Hundreds of farms across the country have taken up loans totalling $60 million to install cost efficient and cleaner energy.

Farms can borrow up to $5 million each, under a deal brokered by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation through the National Australia Bank.

The initiative was designed to allow irrigators, horticulturists, dairies and other farms with high energy costs to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Flower power in Wesley Vale

At Wesley Vale in Northern Tasmania, a new flower power revolution is emerging in greenhouses.

Maarten Blokker, along with his wife Marianne, operates one of Australia's largest flower farms, producing blooms for florists around Australia.

"This location is probably is as good as it gets anywhere in the world for growing freesias and Dutch iris, callas," Mr Blokker said.

The couple started the flower farm 19 years ago and have built greenhouses covering two hectares of flower beds, reusing the soil repeatedly.

A huge amount of energy is needed to sterilise the soil between crops and with chemical sterilisation, like methyl bromide, now out of the question, the Blokkers use steam.

Stoking the boiler to produce steam for sterilisation was using 150,000 litres diesel a year.

Maarten Blokker in his two hectare greenhouse said he can repay the loan through CEFC and NAB for the energy efficient boiler in six years. ( Rose Grant: ABC Rural )

"When we steamed with diesel we used five litres per square metre, for 30,000 square metres, it used a lot of diesel," Mr Blokker said.

"So we changed to coal briquettes, produced as a by-product at a Victorian power station."

The Blokkers had been considering using biomass to power the boiler, and used a National Australia Bank (NAB) Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) loan to buy a biomass boiler from New Zealand.

With wood chips available from nearby industry, the flower farm can use fine particles from the sawdust.

"It costs us now a third to steam the same area as it did when we used the briquettes," Mr Blokker said.

"We hope the savings in the fuel [will help us] ... to recover the cost of $600,000 in five to six years."

The farm had already installed a wind turbine, "so that's another example of flower power," Mr Blokker said.

Freesias in the Blokkers greenhouse grown in soil that is fumigated now by a biomass driven boiler ( Rose Grant: ABC Rural )

330 agri-businesses sign up for clean energy loans

More than 300 agribusinesses have so far taken up loans with the National Australia Bank (NAB), worth a total of $60 million.

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The facility started with $120 million, and has $60 million remaining available for lending.

Dr Sasha Courville, who heads up Corporate Responsibility at NAB, said the program fitted with the bank's strategy to make loans which take account of natural resources, saving water or reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Another one of our customers was Parilla Premium Potatoes in South Australia," Dr Courville said.

"Central to their efficient use of water, energy and fertiliser was the adoption of central pivot irrigation.

"Parilla acquired a new advanced centre pivot irrigation which is expected to use 15 per cent less energy and 20 per cent water and fertiliser."

Cut freesia flower heads wait in the cool room ready for shipment interstate. The soil is sterilised by steam driven by a wood chip boiler ( Rose Grant: ABC Rural )

The National Australia Bank is one of a number of banks making loans based on energy efficiency.

About a dozen banks and big business including BHP, Westpac and Origin Energy signed up to a worldwide business commitment to limiting global warming to two degrees, and Dr Courville said part of that would be achieved by helping farmers reduce their energy use.

"Products that have been funded through the CEFC deal are solar pumps, PV solar, irrigation systems, new state of the art vehicles.

"Industries will have different needs from dairy to horticulture or cropping, so where ever you're from, there will be investments you can make that can improve your business, save operating costs and improve your natural capital risks," said Dr Courville.