Stakeholder priority areas

Our stakeholders

The Victoria Drought Hub is addressing all agricultural industries and stakeholders associated with those industries in Victoria. Victoria has a highly productive and diverse agricultural sector, and the Victoria Drought Hub likewise is addressing this diversity. Figures produced by Agriculture Victoria in 2021 demonstrate the diversity of the key agricultural industries being addressed by the Victoria Drought Hub.
Victoria’s gross value of agricultural production (GVAP) was $17.8 billion in 2019–2020 – the largest agricultural producer state by value, with Victoria’s GVAP representing 29 per cent of Australia’s total GVAP.

The major commodities produced in Victoria (by gross value in 2019–2020) are:

Dairy $3.01 billion
Grains $2.98 billion
Beef $2.91 billion
Sheep meat $2.21 billion
Fruit and nuts $2.02 billion
Vegetables $1.11 billion
Wool $0.77 billion
Other agriculture $2.82 billion
TOTAL $17.83 billion

(Agriculture Victoria, accessed August 2022)

Ultimately, the prime stakeholders for the Victoria Drought Hub are the communities in rural and regional Victoria.

Stakeholder priority areas

Victoria Drought and Innovation Hub DRAFT Priority areas as identified by the first round of consultations:

Improve farm management

Improve maintenance and conservation of the farming business, resources and assets (soil, perennial crops, and livestock herds) through the drought cycle
Improve agronomic strategies (e.g., water use efficiency, soil health, plant nutrition) to prepare, survive and recover from drought
Better understand the role in building drought resilience of additional farm management strategies, including increasing diversity of the farming system (crop selection, integrating livestock), lower impact farming systems (regenerative agriculture, carbon farming, native flora and fauna)
Improved management of machinery assets and engaging contractors through the drought cycle
Improve decision making, especially strategies to make ‘season defining’ decision (like cutting hay)
Improve risk management, including system diversification to build drought resilience

Improve information provision and access

Overcoming a lack of awareness around regionally specific weather and climate information sources
Overcoming barriers to seeking out information mounted by farmer and advisor time constraints
Provide timely information to support decision making

Improve business management

Build capacity in market knowledge, external income sources, strategic and capital and asset investment to build drought resilience
Build capacity in accessing finance, understanding and strategic use of financial mechanisms (e. g. farm management deposits and other tax concessions), market conditions, gross margin analysis and financial budgeting
Build capacity of agronomic farm advisers in business management knowledge to support building drought resilience
Build capacity for strategic decision making
Improve business risk management
Provide better information on available financial instruments and improve knowledge of availability, timing and application/evaluation processes

Promote indigenous knowledge and culture

Improve engagement with and opportunities for promoting indigenous knowledge and culture for building drought resilience

Improve advisory services

Build advisors’ capacity in communication, improve collaboration between different advisors, and facilitate multiple pathways for advice and mental health support
Overcome the problem of siloed or conflicting information being provided to farmers by different advisors (e.g., financial versus agronomic)

Improve understanding the severity and impact of drought, especially in the face of climate projections

Improve understanding of the impact of climate change and the likelihood of increased instances of drought
Improve understanding of the variability of drought impacts on different farming systems and products
Improve understanding of the nexus between farming system, environmental assets and climate change