A cane grower frustrated at the rising cost of electricity for irrigation has taken the unusual step of going off the grid.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 4 minutes 11 seconds 4 m 11 s Kelvin Griffin is installing solar panels to power his irrigation off the grid Download 7.7 MB

Kelvin Griffin has borrowed $100,000 to install solar panels on his 80-hectare cane farm at Bargara, east of Bundaberg, in a bid to cut his power bill.

So far three concrete slabs have been laid in preparation for the installation, which Mr Griffin said was inspired by spiralling costs.

"The concrete slabs are the foundation to put up the new panels to power two DC pumps to run a high-pressure irrigator off the grid," he said.

"Just the expense of power, because you're always frightened to go and push the button because you never know quite what you're going to get at the end of the three months as an account."

Mr Griffin estimated he spent between $40,000 and $50,000 irrigating his cane each year, but said he hoped the solar system would allow him to expand production.

"At different times we've actually grown less crop, which hopefully with this off the grid power that will be able to increase our production again," he said.

"We're looking to be able to gain around about a minimum of 10 per cent if not 15 per cent (productivity) across our farms."

He said when irrigated fully, his property used to produce 7,000 tonnes of cane a year, but that had been scaled back to mitigate the cost of irrigating.

"We've backed right off in the past five years because we've gone on to pretty well all flood irrigation, which is probably not the most effective way of doing it because with our head pressure here we are able to flood without pumps, but because of the depth of the soil we use a lot of water," Mr Griffin said.

For about the same cost as a 120 horse power tractor, Mr Griffin said he will be free of the burden of a power bill, and he urged other farmers to consider solar as they would any other farm equipment.

"You've just got to look at it in the sense that it is a piece of machinery and it's able to be used now, just by going and pushing the button," he said.

"Most farmers in the area, this will hopefully be able to show them that it is possible to irrigate off the grid with a high pressure irrigator.

"Sometimes you've just got to bite the bullet and do things."

Costs for those left behind

But as Mr Griffin takes control of his own costs, his plan could end up costing others more.

Dale Hollis from the Bundaberg Regional Irrigators Group said power generators adjusted their prices to compensate for the loss of people like Mr Griffin from the network, and over time, that would impact on the community.

He said it was not an easy decision for the Griffin family to make, but it showed how desperate primary producers were to reduce their costs.

"It's been a hard decision for for the Griffins to make but ultimately with the price of power where it's gone, and where it's been, and where it potentially will head under the current pricing system it's understandable," he said.

"It is just a symptom of where agriculture's heading.

"We've asked Ergon Energy and the State Government to reduce the power costs, they haven't, and as a result irrigators and people like the Griffins will make choices and will go off grid.

"The unfortunate thing about that is that the way the power price is struck, Ergon's got a guaranteed revenue so it's one less customer on the grid to help pay the bill to Ergon so we'll all suffer an incremental increase in price because of it."

Mr Hollis said the frustration for many irrigators was they preferred using the grid as a reliable source of power, but it had become so costly many were choosing to downsize their crops, rather than pay bigger bills.

He said ultimately, those that can't afford to go off the grid will end up paying the price.

"That's exactly what happened with the solar on roofs and the domestic purposes," he said.

"The current Director General of the Department of Energy and Water Supply has actually written a paper on a thing called the death spiral, which is what is happening to the network here in Queensland.

"Look at it from your own perspective, do the numbers, and if it suits to go off grid as an individual that's something that you need to decide."