the other winning entries:
What a brilliant day yesterday of shared stories from farmers, knowledge & opportunity presented by experts & fantastic discussions throughout the day. Thanks to all who came, to the speakers, sponsors & to my wonderful committee!!
@SteveWhan
@FreeAnna1
@farmingforever
Just had our first farm stay guests since losing my partner. Lovely people.
Better than the Airbnb guests who checked in day after I lost Jon (was too late to cancel) who still wanted me to bring fishing lines over when I told her my partner just died & gave us 4 stars! 🤦🏻♀️
Not a lot of power produced from our solar panels today on the farm.
Look forward to a time when posting dust storm photos is the exception not the norm..
#drought
#narromine
@farmingforever
Will
#farmers
soon be able to charge their electric utes with excess
#solar
from panels near their pumps?
Great to have
@GregMcgarvie
at the upcoming National Renewables in Ag Conference to talk about this very idea!
So cool!
#agrivolatics
in Colorado.
‘the farmer soon discovered that the shade from the towering panels above the soil actually helped the plants thrive. That intermittent shade also meant a lot less evaporation of coveted irrigation water’.
First picking season since installing 500kW solar to run our pump. I just read
@AgEconAus
research showed a reduction of 26% emissions per bail due to solar on a neighbour’s property.
One way of demonstrating the industry moving towards a sustainable future.
@CottonAustralia
Can’t get over the colour of these
#emu
eggs.
Was laid in the middle of the road at the end of a cotton field.
Does anyone know why emus leave them around randomly and whether this would be unfertilised?
#asktwitter
A lot of loaves of bread! Day 1 of harvest, first crop we’ve picked in over 18 months due to flooding last year.
About 1.2 tonnes of wheat per hectare. 🚜 🌾
There aren’t many
#solar
farms in New Zealand & certainly no solar grazing so I’m bringing some Kiwi landholders around to learn from Aussie examples.
Sheep love the shade, fences protect them from wild dogs & plenty of feed available under panels.
@mcannonbrookes
Exactly the type of story that needs to be shared more.
‘They did what they said they’d do’.
This is what builds trust with communities!
Wouldn’t it have been great if indigenous foods/herbs were grown between the solar panels. Australia needs more growers, could be a win-win.
@simonahac
@climate200
@SenatorHume
@SenatorHume
My partner and I donated to
@climate200
. We farm food and fibre in the Central West. We’re seeing the impact of climate on the land and the environment and want to see strong leadership in politics to address this emergency.
We’re on the hunt - looking 4 farmers to speak at our next
#Renewables
in
#Ag
Conference in Sept.
Can anyone put me in touch with a farmer who’s done great stuff with renewables, battery storage and or biomass/bioenergy?
We’ve confirmed a few great speakers but need more. Thx!
My new report ‘Farm Powered’ written 4
@farmingforever
, along with
@reallianceaus
explores the interconnected nature of our food & energy systems & how we can unlock opportunities 4 the regions in the
#energytransition
. Thx 2 everyone who contributed 🙏🏼
Yikes! Driving through flood water to get to town for better internet to help with the
@farmingforever
Farm Powered report launch.
Wouldn’t have to leave home if our internet was reliable!
@gabriellechan
Ken runs merino sheep under
#solar
panels & says yield is better 4 sheep under panels than those on the rest of his farm & fleet weight has been higher.
Avg greasy fleece weight of 6kgs, mean fibre diameter 18 micron, 80.8pc yield & wool value per head $122.90
@cleannrgcouncil
Great leadership from
@Matt_KeanMP
&
@DugaldSaunders
announcing the 27GWs of interest in the Central West
#Renewable
Energy Zone from private investors.
Star landholder Tom Warren (speaking at next year’s Renewables in Ag Conference) hosted the day on his solar farm in
#Dubbo
.
For those who missed the recent Renewables in Ag Conference, listen to the Country Hour where some of our fantastic farmer speakers explain how they’re changing their business to cut costs and emissions.
NSW Country Hour
Engaged communities do make a difference -there's no one better to speak to this than
@Indigocathy
@ the National Renewables in Ag Conference Toowoomba, July 4th! 🌿🚜 Her remarkable journey as a 6th gen farmer & Chair of
@AgriFuturesAU
promises insights that u won't want to miss
SAVE THE DATE - 9th December
#Renewables
in Ag webinar 9am
Hear from farmers using bioenergy, solar irrigation & planting potatoes under panels.
Oregon Uni Professor Chad Higgins will present on agrivoltaics.
@James_Stacey_
@farmingforever
@Nat_Irrigators
📷 Squires Wines
We haven’t seen yellow
#canola
fields grown along our road for years due to drought, so you can’t blame me for acting like a tourist and stopping for a photo ☺️
Question 4 farmers who plant hundreds of trees - how the heck do you keep them alive without hours of individual watering?
We planted 60, 4 months ago, I just checked them (after leaving them as we had had rain) to find 50% dead.
I watered them for the first month.
#asktwitter
@D_LittleproudMP
What about supporting renewables on farm such as our 500kW solar diesel pump which cuts 500 tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere per year! Encouraging and enabling farmers to go solar for irrigation will help achieve emission reductions.
@farmingforever
Just found this antique badge collection in an old hut on our farm that’s been used for storage for 40 years.
A surreal look into the past - with ‘The Sub Normal Children’s Appeal’, ‘War Orphans Appeal’ and ‘United Protestant Homes’ ...
#Australia
Farmers; some of the most resilient people you’ll ever meet.
Still smiling despite the heavy rain, ruined crops and no windscreen on the 2 by 2.
@claireo_booth
#loveyourfarmer
@TonyHWindsor
@TheIPA
Agree they clearly have no idea what they’re talking about. You can farm 97% of the land hosting wind turbines and you can farm under solar panels too. Japan grows 120 different crops under solar panels.
As energy prices soar, farmers are putting power into their own hands, using renewables to cut costs.
They’ll be gathering this August to share stories & learnings @ the
One example is Meredith Dairy who have cut grid use by 70% by using bioenergy!
More than 300 people came together 4 the National Renewables in Ag Conference yesterday.
When you hear what’s happening on the ground, there’s much cause 4 optimism in our sector.
Thx to my committee, speakers, sponsors & exhibitors.
@nswdpi
@cleannrgcouncil
@llsnsw
@CEFCAus
NSW’s plan to become a renewables superpower!
$1.5 billion to flow onto landholders hosting
#renewable
energy developments - creating a guaranteed secondary income.
Grazing & cropping can occur between panels providing multiple benefits for landholders.
@farmingforever
Who wouldn’t agree that the Green Tree Frog (Litoria Caerulea) is the cutest of its species.
Wonderful to find this fat beauty while watering this morning. 🐸
@jodirowley
#aussiewildlife
#farmlife
Farmer speaker
@penfreshorganic
explains how solar enables irrigating his veg crops in the day rather than night. Better 4 the plants & for checking busted pipes!
“I’m a better veggie grower than speaker”
Thanks 4 sharing your story! It ain’t easy speaking in front of 300 ppl!
Thanks
@AnikaMolesworth
for sending your beautifully written book!
Very excited to get stuck in and feel lucky to have had our story included in it. You rock ⭐️
@farmingforever
Jon and I showing a Blue Mountains based friend some of our developing cotton this morning. She had no idea cotton seed produces oil - which sometimes ends up in fish & chips deep fryers 😊