In an industry known to produce high emissions, FLO has taken significant steps to eliminate carbon (and fossil fuel use) across the orchard. As a result, day-to-day operations have been electrified. From their irrigation to their frost fighting fans, electric vehicles, tools, and even a future electric tractor and truck! 

As an example, frost fighting traditionally uses fans that are diesel powered, or helicopters are brought in to help generate airflow and reduce the chance of frost setting in. Both of these methods generate large amounts of carbon emissions. Installing two electric frost fighting fans has helped to remove this certain carbon emission contribution from the orchards footprint. 

The same applies to electric vehicles, which have replaced traditional combustion engine powered vehicles (such as the orchard cars, lawnmowers, golf carts and hedge trimmers) with electric powered alternatives. The Monarch electric tractor arrived in July 2023 and is a welcome addition to the orchard having been put straight into use and performing above and beyond the already high expectations.

All this equipment is supported by a 45 kWh solar production and a substantial, extendable battery array. FLO also actively exports power back to the national grid and in 2021 won the Sustainable Energy Association of New Zealand (SEANZ) award for the best grid-connected system.

FLO’s goal is to produce enough power to run everyday operations when season and weather permits, and to interact smartly with New Zealand's national grid. This includes buying extra power when needed and renewable, and selling it when they have a surplus through their own custom-built software. They aim to have zero net energy annually, and complete incremental payback of the installed electric technology within 10 years.

There are several aspects of the orchard that have been designed and introduced in order to maximise operational efficiency. 

Upright Fruiting Offshoots (UFO) training system is a high density growing system where trees are trained on a 2D wire trellis with upright offshoots that produce the cherries. This allows the orchard to plant 1650 trees per hectare compared to the traditional 666 per hectare. As a result, they irrigate, train and maintain their trees using less land, less energy and water, while allowing greater growth with higher levels of light inception.

With the recent arrival of the Monarch Electric tractor, this has allowed remote management of the tractor driver optional) increasing safety while saving time and labour costs.