King Charles Cottons On To Kiwi's Eco-Friendly Bale Netting

"King Charles to trial Southland farmer's bale wrap" — that's the headline on a story about an Orepuki deer farmer whose eco-friendly bale netting is set to be trialled on King Charles' royal farms in the next year.

Grant Lightfoot, an Orepuki deer farmer, is the creator of Kiwi Econet — a non-polluting baleage netting made from jute that can be eaten by animals. The product does not replace the outer plastic wrapping used for baleage and silage, but provides an alternative to the plastic-based netting inside, which stock have been known to eat.

Lightfoot made a connection with the royals after meeting Prince William at the Groundswell Festival in the United Kingdom. "He said that would be really good on our farms," Lightfoot said of the royal. He followed up with King Charles' farm manager and left them a roll of the econet to trial this coming season.

Lightfoot hoped the royal attention would give his invention a boost as he looked to take it worldwide.

The idea itself came from an unlikely place. Lightfoot was working as a commercial diver when he thought of the farm back home while waiting in a decompression chamber out on the ocean. Returning home, Lightfoot and his partner Colleen Quirk hand-knitted the first 50 metres of the 1.25m wide netting out of jute twine — it took weeks at a rate of about a metre per night.