Vic Drought Hub
Term
2021-2025
Project Officer
Dr Sara Hely
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.
Project outcomes
Key outcomes from the Vic Hub were reported on in Research for the Riverine Plains, 2024.
Key messages were:
- During 2023, four new Drought Hub projects kicked off including the SCOUT pilot program, Non-chemical slug control, and Non-chemical weed control pilot projects
- The Hub also made contributions to the Riverine Plains Ladies Luncheon, Youth in Agriculture events, the Riverine Plains Innovation Expo, as well as an ongoing investment into the Riverine Plains Livestock Officer position during 2023
- Several Hub projects were completed in 2023, including the Community resilience project, the Renewable energy in agriculture feasibility study, and the Agriculture innovations program.
The completion of several initiatives by Riverine Plains, coordinated through the Hub, has delivered significant benefits for the local region. In 2023, the Farmer renewables opportunity assessment project was completed, which explored key opportunities to support farmers and regional infrastructure transition to renewable energy, this project is being built on through the Understanding the ROI of on-farm energy storage project.
The Containment feeding to boost business performance and resilience project, which was also completed in 2024, aimed to build the capacity of advisors in farming systems groups across Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. It did this by conducting group and online training on how to manage stock containment effectively, including when to implement it and how to begin the stock containment process. The project helped advisors increase their knowledge of the timing and mindset for using stock containment, allowed one-on-one follow-up with farmers, and built capacity by building a livestock network.
Additionally, Drought Hub funding contributed to capacity-building projects such as the Ladies Luncheon, the Youth In Ag program, and the Riverine Plains Innovation Expo, all of which saw sell-out crowds and provided valuable information to a diverse and highly engaged audience. While the far-reaching impact of these events may not be immediately measurable, the ongoing popularity of these initiatives, combined with feedback regarding improvements in knowledge and networks, clearly demonstrates their success.
The ongoing funding of the Riverine Plains Livestock Officer role has resulted in five additional events being delivered in the Riverine Plains and surrounding regions, with feedback supporting the continuation of this position and an ongoing focus on livestock. This included the Maximising utilisation of electronic identification tags to better inform livestock management decisions project, delivered through the Hub’s Agtech Innovation program which delivered a field day, webinar, and several publications, including a decision support tool and product guides.
In 2024, new projects will be delivered to support farmers to build resilience and preparedness for future droughts and changing weather conditions.
Read the full article: A brief update on the Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub.
2023 Update
Riverine Plains reported on Hub outcomes in Research for the Riverine Plains 2023. During 2023, the group delivered a delivered a number of Vic Drought Hub projects, including:
- 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
Key points were:
- 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.
Find out more
For further information about the outcomes of this project, please contact Dr Sara Hely by emailing sara@riverineplains.org.au
Project investment
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