The latest news, events and opportunities from the SW WA Hub
No images? Click here
Welcome from the Director
The South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SW WA Hub) is excited to be supporting individuals and organisations to apply for grants from the Natural Heritage Trust's Climate-Smart Agriculture program. The program aims to drive agricultural sustainability, productivity, and competitiveness, which very much aligns with the Hub's priorities.
Applications for Capacity Building grants (from $10,000 to $1 million) close on March 28, and Partnership and Innovation grants (from $250,000 to $5 million) close on April 8.
Our team is here to assist with advice on alignment with local drought resilience priorities, understanding guidelines, best practice monitoring, evaluation and learning, and adoption and extension.
Recently, we've been busy attending industry events, such as evokeAG at the end of February, where we had a chance to network with the other seven Drought Hubs and staff from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's Future Drought Fund. Following on from the conference, the SW WA Hub organised a two-day study tour through the Wheatbelt and South-West regions of WA to showcase how broadacre farmers and horticulturalists are addressing water management challenges through projects initiated by the Hub.
The SW WA Hub team also presented at, or attended, GRDC Research Updates, COBWA's regenerative agriculture conference, and trials reviews organised by grower groups.
If you are looking to take your extension and adoption (E&A) skills to the next level, don't miss our upcoming six-part E&A training program, running between April 10 and May 15. More information is available below.
Our Extension and Adoption Manager, Julianne Hill, has been chatting with farmers and other industry professionals about coping with dry conditions. We've captured these insights in videos, which are available below and on our website.
A national survey to assess soil issues, knowledge gaps and research and extension opportunities across Australia will close in April. Please consider completing the survey to help shape soil projects across Australia.
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to colleagues, friends or clients.
Mark Holland | Hub Director
South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub
Dry Season Resources
Dry Season Resources podcast
Listen to the SW WA Hub's Dry Season Resources podcast on the Hub website and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Benefits of confinement feeding and deferred grazing
Congellin farmer, Sandra Fowler, and Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) Senior Field Veterinary Officer, Anna Erikson, discuss the benefits of confinement feeding and deferred grazing during a dry season and things to consider when implementing this type of system.
Grassroot approaches to support community mental health and wellbeing
Brad Milsteed, farmer and founder of 6Bs (Blokes, BBQ’s, Bonfires, Beers, Bonding and Bullshit) and Owen Catto, from the Regional Men’s Health Initiative, discuss grassroots approaches to support men’s and whole of community mental health and wellbeing that operate across regional WA.
Five new 'Dry Season Shorts' videos
In the SW WA Hub's Dry Season Shorts video series, farmers and other industry professionals reflect on practices they put in place to deal with dry conditions.
In these discussions, farmers share valuable insights into the proactive measures they implement to increase their farming systems' resilience to a drying climate.
Agronomists offer expert advice to assist farmers in preparing for the challenges posed by future dry seasons.
Watch the latest Dry Season Shorts videos:
- Early crop establishment and sowing, with Clint Della Bosca, grain grower
- Confinement feeding of sheep, with Sandra Fowler, sheep farmer
- Drip irrigation in passionfruit growing, with Jennifer Riseley, passionfruit grower
- Delivering improved crop performance in new varieties, with Greg Rebetzke, Chief Research Geneticist at CSIRO
- The importance of dams and water infrastructure, with Mark Bending, beef and avocado farmer
Hub Projects in Focus
Reducing technical barriers for malting barley market access using innovative technology
Rapid turnover of new varieties of Australian malting barley is a major concern for domestic and international customers. Processing to evaluate the functionality of new varieties and determine how to best malt each new variety costs industry and maltsters significant time and money.
To address this concern and provide consistent returns to farmers and processors, the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) designed and developed the ‘MultiMalter’, with support from the SW WA Hub.
Unlike conventional micromalters that test one malting protocol at a time, taking seven days per test, the MultiMalter can simultaneously assess six different protocols.
Agtech decoded: growers critically analysing the role of new technology in on‐farm decision making – what are the possibilities?
This project, supported by the SW WA Hub, aimed to assist growers to better understand the opportunities presented by the latest digital technologies and how they can address farming system challenges and improve in-season decision making when faced with a variable climate.
A range of technologies have been developed in the agricultural industry that provide growers with new insights into their farm businesses and have potential to improve efficiencies and productivity.
However, these technologies often have limitations and farmers often lack the time, tools and skills to process data from multiple different sources to effectively utilise them.
Upcoming Hub Events
Take your extension and adoption skills to new heights
The SW WA Hub Adoption and Extension team will once again offer a six-part training program on extension and adoption involving two face-to-face and four online workshops.
Content will suit grower group staff, industry consultants or new extension/research staff that extend research to support farmer adoption.
Dates and topics are:
- April 10 (in-person): Defining and developing priorities for investment and for your group or business
- April 11 (in-person): Extension planning framework
- April 17 (online): Extension event planning
- May 1 (online): Introduction to Monitoring and Evaluation
- May 8 (online): Facilitation training
- May 15 (online): Group chat mentoring session
Participation is flexible: register for some or all dates.
Drought Hub Team Out and About
Drought Hub study tour cohort at Cape Mentelle winery.
Hub study tour showcases innovative drought solutions in South-West WA
A group of 22, including key staff from the other seven Drought Hubs and local and international evokeAG delegates, joined the SW WA Hub team on a two-day study tour through the Wheatbelt and South-West regions of Western Australia.
The tour showcased some of the complexities and challenges around water management in the south-west of WA and how farmers are addressing these through innovative projects initiated by the SW WA Hub.
Highlights of the tour included visits of a WaterSmart Dams site, an apple orchard and a vineyard, and a demonstration of a biodegradable spray-on mulch at a carrot farm.
Have Your Say
Complete survey to have your say on soils
A national survey to assess soil issues, knowledge gaps and research and extension opportunities across Australia will close in April.
This survey is part of a Regional Soil Coordinator project. The anonymous results will be summarised in a report to DAFF to help inform the design and delivery of targeted soil interventions to address priorities under the National Soil Strategy.
Grain traceability survey
Is grain traceability worthwhile or practical? What proportion of consumers will pay for traceability credentials?
UWA researchers are seeking to identify and represent farmers’ positions and views on potential traceability solutions, focusing on farm sustainability as part of the Investigating the economics of grain traceability investment decisions project.
Participate in Farm to Port survey
Grain growers are encouraged to complete a survey that will assist research aimed at optimising grain supply chains.
The ‘Farm to Port’ study is led by The University of WA and supported by the SW WA Hub through its student bursary program.
UWA PhD student Garima, who recently received an extension and adoption bursary from the SW WA Hub, said the aim of the study was to produce a framework, based on simulations, that could assist growers to optimise decisions during and after harvest.
“This could include decisions relating to transportation, storage, packaging and marketing of crops,” she said.
Relevant News, Events and Resources
Apply for Climate-Smart Agriculture grants
Capacity Building grants (applications close 28 March) and Partnership and Innovation grants (applications close 8 April) are available through the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program to fund best practice sustainable agriculture and natural resource management activities that support farmers to respond to the impacts of climate change.
Stirlings to Coast Farmers launch Web Wednesday - 27 March
Farmers across Western Australia are invited to participate in "Web Wednesday" on 27 March, a new community initiative launched by Stirlings to Coast Farmers aimed at promoting the critical role of weather stations and soil moisture probes.
'Rehydrate Your Farm Landscape' bootcamp
The Mulloon Institute is holding a bootcamp on the theme "How to catch water and restore landscapes for your property" on March 25-27 in Carrolup, WA. Learn how to apply simple strategies to improve productivity and drought resilience, and manage and repair salinity.
MADFIG podcast discusses experience with the SW WA Drought Hub
Hub Knowledge Broker Tanya Kilminster and MADFIG's Node Lead, Meg Gethin, discuss the Hub, their own experiences farming in the Eastern Wheatbelt, and explain why the Future Drought Fund Program is vitally important for our State and region's future. Take a listen.
Climate Council launches new heat map
Climate Council’s Heat Map of Australia is an interactive tool that shows how cutting climate pollution will limit extreme heat in our neighbourhoods. It projects average number of hot and very hot days, as well as very hot nights, per suburb by 2050 and 2090.
Apply for a Nuffield Australia Drought Resilience Scholarship
Want to travel overseas and bring home new drought resilience tools and practices from international leaders in the field?
The Future Drought Fund and Nuffield Australia are partnering again in 2025 to offer up to 5 Aussie farmers overseas study scholarships in drought resilience.
Through a Nuffield Drought Resilience Scholarship, you’ll build your drought resilience knowledge and grow your industry and community’s capacity to deal with dry times.
Each scholarship is valued at $40,000.
Applications close 31 May 2024.
Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Initiative – Small Networks Grants
The Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal (FRRR) has released Round 2 of the Small Network Grants program for community organisations in remote, rural and regional communities for projects designed to enhance local drought preparedness.
Funding is through the Future Drought Fund and there are streams of $20k and $50k available, subject to location.
Applications close 26 March.
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.
