7 October 2024
Farmers for Climate Action (FCA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Future Drought Fund Drought Hubs Review Panel.
Key Points
- Farmers are on the frontline of climate change, facing increased severity and frequency of droughts alongside other weather and seasonal shifts. Building resilience is crucial to ensuring farms remain both productive and profitable.
- FCA refers to our previous submission to the Productivity Commission in July 2023 on the Interim Future Drought Fund Report.
- We were pleased to see the recommendation of the Productivity Commission that the Future Drought Fund and the Hubs Program encompass climate change and resilience into their remit.
- Drought and Innovation Hubs, funded by the Future Drought Fund, provide regionally focused services to farmers. Ensuring they continue to deliver region-specific outcomes is essential for building long-term climate resilience.
- In our recent submission to the National Drought Plan, FCA highlighted the extension work being undertaken by the Drought Hubs and recommended principles to guide future extension activities on drought.
- Drought and Innovation Hubs must focus on providing specific education and extension activities that effectively translate research into on-farm resilience building.
- Addressing duplication by the Hubs Program with other work undertaken by Cooperative Research Centres, Research and Development Corporations and NRM Regions is important to continue delivering value for farmers.
- Accessibility challenges and difficulty contacting and engaging with Hubs must be addressed to ensure they continue to deliver critical extension services for climate change and drought resilience.
About Farmers for Climate Action
Representing over 8,300 farmers and backed by over 45,000 supporters nationwide, Farmers for Climate Action seeks deep emissions reductions this decade to protect our farmers and our food supply. FCA is made up of farmers, agricultural leaders and rural Australians advocating for strong economy-wide climate policies.
Drought and Climate Change
We are pleased to see that climate change and resilience will be incorporated into the Future Drought Fund’s Drought and Innovation Hubs Program. FCA actively called for this improvement in our submissions to the Productivity Commission’s Interim Report of the Future Drought Fund.
Australian farmers are on the frontline of climate change, facing more frequent and intense droughts that compound existing challenges. In addition to drought, extreme weather and seasonal variations are increasingly affecting farm production and profitability. As these challenges escalate, providing farmers with the resources and knowledge to build resilience into their operations should be a core function of the Hubs Program.
Specific education and extension activities are critical to ensure that Australian farms have the knowledge of how and why the climate is changing, and what the impact will be for their farm. This may include programs that look at alleviating heat stress in livestock, or how to mitigate water logging in cropping. Support delivered through Drought and Innovation Hubs should focus on translating such climate change challenges into resilience research and look to effective adaption of research outcomes on farms in their region.
Enhancing the Hubs Program
Extension is an essential component of delivering resilience building, research, information and implementation to farms in different regions around Australia. While the Hubs Program plays a key role in extension, farmers have reported difficulties in connecting with the drought hubs and noted a lack of transparency and accessibility.
Ensuring that farmers have knowledge of their local Drought and Innovation Hub, how to access services, and the specific services provided, is necessary to bridge connection and access gaps. Recent feedback from farmers suggests improvements in some Hubs, notably the Southern New South Wales Hub, which has enhanced accessibility through an improved website interface and the addition of a knowledge Broker who is available to meet farmers in their local community meetings and other events.
Continuing to build on improvements such as these across the Hub network will be vital. Hub activities must have a clear remit and reporting framework so farmers can easily access information, support, and better understand the service offering. FCA recommends that future improvements to the Hubs be guided by these principles which seek to overcome the access issues raised.
Duplication and Improving Effectiveness
FCA reiterates concerns previously raised regarding duplication between the Hubs Program and work undertaken by Cooperative Research Centres, Research and Development Corporations, and NRM Regions’ extension activities.
Ensuring that Hubs Program services add additional value to drought resilience and adaptation building, not otherwise covered by other agencies, will lead to better outcomes for farmers and regional communities. In our submission to the National Drought Plan, FCA emphasised the uneven support levels provided to farmers and regional communities by federal, state, territory, and local governments across different regions. Consolidating information and helping farmers access available support is a gap in Australia’s drought response and resilience efforts. The Drought and Innovation Hubs, located in specific regions, are well positioned to fill this gap by identifying available support, promoting resilience-building initiatives, and assisting farmers with applications and accessing resources.
Maintaining Local Delivery
Given Australia’s diverse environmental and climate conditions, along with varying commodities and practices, it’s essential for the hubs to remain flexible and provide localised education and services tailored to specific regions. While national consistency is important to ensure equitable service delivery and efficient operations, it must not compromise the need for region-specific support.
The hubs are well-positioned to offer targeted education and assistance based on local commodities, conditions, and climate, which is vital for strengthening drought resilience in farming operations.
Ongoing delivery of extension services and research has never been more crucial for Australian farmers to adapt and build resilience in their operations. This should remain a key focus of the Hubs Program. As climate change intensifies drought and other extreme weather events, enhancing the accessibility and relevance of the Hubs will help Australian farms stay resilient, productive, and profitable.
Please do not hesitate to contact myself or Paul Stark, Policy and Farmer Engagement Officer, on the contact details below should you have any questions regarding this submission.
Yours sincerely,
Natalie Collard
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 1800 491 633
Web: farmersforclimateaction.org.au
Post: FCA C/- Melbourne Connect Co-Working, Lvl 2 700 Swanston Street, Carlton VIC 3053
