AN additional $20 million in funding has been made available to the eight Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs around the country, including in WA's South West, to expand beyond their drought remit and drive innovation.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
Initially established through the Future Drought Fund - a long-term, sustained investment of $100m each year to build drought preparedness and resilience - the hubs will create more opportunities for drought resilience and agricultural innovation through agility, innovation and region-specific solutions.
Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the agricultural industry would benefit from the funding boost.
"These hubs are a game-changer for regional Australia, enabling farmers to work together with experts to come up with new solutions that will work for their regions," Mr Littleproud said.
"Now with a new allocation of grant funding for the hubs, there will be even more opportunity for the hubs to support innovation across the broader agricultural sector.
"We know that conditions in Australia are incredibly diverse, that's why a one-size-fits-all approach wouldn't work for our farmers."
Each of the hubs around that country has its own focus and will be able to adapt to the climate, soil and conditions of each region.
The idea is that it will help farmers and communities adopt a long-term perspective on drought by giving them the innovative tools and techniques to build drought-resilient businesses.
"The additional funding creates new opportunities to provide solutions to a broader set of challenges in our regions," Mr Littleproud said.
"I encourage producers, researchers, investors and technology developers to work with hubs to drive innovation and digital technology uptake supporting our agricultural industry to modernise, improve and innovate."
On top of that, farmers will also get practical assistance to improve soil health and testing with the rollout of eight new regional soil co-ordinators across the nation, with one to be based at each of the drought hubs.
The $3m initiative will help farmers and land managers improve soil management and increase productivity, profitability and sustainability.
Mr Littleproud said it would deliver down-to-earth support to Australian farmers.
"We are giving farmers and land managers the tools and information they need to protect and improve the foundation of Australian agriculture, our soils," he said.
"It gives them access to the best soil science and tools available, so they can maximise this year's returns and better plan for the future."
The regional soil co-ordinators support the $13.8m Soil Extension Activities grants program, covering more than 200 individual activities to improve soil health and soil management.
They will work with Soil Science Australia to form a National Community of Practice.
