Guy Barnett,Minister for Primary Industries and Water
The Hodgman Liberal Government understands that our farmers and rural communities are vital in building a stronger economy and creating jobs, which is why we are supporting them by investing $100 million in this year's Budget.
We are investing $70 million for Pipeline to Prosperity Tranche 3 irrigation schemes in addition to the Commonwealth's commitment of $100 million, enabling the first phase of at least five irrigation projects to proceed, whilst Tasmanian Irrigation continues with the planning for other proposed schemes.
$16 million for industry development projects across all key agricultural sectors including the Rural Financial Counselling Service, Farm Business Mentoring, Blundstone Scholarships, the Tasmanian Women in Agriculture and Rural Youth Tasmanian leadership programs, the TFGA Living Next Door to a Farmer Campaign, Agrigrowth Liaison Officers and the FarmPoint website and helpline.
We are providing additional funding for the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture for the Agricultural Innovation Fund for industry aligned priority research projects and to modernise our research farm assets as well as the Stock Underpass Program.
We are continuing our very popular On-farm Energy Irrigation Audit and Capital Grant program, and the Tasmanian Irrigation Renewable Energy Project and injecting $3 million into Landcare across the state and $4.8 million for the Weeds Action Fund.
Supporting farmers is a key element of the Hodgman Liberal Government's AgriFood Plan to grow the farm gate value of our agricultural sector to $10 billion per annum by 2050.
