Northern Hub has been a wild ride so far.

I speak from experience, being the sixth Director over its short five-year life. In that time the Hub’s strategic direction has changed with the finesse of a wounded bull, but throughout vision statements and business plans, one thing has been constant. The Hub has, from the outset, delivered projects that build the capacity of producer groups and other entities in our region. With the Hub’s funding, our partner organisations have strengthened the knowledge, skills and confidence of producers to adapt to a variable and changing climate.

We are now in the final year of this Hub’s existence. In July 2027 it will be replaced by a new Drought Hub which is yet to be announced, but will build on the successes of this Hub’s work. Before we disappear in eight months’ time, we’ll produce a Northern Hub final report (and video) to showcase what we’ve achieved over our six years. What follows is some thought bubbles of some of the things this report might contain.

Running workshops

We are yet to tally how many workshops, field days, online seminars, and other events the Hub has supported over its lifetime. Many events occurred outside the larger towns, providing greater access to the more remote people in our industry. A highlight was the 2024 Forage Forum in Katherine NT, which hit the mark with a topic landholders were keen to learn about. A more recent highlight was the Natural Capital Workshop series held across our region.

Travel opportunities

Northern Beef is one of the most remote industries in the world. The Hub has subsidised pastoralists and first nations land managers to attend events that are expensive in both time and money for them to get to. We believe this is a particular need for our region, where it is difficult to justify these costs when you can’t be sure what the benefit is before going.

A focus on youth

Northern Hub has supported the NT Government’s extension staff to deliver on-station grazing land management introductory courses. These courses improve the skills of young people entering the industry, but as importantly, help to socialize them into the professional side of the industry. The Hub also supported the KPCA initiative in 2026 to run an inaugural Head Stockman’s Leadership forum, as a result of its great success and attendance,  will now become an annual event.

Strengthening producer groups

Northern Hub has close ties with the four producer organisations in our region; NT Cattlemen’s Association, NT Farmers, Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen’s Association, and the Gascoyne Pilbara Rangelands Initiative. These organisations run many of our projects and connect producers locally with all our projects. They dominate our “node manager” network (5 of 8 people) and are invaluable in contributing to the design and selection of new projects. In return, our support has helped these groups to provide resources in their subregion and, in some cases, helped them to keep an extra staff member.

                               Director: David Gallacher                                   david.gallacher@cdu.edu.au

15 Years, Four Grazing Strategies, One Surprising Result: What worked in Central Australia

The Quality Graze Project has delivered valuable insights into the long-term impacts of grazing management on both pasture condition and cattle performance.

Through some of the wettest and driest years on record, researchers compared set stocking, variable stocking and different spelling strategies to better understand what drives productive and resilient grazing systems.

Join this webinar WED 25 NOV to discover:

• Whether spelling and variable stocking delivered measurable benefits over simpler set-stocked grazing strategies
• When increasing pasture utilization begins to impact cattle performance
• How land condition responded over 15 years, including an exceptionally dry three-year period
• Key lessons for maintaining productive pastures and profitable cattle enterprises through seasonal extremes

The Northern Hub partnered with Shannon Motlop, a proud Larrakia and Torres Strait Islander man, to fund  a project with Aboriginal Community Harvest. ACH is an initiative by Shannon bringing Elders, rangers and youth together to keep traditional bush food knowledge alive across generations and strengthen connections to Country.

Through eight workshops, including bush food harvesting and youth cultural engagement activities, participants and students of all ages were able to explore traditional harvesting practices, learn about seasonal knowledge, native foods, storytelling, identity and the importance of caring for Country.

The Natural Capital Roadshow delivered by the NTCA was a great success!   It brought producers, researchers and Industry specialists together across a vast region spanning from Broome to Kununurra, Tipperary, Katherine and Alice Springs, to explore 'what natural capital means for northern pastoral businesses'. 

Watch two case studies videos below on what these properties are doing to protect their natural capital.  Read more about producers feedback and learnings from all the workshops!

Rehydration and Erosion Control Workshops in WA

Delivered by KPCA's and Kimberley Node Manager, Mel McDonald, this project involved facilitating a series of workshops on stations in WA.

Designed for pastoralists and grader operators, discussions about reading the landscape, combined with practical application of strategies and techniques, proved valuable. The overwhelming majority of participants picked up new ideas, increased confidence, and will do or think about something differently going forward!

The Grazing Fundamentals and Spinifex Pastures Workshop was recently held in Newman, WA.

Thirteen participants representing four pastoral businesses operating across seven pastoral leases travelled some distance, to participate.

The event was the FIRST Grazing Fundamentals workshop delivered in the Pilbara and incorporated an additional day to talk about spinifex pastures and their management, recognising the importance of spinifex as the dominant pasture type across large areas of the region and the need for locally relevant information.

Delivered by: Matt Fletcher, Range Assist

The Pilbara and Gascoyne are vast, remote regions, home to large-scale pastoral properties.

Pastoralism is a significant part of our regional landscape, even though it is overshadowed by the much larger Mining sector. In area, pastoralism accounts for around 60% of land use in the Pilbara and 75% in the Gascoyne.

Along with the Kimberley region, they produce 91% of the live animal exports coming out of WA. 

Karratha once again hosted the KPCA annual Industry Conference. Since 2021, Northern Hub has invested considerably in the region by funding 25 projects across the north-west of WA.

In early August, the Pilbara Mesquite Management Committee (PMMC) in conjunction with Vicki Long and Associations hosted their first Calotropis Symposium in Karratha.

Calotropis is a declared weed as identified under WA’s Biosecurity and Agriculture Management Act 2007. It has had significant impacts on the environment, landholders, the pastoral industry, and other key sectors.