Vic Drought Hub

WHY THIS PROJECT IS IMPORTANT

The Drought Adoption and Innovation Hubs are delivering a number of on-the-ground projects that are helping farmers and communities prepare for, and manage, drought across Australia. 

The Victorian Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub is focused on delivering innovations to enable Victorian farmers and communities to become more drought resilient, and to better respond to a changing climate. 

Drought is an inevitable part of the Australian landscape, but because the timing, severity and duration of the next one is unknown, it makes sense to plan ahead. This can help reduce the economic, social and environmental impacts of future drought and climate challenges, which can otherwise massively impact the profitability and sustainability of farmers, communities and agribusiness.

To help achieve this, the Hub is tapping into the knowledge gained by farmers and communities through their own experiences of drought and bring together new ideas, perspectives, research and technologies to help prepare for drought, while encouraging their adoption on-farm.

The Hub is connecting farmers, industry and researchers to drive the development and adoption of innovative on-farm technologies and practices to improve future drought resilience.

Project focus

Each region of Victoria has a different approach to managing drought depending on their geographic location and community and this has been reflected in the establishment of multiple nodes across the state. 

Riverine Plains is leading the northeast Victorian node of the Victorian Hub, established by the University of Melbourne at Dookie, with others established at Mildura (Mallee Regional Innovation Centre), Birchip (Birchip Cropping Group), Inverleigh (Southern Farming Systems) and Warragul (Food and Fibre Gippsland).

The Victorian Drought Hub is a unique, state-wide partnership which involves an unprecedented level of co-operation between the partners to co-design and govern the project, with these connections increasing the project’s potential to make a real difference to our regional industries and communities.

Vic Drought Hub projects that are being delivered by Riverine Plains include:

• Silicon fertiliser for drought resilience in broadacre cropping
• Drought resilience practices in mixed farming systems
• Understanding electronic identification technology
• Building livestock drought resilience by discovering stock containment innovations
• Assessing the suitability of small-farm dams

Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (Vic Hub) 2023 Update

Key points

• The Vic Hub is giving farmers and regional communities tools to address climate variability, enhance drought preparedness and adopt relevant, innovative practices
• Riverine Plains have appointed an Adoption Officer for the Vic Hub to represent our region through contributing to project development and sharing resources that address identified priorities
• The work to date has demonstrated that while there is a large amount known about drought and climatic cycles, there are still many knowledge gaps that need filling to help our region be prepared for climate variability through continued, local support and adoption.

Background

The Vic Hub is led by the University of Melbourne’s Dookie Campus, in association with five regional nodes, led by highly respected farming and industry groups Birchip Cropping Group (NW Node); Riverine Plains (NE Node); Food & Fibre Gippsland (Gippsland Node); Southern Farming Systems (SW Node), and Mallee Regional Innovation Centre (NW Irrigated Horticulture Node).

It is further supported by Deakin University, La Trobe University, Federation University Australia and Agriculture Victoria. The Vic Hub represents a comprehensive approach to enhancing economic, environmental and social resilience to drought in order to create innovative and profitable sectors, sustainable and functioning landscapes, and resourceful and adaptable communities.

Lynn Macaulay has been appointed as an Adoption Officer with the Vic Hub’s northeast regional node. Lynn works with the team at Riverine Plains, our members, and individuals across the region to provide information to the Hub on key priorities around drought preparedness and innovation.

Projects

The development of an investment prospectus for the use of stock containment practices commenced in November 2021 with the employment of a livestock officer for Riverine Plains. We ran multiple farmer focus groups across the region to gain insight on current stock containment systems and investigate where greater investment could lead to wider spread adoption of the practise. The business case has been finalised and we are in consultation with other farming systems groups and large-scale organisations on further funding work in this space.

Other projects we are working on in collaboration with the Vic Hub partners are the Drought resilience practices in mixed farming systems project. Riverine Plains has increased its project portfolio as a result of Vic Hub support; such projects include Agriculture Innovation Program – Digital agriculture, building capacity for community-led drought resilience action, Silicon fertiliser for drought resilience in broadacre cropping, and the Accelerating the adoption of agri-tech solutions by female farmers project. New projects recently commenced, also facilitated through involvement with the Hub, include a feasibility study on renewable energy on farms and Assessing the suitability of small-farm dams.

Summary

Key priorities for action identified through initial and ongoing consultation through the Vic Hub have enabled the rapid development of project, extension and capacity building opportunities. These opportunities will be essential in assisting the communities in northeast Victoria prepare for climate variability and to be innovative.

Riverine Plains, in its capacity as the northeast Node leader, is committed to providing resources through our well-established communication channels, including social media, emails, and blog posts, and at events held throughout the year.

Acknowledgements

The Vic Hub is funded by the Future Drought Fund, through the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.