• Southern NSW farmers stand to gain lasting benefits from a new $6.23 million investment over the next five years
• The funding was awarded to the Southern NSW Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub based at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga
• The grant will go towards studying strategies for successfully managing mixed farming systems through drought

The Southern NSW Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (the Hub) based at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga has been awarded a $6.23 million grant from the Australian Government.

The grant will go towards studying strategies for successfully managing mixed farming systems through drought and was awarded under the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund Long-Term Trials of Drought Resilient Practices grant program.

The funding will be complemented with $5.3 million of in-kind contributions by the project partners from six regional farming systems groups.

Mixed farming systems are the most common production system in Australia, with about 70 per cent of NSW farms involving some combination of grazing, cropping and livestock operations. The systems are integrated to optimise productivity with trade-offs, often necessary between the enterprise. These trade-off decisions are often complex and made more complex when the system is under stress, such as during a drought. Decisions in one part of the operation can cause a domino for the other parts of the system and influence post-drought recovery.

The Hub Director Ms Cindy Cassidy said the grant is a major investment in the region’s agriculture industry and community resilience.

“To have over $6.23 million invested and a further $5.3million leveraged in our region over the next five years creates real ongoing potential for more sustainable farms, landscapes and communities as well as being a significant boost to local jobs, incomes, and local business,” Ms Cassidy said.

“We appreciate the confidence the Future Drought Fund has placed in our Innovation Hub’s network and management capabilities, as well as our on-ground partners, to undertake this significant project and deliver the greatest possible benefits for Southern NSW.”

The project will be led by Charles Sturt researchers and involve staff and farmer-members from six Southern NSW farming systems groups – FarmLink, Southern Growers, Central West Farming Systems, Riverine Plains, Irrigation Farmers Network and Holbrook Landcare Network.

Trials will explore practices that deliver productivity, economic value, and environmental sustainability benefits for mixed farming systems, to develop decision-making guides to support positive pre, during and post-drought management.

Charles Sturt University’s Lecturer in Whole Farm Management Dr Shawn McGrath will lead the project with the University’s Gulbali Institute of Agriculture, Water and Environment to host a central research site consisting of five 60ha replicate farmlets on the Global Digital Farm site at Charles Sturt in Wagga Wagga. Similar trials will be conducted concurrently on other consortium member farms.

Experienced farmers working at those trial sites will be able to tweak their treatment’s implementation based on local conditions. Advisors from Charles Sturt and NSW Department of Primary Industries will provide technical oversight.

The drought resilience trials will cover a mix of traditional and novel mixed farming practices, including integrated pasture legume and cropping, grazing focus, cropping focus, and continuous cropping. Each farmlet will be set up to represent a complete farming operation.

The funding also includes provision for regular updates and activities designed to support adoption of appropriate practices by our farming community. 

Related projects are being conducted by Innovation Hubs in Victoria and Tasmania. Results from all three regions (SNSW, Victoria and Tasmania) will be shared and consolidated, so farmers can access results and advice to suit their business, land and climate conditions.

ENDS