The latest news, events and opportunities from the SW WA Hub
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Welcome from the Director
On behalf of the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SW WA Hub) team, Happy New Year! I hope you had a restful Christmas break and a smooth start to 2026. We’re looking forward to another year working with growers, grower groups, researchers and industry partners to strengthen drought and climate resilience across Western Australia.
Next week, we launch our Building Resilient Farming Systems lunchtime webinar series, showcasing learnings from six Hub-supported projects as they reach completion. These sessions offer a chance to hear directly from project leads about what worked, what they discovered and what’s next, covering topics from smart spray technologies and renewable energy to natural capital and Aboriginal agricultural methods.
We’re also planning an agrisolar event at Plume Estate Winery this autumn to share early insights from our agrivoltaics project. This first-of-its-kind demonstration site in Western Australia is exploring how solar infrastructure can support productivity while providing alternative energy options in viticulture. Join our project follower list to stay updated.
Our Best of 2025 podcasts and videos highlight the issues that resonated most with our community, including sandy soils, salinity, water management, and renewables.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to subscribe and stay connected.
Finally, applications are open for the 2026 Grower Group Honours Program, a new partnership between the Grower Group Alliance and the WA Agricultural Research Collaboration, supporting university students and grower groups to collaborate on regionally relevant research.
I hope you enjoy this month’s stories. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, why not subscribe to receive the SW WA Hub’s latest updates, events, and opportunities directly in your inbox?
Thank you for your continued engagement, and please reach out if you have ideas or feedback.
Kind regards,
Dr Jo Wisdom | Hub Director
South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub
Dry Season Resources
Best of 2025: podcasts and videos
What topics did our Dry Season Resources podcast listeners and Dry Season Shorts viewers resonate with the most in 2025? The answer says a lot about the challenges, and opportunities, shaping our region right now.
Top 3 podcasts:
- Sandy soils series: Re-engineering sandy soils into productive land
- Salinity in the Wheatbelt: insights from four decades of research
- Renewables in agriculture: Why energy companies are knocking on WA farm gates
Top 3 videos:
- WaterSmart Dams: making dams work again | Dr Bonny Stutsel, University of Western Australia
- Keeping dams full: insights from the WaterSmart Dams project | Professor Nik Callow, University of Western Australia
- Managing water in a changing climate in the pork and poultry industries | Dr Bruce Mullan, Pork Innovation WA
These conversations cut straight to the issues growers are grappling with and offer practical insights from experts in their fields. Make sure you're subscribed to our podcast and YouTube channel to stay in the loop!
Have feedback or suggestions?
If you have ideas for topics we could cover, we’d love to hear from you.
Email us at swwadroughthub@gga.org.au.
General News
Explore our new webinar library
Late last year, we launched a dedicated webinar section on our website, featuring recordings from the Hub and our Regional Nodes.
These sessions showcase local expertise, practical insights, and regionally relevant knowledge to support communities, practitioners, and organisations working in climate adaptation, resilience, sustainability, and place-based innovation.
Whether you’re revisiting a session, catching up on one you missed, or exploring topics for the first time, this library is designed to make learning accessible and convenient.
Upcoming Hub event
The Building Resilient Farming Systems lunchtime webinar series starts next week
As six of the Hub's projects are reaching completion, we’re excited to share insights from each initiative, including how project leads tackled their challenges, what they discovered, and what comes next.
Register today:
- Thursday 29 January – SMART SPRAYS: maximising the benefits from rainfall
- Thursday 12 February – Diversifying farm income: integrating renewable energy into agriculture
- Thursday 26 February – Sustainable transformation of waste from the potato industry into novel feedstock
- Thursday 12 March – Barriers and opportunities for agricultural natural capital as an asset class
- Thursday 26 March – Transformative Aboriginal agricultural methods: Maaman Marra Boodjar
- Date TBC – Preliminary investigation of methane emissions from farm dams in Western Australia
Together, these projects deliver new knowledge and capabilities that support transformational change in agricultural practices, strengthening drought and climate resilience across Western Australia.
Webinar – SMART SPRAYS: maximising the benefits from rainfall – 29 January
Join us for the first session in the Building Resilient Farming Systems lunchtime webinar series for an in-depth look at SMART SPRAYS: Maximising the benefits from rainfall, one of six projects supported through the SW WA Hub’s Transformational Program.
Project leads Professor Dan Murphy and Cheryl Rimmer from Murdoch University will introduce the SMART SPRAYS project and the problem it set out to solve: how to capture more rainfall where it matters and improve plant water-use efficiency in a drying climate. The team will share how the project moved from concept to field demonstrations, the challenges encountered, and the key learnings emerging from testing biodegradable polymer sprays designed to enhance water retention in cropping systems.
Date: Thursday 29 January 2026
Time: 12.00 pm – 12.45 pm
Location: Online (MS Teams)
Hub Projects in Focus
Diversifying farm income with renewable energy production
With growing competition for land, agricultural areas are increasingly sought after for uses beyond farming, from renewable energy projects to resource development.
Through a Hub-led project, Farmanco conducted a study to explore the emerging intersection of renewable energy and agriculture in Western Australia, from growing policy interest and project proposals on farms, to the economic, social and environmental implications for growers and regional communities.
Watch our new project video to find out the key learnings from this project, and how SW WA Hub funding has helped advance pathways to diversify farm income and strengthen resilience.
Want to learn more? Register for our webinar on Thursday 12 February at 12.00 pm.
Register your interest in upcoming agrisolar vineyard event
Planning is underway for an event at Plume Estate Winery in late March to early April, where we’ll share insights from our project Plant production agrivoltaics across southern Australia.
In partnership with industry, we’ve installed a first‑of‑its‑kind solar array above a commercial vineyard at Plume Estate in the Perth Hills. This demonstration site is helping us explore how agrisolar can provide alternative energy options in Western Australia’s viticulture sector while maintaining high‑quality grape production.
Join our project follower list to be the first to hear when event registrations open.
Regional Nodes
Perennial plantings in furrow (green shoots evident) and interrow planting of wheat/rye to protect furrows.
Growing the Bucket
As part of their Node role with the SW WA Hub, the Northern Agricultural Catchments Council (NACC) is investigating an approach titled “Growing the Bucket” aimed at mitigating the impacts of declining rainfall and increasing intensity of extreme weather events across agricultural landscapes. This work is being undertaken at a demonstration site near Cataby.
The demonstration focuses on maintaining or improving the productive capacity of grazing systems as growing-season rainfall declines and summer rainfall events become larger, more intense, and less predictable. This is being achieved by increasing the landscape and soil's capacity to slow water movement and retain moisture for longer periods. The project draws on established rehydration and Natural Sequence Farming principles to reduce runoff, improve infiltration, and lessen the severity of drought conditions.
Soil Stories
Lime pit North of Perth. Photo: Alice Butler, DPIRD
Time to Lime – Research summaries to inform decision making
By Bridget Watkins, Regional Soil Coordinator
Farmers and advisors can now explore a new collection of resources showcasing recent research from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and practical liming strategies for managing soil acidity, developed by the SoilsWest team in collaboration with DPIRD soil scientists.
The research summaries explore:
- The shallow incorporation of lime in the management of subsoil acidity,
- The benefits of improved crop root development in ameliorated soils,
- Key details relevant to estimating maintenance lime rates and understanding the factors that influence these requirements.
Bridget Watkins is the South-West WA Regional Soil Coordinator (RSC). The RSC project provides opportunities for researchers, primary producers and community groups to collaborate and share knowledge related to soil health and management. The project is supported by the Australian Government's Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust, and in South-West WA is led by the SW WA Hub in partnership with SoilsWest at Murdoch University.
Relevant News, Events and Resources
Grower group university Honours program 2026
A new university program launched by the Grower Group Alliance (GGA) and the WA Agricultural Research Collaboration (WAARC) is pairing Honours students from Curtin University, Murdoch University and The University of Western Australia with WA grower groups to help students develop and complete their research project.
Honours students will receive a $10,000 Honours scholarship and gain meaningful, field-based research experience in regional Western Australia.
Grower groups will receive a $10,000 hosting fee to assist with orientation, research co-design, supervision, and community engagement throughout the year, and access research tailored to their group’s priorities.
Register for updates on new RIC loans coming in 2026
A new RIC Drought Hardship Loan is coming to assist farmers in long-term drought with short-term financial relief. It will be for farmers in drought for at least 24 months and expected to be for another season. Eligible farmers will be able to:
- Borrow up to $250,000
- Current variable interest rate 5.18%
- 5-year loan term
- No interest payments in the first 2 years
- Interest will accrue, with principal and interest repayments to commence from Year 3
- Eligibility, credit and risk assessment criteria apply
An additional new loan for improving climate resilience, boosting sector productivity, and supporting agriculture to be part of Australia’s net zero transition is coming in the second half of 2026.
Want to register for updates on the new loans? Visit www.ric.gov.au/new-loans
Locally Relevant News from the Future Drought Fund
No drought declarations needed, support is always available
Did you know that farmers or agribusinesses don’t need a drought declaration to access support from a bank or to access Australian Government drought programs?
The Australian Government no longer makes formal drought declarations. Instead, a range of support options are always available for those experiencing hardship — to help farmers and agribusinesses prepare for, manage through, and recover from drought.
Banks are able to help too. If you work with farmers or agribusinesses feeling financial pressure, encourage them to contact their lender early. Banks have dedicated teams ready to help.
Visit Support without drought declarations to find out more. Feel free to share this information with your own stakeholders and networks.
You can also visit Australian Banking Association Financial Assistance Hub to see how lenders can help.
To learn more about Australian Government drought support, visit drought.gov.au
Find out about the Future Drought Fund
The Future Drought Fund (FDF) provides secure, continuous funding for drought resilience initiatives and will help Australian farmers and communities prepare for the impacts of drought.
