Riverine Plains has begun delivering workshops to help farmers and communities across southern NSW and north-east Victoria address future drought and climate challenges.
The workshops are being delivered through a new project, Enhancing Community Networks for Drought Resilience in the Riverine Plains, which has recently been funded by the Future Drought Fund’s Networks to Build Drought Resilience program, through donors the Australian Government, Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal and the Pratt Foundation.
The project is designed to help people in Riverine Plains communities make personal and business connections to help better prepare for the next drought or climate challenge.
Drought is inevitable part of farming in Australia and severe droughts and climatic events can have huge economic, social and environmental impacts on individuals and regional communities. A key part of being able to respond is having other farmers, advisors, health and social networks or business services to turn to for advice, or to collaborate with, about key personal and management decisions during drought.
Farmers, business operators and Indigenous custodians in our community all have different experiences of managing drought and climatic events, and there are a vast range of strategies that people have adopted. The workshops will provide a forum to share these different experiences (both the successes and the failures) and will help provide new perspectives, ideas and support to farmers and rural communities.
As part of the project, 30 workshops will be held in southern NSW and north-east Victoria to connect primary producers, landholders, support services and Indigenous custodians to increase awareness of support, share knowledge and help improve community resilience to future drought and climate challenges.
The first workshop was held as part of the Evan Moll Gerogery Field Day during November, 2021, with participants sharing their experiences in managing mental and physical health during drought, the actions taken to manage their business during previous droughts, as well as changes they are looking to implement ahead of the next drought.
Additional workshops are being planned for late 2021 and the first half of 2022.
The Enhancing Community Networks for Drought Resilience in the Riverine Plains project is funded by the Future Drought Fund’s Networks to Build Drought Resilience program, through donors the Australian Government, Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal and the Pratt Foundation.