The Australian Government has unveiled $38 million in funding for drought-resilient farming practices research projects.
The Federal Government will fund six research projects that will conduct long-term trials of new and developing agriculture practices like cropping, grazing, and mixed farming to assist farmers in becoming more drought-resistant.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australian farmers excel in drought management, putting them at the forefront of climate adaptation and future challenges.
“We’ve listened to the industry and we will continue to make sure farmers and rural communities are ready to face the next drought,” Prime Minister Albanese stated.
“Being prepared for drought is not just good for farmers, it’s also important for rural and regional communities, supermarket consumers and Australia’s trade industry,” he added.
The 6-year Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Grants are intended to assist farmers in preparing for drought by providing them with the data and confidence to invest in technology and practices that have been proven across various landscapes and production situations.
The successful projects are:
- $6.23 million – Charles Sturt University will lead a collaboration that will conduct trials across different locations in New South Wales to explore the interdependence and whole-system effects of agricultural and livestock components and manage environmental and social implications in response to seasonal change.
- $3.94 million – Cooperative Research Centre for High Performance Soils will lead a collaboration to study drought dependency in farming systems and soils across numerous locations in Western Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria using an existing network of long-term experiments.
- $4.32 million – NQ Dry Tropic Limited will head a collaboration to investigate the efficacy of virtual fencing in allowing rangeland graziers to adopt fine-scale, drought-resilient grazing systems across vast areas, with trials to be conducted in Charters Towers (Queensland).
- $7.2 million – The University of Melbourne will head a consortium to investigate the efficacy of farming-systems changes expected to increase drought resilience of broadacre grains, grazing, and mixed farming systems, with trials planned for different locations in Victoria and Tasmania.
- $8 million – Flinders University will lead a consortium to assess the climate resilience of cropping, livestock, and mixed farms across South Australia’s pastoral, low, medium, and high rainfall zones, with trials to be conducted across multiple sites.
- $7.99 million – Deakin University will head a collaboration that will conduct trials across different locations in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania to examine pasture variety to improve resilience and maintain 365 days of feed production in southern temperate grazing companies.
“This program is about advancing projects that we hope will make a real difference in a future droughts,” Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt said.
“These projects – like crop rotations, soil management, grazing techniques and infrastructure – will arm farmers with robust information to invest in technologies and practices that have been proven across different landscapes and conditions,” Minister Watt stated.
The program marks a new approach for the Future Drought Fund’s $5 billion in long-term support to promote sustainable change in farming practices that will increase farmers’ resistance to drought conditions and climate change.
