Deer and beef farmer Grant Lightfoot, of Orepuki, invented the natural and organic jute fibre netting KiwiEconet to replace plastic netting used for baling hay and silage.
Features of KiwiEconet include being biodegradable, edible by livestock and featuring nutritional benefits.
News of the nomination was ‘‘very, very exciting,’’ Mr Lightfoot said.
The Earthshot Prize Trust, led by Prince William, awards £1 million (NZD$2.3m) to each of the top five environmental solutions.
If Mr Lightfoot won, he would invest the prize money in his ‘‘thriving’’ business.
‘‘It is starting to take off.’’
A plan to export his invention to Europe this season was hampered by shipping issues, due to the war in the Middle East.
Next month, he would take his invention to an English agricultural show on Diddly Squat Farm, owned by broadcaster and writer Jeremy Clarkson.
After that, he would accept an invitation to visit the McHale factory in Ireland, where green balers were made.
After that, he would exhibit his invention at The Royal Norfolk Show in England.
The future was looking very bright for his business, he said.
‘‘It’s going to be a huge business, once we get going.’’
For the Earthshot Prize, a global search identifies ambitious and inspiring solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges.
The five other New Zealand nominees for the 2026 prize are:
AgriZero: A public-private partnership which invests to accelerate the development and deployment of tools for farmers to reduce agricultural emissions while staying profitable and productive.
Critical: a Ma ¯ori-led cleantech company transforming hard-to-recycle plastic waste into near carbon-neutral circular building materials called Cleanstone.
Mountains to Sea Wellington Trust: The trust lead the project ‘‘Love Rimurimu’’, which aims to restore declining kelp forests in Wellington Harbour.
Mushroom Material: A fully biodegradable alternative to expanded polystyrene on which the packaging industry relies.
Sea Cleaners: Operates a fleet of purpose-built vessels intercepting plastic pollution at the final point before it disperses beyond recovery, removing millions of litres of waste from waterways each year. Now expanding into the Pacific, it is building an islandled cleanup network that combines on-water recovery, data and circular recycling to stop plastic pollution at scale.
The finalists will be announced in September and the winners would be revealed at a ceremony in Mumbai, India in November.
