The not-for-profit National Renewables in Agriculture Conference and Expo on November 14 will feature farmers speaking about improving farm viability and lowering energy costs.

Speakers include a Victorian beef farmer incorporating batteries into his solar livestock pumps, a winemaker who is carbon neutral and a farmer facilitating the build of a community-owned solar garden on her property.

The event will also bring together agriculture and energy consultants, peak bodies and government representatives to share stories of on-farm renewables, their business cases and discuss what is driving the transformation of energy use in agriculture.

Another goal of the event is to help achieve the National Farmers Federation's target of 50 per cent on-farm energy to be renewable by 2030.

Conference convenor and farmer Karin Stark said the instigation of the event was the reduced sustainability and competitiveness of some family farm businesses across Australia because of the increasing energy costs and the impacts of climate change.

"It is widely recognised that the farming sector will play a significant role in combating climate change," Ms Stark said.

"The use of renewable energy is a practical way for farmers to significantly reduce their costs, reduce their exposure to energy price fluctuations and build business resilience."

The 40-year-old from Narromine, near Dubbo, said the conference will also address the gap in the knowledge and understanding of what renewable energy solutions work for what farming operations.

"Plus, there is a general lack of trust in solar suppliers, which constrains investment," she said.

"We're also looking at hydrogen tractors, bioenergy and what the energy future landscape may look like for rural and regional Australia."

The conference was formed as part of Ms Stark's project for this year's Agrifutures Rural Women's Award in which she was a finalist.

She and her partner, Jon Elder, installed a 500kW solar diesel pump, the largest of its kind in Australia, on their cotton farm.

The pair expects the system to pay for itself in five years.

"Diesel is the highest cost on our farm, it has been a real constraint on growth and a factor in our vulnerability to drought," Mr Elder said.

"The partial switch to solar powered pumping is a game-changer for us.

"Incorporating solar power also reduces our carbon dioxide emissions by about 500 tonnes each year, and we're very proud of that.

"As the world continues to grow in size and demand, I feel confident knowing that these technologies will move us and the agricultural sector, towards a more sustainable future."

Agriculture contributes about 15 per cent of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, 2010 data by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Australia shows.

Further, with eastern parts of Australia experiencing the worst drought on record, the National Farmers Federation Roadmap 2030 aspires to the agricultural value chain relying less on fossil fuels in favour of biofuels and renewable sources of electricity that are affordable and reliable.

To meet this aspiration, actions include supporting the transition to renewable and decentralised energy sources, including piloting off-grid renewable energy precincts.

They also include championing electric-vehicle friendly regional towns and cities, creating affordable fossil fuel alternatives, reducing transmission losses of electricity, and growing demand and supply for new energy sources.

The key goal is to have Australia's Energy sources at 50 per cent renewable by 2030.

Conference speaker Gemma Purcell, a partner in Meier Farms, a mixed grazing and dryland cropping enterprise near Grong Grong in the Riverina, and her husband aim to host Australia's first large-scale solar garden.

Ms Purcell, who is also a writer and actively involved in sustainability projects, said the Haystacks Solar Garden "is attainable and sustainable with positive outcomes that are both local and wide-ranging".

"This project brings together a well-developed design for a community energy model that leads the way in generating a secondary income stream for local farmers while providing access to renewable energy for people in our community who would otherwise be locked out of the market," she said.

Victorian farmer Jarad Smith will speak about how his family-owned piggery created bioenergy from pigs' waste products using old Ford Falcon engines.

"It seemed logical to produce energy from waste products and reduce our energy costs," Mr Smith said.

"The generation system we installed uses old [Falcon] engines to produce electricity from methane gas captured from effluent.

"It was Dad who wanted to re-use the car engines, something not uncommon with farmers who generally love to innovate and tinker around with machinery."

Mr Smith, whose involvement in the Kia Ora Piggery expanded the breeder unit go from 800 sows to 2000, said it had been a learning curve.

"But we are gaining ground and it's becoming more reliable every day," he said.

"Speaking at the conference will hopefully mean others can learn from experience and mistakes."

Charlie Prell, sheep farmer in Crookwell and deputy chair of Farmers for Climate Action, will present a session about opportunities for farmers who want to host wind and solar farms to work with their communities.

"To get a fair share of the benefits from this large-scale renewable energy generation," Mr Prell said.

"Hosting wind turbines on my farm provided a much needed secondary income stream, diversifying our farm's income and helping us to ride through the recent tough years.

"It's important that communities ensure that solar and wind infrastructure is constructed so that it is complementary to agriculture, not in competition with it."

The event will feature a total of 24 speakers and 15 exhibitors from across the country.

It has the support of NSW Farmers, National Farmers Federation, National Irrigators Council, Department for Primary Industries, Clean Energy Council and Farmers for Climate Action.

It will place at The Range Function Centre, Wagga, on November 14 at 9am-6pm.

Tickets for attendees may be purchased at the conference's website.