Gisborne business becomes first in NZ to trial electric harvester

by Kate Green, RNZ

Gisborne horticulture business LeaderBrand has become the first in the country to trial new electric harvesting equipment.

A battery-powered harvester and a pair of moving platforms are the latest step in the company’s push for sustainable horticulture, and they are currently being put through their paces in one of their huge Tucker Road greenhouses.

General manager of farming Gordon McPhail said the new equipment arrived late last year, and already it had proved quieter, cleaner and more adaptable.

The harvester was a proven concept overseas, but the motorised platforms were custom-made and twice the price of the non-electric versions, and it was all bought with help from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

The Tucker Road site spans 10 hectares, split evenly into three greenhouses producing a mixture of salad crops which Mr McPhail says make up 50 percent of their business.

“Everything about this house is about sustainability — how we farm into the future around the environment, around having better, more consistent products (and) being more financially viable.”

On this particular day, the harvester was cutting rocket. Mr McPhail said they would get five to six cuts off a rocket crop in a season (and it gets more peppery every time).

Mr McPhail explained that on each machine, a battery ran a series of drive motors.

“It’s pretty simple,” he said.

And on the harvester: “There’s a band saw on the front there, you can see it’s got a lift belt, and there’s a shaker belt on the back. That’s it.”

The new version of the harvester did not look too different from its diesel predecessor, he said.

It was the same machine with a different engine, but the electric version was far cleaner and quieter, particularly for use indoors.

“That’s something that, to be honest, we really didn’t think about. But when you actually have it in here, that’s such a huge benefit.”

Mr McPhail said it was not viable for use outside yet, as mud changed the load on the motors, and dirt, water and grit affected its function.

“I’m not saying that we won’t find a way to get there, but when we’re in this prototype or learning phase, it’s not the place that we would introduce it.”

The equipment had posed some teething problems, but the brand was determined to push towards sustainable practices despite that.

He said it was an exciting development for the rest of horticulture, too. These platforms could be used for many other crops, making their trial a proof-of-concept for the wider industry.