Victorian farming regions benefit from $4 million for drought-resilience projects

The Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub will benefit from the Australian Government’s $4 million investment to drive regional and national drought resilience.

The funding is being delivered under the $5 billion Future Drought Fund to support five collaborative projects (three of them involving Victoria).

The Victoria Hub’s Co-Director Professor Tim Reeves said the projects have all been identified through farmer and stakeholder consultations.

“It’s exciting to be able to collaborate with other Hubs around Australia,” Prof. Reeves said.

“As we know, drought affects the entire country and while local initiatives are paramount, in some cases there’s great benefit from collaboration.”

“For instance, the Victoria Hub is joining with the South Australia Hub as part of a $1 million project to enhance the drought resilience of wine grape, almond and citrus growers.”

That specific project will establish 8 trial sites across Victoria, South Australia, Southern NSW and Tasmania to demonstrate how digital tools can provide real-time information on canopy development and soil moisture, to assist in maintaining plant health during drought.

The Victoria Hub is also involved in a $621,784.00 project to improve irrigation management through modern soil moisture monitoring techniques. Also, in Victoria’s southern regions, there’s a $986,894 cross-hub project to understand drought resilience in mixed farming enterprises.