South-West WA Hub Update

March 2025

General News

Become a Hub partner

The SW WA Hub partners with over 50 organisations across the agricultural supply chain to drive drought resilience and agricultural innovation. As a partner, you can access collaborative opportunities, contribute to key extension activities, and promote your work through the Hub's networks.

Interested in becoming a Hub partner? Submit an Expression of Interest or contact us at swwadroughthub@gga.org.au for more information.

Scholarships available for drought resilience research

Are you a PhD or masters student passionate about working with grower groups or industry to make a real impact?

The SW WA Hub is offering two bursaries of up to $25,000 each to support students to include an extension component into their drought resilience research in 2025/26.

This is a fantastic opportunity to integrate practical extension activities into your research while contributing to drought resilience and on-the-ground change in WA agriculture.

Find out more about the bursary program.

Who can apply?

• Enrolled in a PhD or MSc at a Western Australian university,
• Able to complete an extension component of research by 31 May 2026,
• Research aligns with drought resilience priorities.

How to apply

Submit an expression of interest through our online form. Applications close 30 April. 

Looking for a work placement instead? Contact us at swwadroughthub@gga.org.au.

The future value of agricultural waste: opportunities for WA farmers

The 2025 evokeAG conference, themed "Common Ground," brought together agrifood tech innovators, researchers, and industry leaders to explore transformative opportunities in agriculture. One key trend was the upcycling of agricultural waste streams into valuable products such as biofuels, biopolymers, and biochar. This emerging trend aligns with climate resilience strategies and circular economy practices, opening new revenue streams for farmers while improving environmental sustainability.

Western Australian farmers generate over 10 million tonnes of waste biomass annually, much of which remains underutilised. Emerging technologies are now offering pathways to convert this biomass into commercially viable products, addressing waste management challenges while supporting global efforts to reduce carbon footprints and promote renewable energy sources.

Upcoming Hub events

Take your extension and adoption skills to the next level

Join the SW WA Hub’s five-part program providing technical training on extension and adoption practices for the agricultural industry.

Content will suit grower group staff, industry consultants or new extension/research staff that extend research to support farmer adoption.

Dates and topics

• Thursday 8 May (in person): Defining and developing priorities for investment for your group or business
• Friday 9 May (in person): Extension planning framework
• Thursday 15 May (online): Extension event planning
• Wednesday 21 May (online): Introduction to Monitoring and Evaluation
• Wednesday 28 May (online): Facilitation Training

Participation is flexible: register for some or all dates. 

Price

Hub Consortium Partners and GGA network members have access to subsidised tickets with a ticketing fee of $40 per online session and $75 for the in-person sessions.

All other industry delegates are welcome with a ticketing fee of $80 per online session and $160 for the in-person sessions.

Booking fees apply – 100% of which goes to charity.

Dry Season Resources

Dry Season Resources podcast

Find the latest episodes of the SW WA Hub's Dry Season Resources podcast below. Be sure to subscribe on your favourite podcast platform to never miss an episode. 

Hub Project in Focus

SMART SPRAYS project teams up with UK scientists

Professor Daniel Murphy, from Murdoch University, travelled to the United Kingdom last month to collaborate with Dr Emily Cooledge and fellow soil scientists within Professor Davey Jones’ laboratory at Bangor University, Wales, as part of the SW WA Hub’s transformational SMART SPRAYS project.

The partnership with this laboratory, renowned for its research on soil and plastics, provided an ideal setting to study the fate of bioplastic films in agricultural soils.

The team’s research focused on understanding how bioplastic films interact with soil particles, specifically investigating how they attach and contribute to water shedding. These features are crucial to ensuring SMART SPRAYS remain on mounds, enabling efficient water runoff into furrows.

The findings from this collaboration are expected to inform practical applications, supporting improved water management in agricultural systems.

This project is supported by the SW WA Hub, through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, Murdoch University and the WA Agricultural Research Collaboration.

Drought Hub Team Out and About

PropaGATE site visits explore wastewater challenges in WA breweries

As part of the challenge-led innovation program PropaGATE, the Grower Group Alliance (GGA) and Beanstalk AgTech team visited two major Western Australian brewing sites on 27 February: Gage Roads Brewing in Palmyra and Little Creatures Brewing in Fremantle.

The Western Australian brewing industry can produce between 575 to 1,150 megalitres of wastewater annually, with disposal costs running between $2 million and $12.5 million. The site visits offered a firsthand look at how much wastewater is produced, how it is currently managed, and the financial burden it places on businesses.

PropaGATE is an AgriTech innovation initiative supporting WA farmers and agrifood processors launched in December 2024 by Beanstalk in collaboration with the SW WA Hub at GGA, and the Food Innovation Precinct of WA (FIPWA). The program identifies critical industry challenges – such as wastewater in beer brewing – and connects them with global technology solutions for trial and evaluation, helping commercially proven solutions enter and/or scale into the WA market.

Drought proofing roadshow helps farmers in Kojonup

Extension and Adoption Officer Cassie Howell attended the Drought Proofing Roadshow event in Kojonup on 27 March, hosted by Southern Dirt in collaboration with Hub Regional Node South West NRM.

This event explored ways for growers to boost their drought resilience with expert insights from industry specialists on water efficiency, desalination, storage trends, and smart drought-proofing strategies. The roadshow included a site visit at Adrian Bilney’s Desalination Unit, discussing its benefits, costs and challenges.

South West NRM is the Peel and South West Node of the SW WA Hub, and receives funding from the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund (FDF). This event was supported by GGA, Murdoch University, UWA, SW WA Hub and the FDF.

Soil Health Updates

SoilsWest team have been Talkin’ Soil Health in York

By Bridget Watkins, Regional Soil Coordinator

March 2025 marked the return of the Talkin’ Soil Health symposium to the calendar for the first time since 2022. Fran Hoyle (Director) and Bridget Watkins (Regional Soil Coordinator) from the SoilsWest team at Murdoch University presented at the event hosted by Wheatbelt NRM in York.

This years’ event, themed “Capture Your Investment”, featured numerous speakers presenting across a range of subjects including soil health for business and global outcomes, current research, soil sustainability, and tools to assist in decision making processes.

The clear takeaway messages from the day centred around the recognition that, while exciting new research continues, there is significant knowledge and information available to growers to assist in their soil management decisions and the real power is in monitoring soil health trends over time.

Growers and industry representatives are encouraged to equip themselves with information and a great start point is the Soil Quality ebooks series and the Soil Quality Knowledge Base.

If you would like to know more, contact Bridget at bridget.watkins@murdoch.edu.au.

The Regional Soil Coordinator project provides opportunities for researchers, primary producers and community groups to collaborate and share knowledge related to soil health and management. This project is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust. The project is led by the SW WA Hub, partnering with SoilsWest at Murdoch University.

Relevant News, Events and Resources

Applications for FRRR ABC Heywire Youth Innovation grants close 30 April

The Foundation For Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) and ABC Heywire are collaborating to help communities take action on the ideas generated by young Australians who attend the annual Heywire Regional Youth Summit. Grants of up to $10,000 are available for communities across Australia to adopt, adapt and act on the ideas generated at the Heywire Summit. Applications close 30 April. Learn more.

Apply for a Drought Resilience Scholarship with Nuffield Australia

The Future Drought Fund is investing in five Nuffield scholarships that are specifically available to study drought resilience and support innovation. These scholarships will support applicants to build drought resilience expertise, adapt innovative technology and practices from overseas and share these learnings to advance Australian agriculture. Applications close 16 May. Find out more.

FRRR grants help to strengthen rural communities

The Foundation For Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) is offering grants to support communities to activate and strengthen local climate solutions through its Strengthening Rural Communities program.

• The Small & Vital stream gives small rural, regional and remote communities across Australia the opportunity to access funds that can benefit and help secure their future success. Small grants up to $10,000 and targeted larger leverage grants up to $50,000 are available. Applications close 24 June.
• The Prepare & Recover stream supports communities to implement initiatives that prevent and prepare for future climate related impacts, or recover from previous disasters. Grants up to $25,000 are available. Applications close 24 June.

Locally Relevant News from the Future Drought Fund

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.