Electric farms a difficult ask for some producers as agriculture industry struggles to wean off diesel

Machinery driven by electric motors powered by systems including diesel generators, batteries, and hydrogen is expected to reduce emissions.

Just like the domestic road vehicle market, major machinery producers have committed to launching electric tractors with models up to 100 horsepower starting to become available in Australia. "But what actually happened is we discovered we'd save about $40,000 a year of energy costs on our farm."In Australia, large-scale grain growers face conditions that make the industry especially hard to decarbonise.

He expected biofuels to be an important interim step while new technology like hydrogen became more cost-effective. "We eliminate all of the belts, pulleys, and gearboxes, no hydraulics. It is all electric, and doing that we can save 30 per cent of the energy," Mr Krieg said. Both Mr Krieg and Mr White said batteries capable of powering large machines would be too heavy and cumbersome for farm applications."Diesel is a lot more dense and so battery technology has to improve before that catches up.Stories from farms and country towns across Australia, delivered each Friday.Five years ago these farmers' salty wells were useless.

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