Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management, the Hon David Littleproud MP
ACT Minister for the Environment, Rebecca Vassarotti MLA
Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management David Littleproud, and ACT Minister for Environment Rebecca Vassarotti said the Future Drought Fund programs will support farmers and regions to build resilience to future droughts.
"The $9.85 million Regional Drought Resilience Planning program supports partnerships of regional organisations, councils, communities and farmers to develop regional drought resilience plans," Minister Littleproud said.
"The plans will identify how to manage through droughts, seek innovative ways to build resilience across agricultural sectors and allied industries.
"Planning will be community-led and owned. It will bring together regional knowledge and perspectives, along with the best available evidence and data.
"Australian farmers manage uncertainty daily and farming is becoming more challenging.
"The $16 million Farm Business Resilience program will give farmers access to subsidised learning and development opportunities to meet these challenges.
"The program will take farmers' knowledge and skills to the next level in risk management and decision-making, natural resource management, and personal and social resilience.
"It will also support farm business planning and access to experts and one-on-one advice," Minister Littleproud said.
The ACT will benefit from $150,000 in Future Drought Fund funding for Farm Business Resilience and over $300,000 for Regional Drought Resilience Planning.
Minister Vassarotti said we know that our farmers are already building capacity and responding to the challenges of changing climate and conditions. However, we need to support further work.
"The Farm Business Resilience program will work with farming families, providing them with dedicated tailored support to build their drought resilience," Minister Vassarotti said.
"With this support and other ACT Government programs aimed at building farm and farmer resilience, our ACT rural landholders will be better able to address the challenges posed by climate change, market fluctuations, biosecurity challenges and drought.
"The regional drought resilience plan for the ACT will be led by the ACT Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate in collaboration with Regional Development Australia authorities, the ACT Rural Landholders Association and State and Local Government authorities in the broader south east of NSW.
"The plan will build on existing ACT Government plans and strategies including the ACT Climate Change strategy and NRM Investment Plan."
The Australian Government has recently announced an additional $91 million for both programs over 3 years beyond the foundational year and will be working with states and territories on the detail.
For more details visit the Australian Government Future Drought Fund webpage agriculture.gov.au/fdf
Fast Facts:
- The Farm Business Resilience program and Regional Drought Resilience Planning program are foundational programs under the Australian Government's forward-thinking $5 billion Future Drought Fund.
- The Future Drought Fund is a long term sustained investment of $100 million each year to build drought preparedness.
- Both will roll out across the country from 2021 until June 2022.
