The South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SW WA Hub) is harnessing the power of collaboration to enhance drought resilient practices and accelerate innovation and adoption.
Funded by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, the SW WA Hub has begun implementing activities such as the collaborative $4 million WaterSmart Dams initiative, funded by the FDF and the State Government.
Led by the GGA, the hub is utilising and leveraging the power of the GGA grower group network ‘hub and spoke’ model to facilitate greater innovation from ‘the ground up’.
Grower groups are among the hub’s more than 50 Consortium Partners, which represent all sectors of the WA agricultural supply chain and are providing cash and in-kind co-contributions.
This focus on collaboration will enable the SW WA Hub to make agricultural research impactful and accessible, increasing innovation and commercialisation opportunities.
The Australian Government has expanded the remit of the SW WA Hub beyond drought resilience to agricultural innovation. However, drought resilience remains a core priority.
Vision:
Thriving producers and communities adapting to our variable environment
Mission:
Be a connected and trusted partner building pathways to accelerate innovation and adoption
Hub Geographical Area
The geographical area of the SW WA hub then extends far beyond what many Western Australians know as our South West region. Within this national project, the Future Drought Fund Drought Resilience Innovation and Adoption Hubs are organised into regional areas that broadly reflect the key agricultural and climatic zones across the country. The SW WA Hub is essentially everything south of the Pilbara, and includes what those in the agricultural industry know as the entire southern agricultural growing region of WA.
SW WA Climate Context
Extract from BOM State of the Climate Report 2022: There has been a decline of around 15 per cent in April to October rainfall in the southwest of Australia since 1970. Across the same region, May to July rainfall has seen the largest decrease, by around 19 per cent since 1970
National Hubs at a Glance
The eight Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs are:
- Southern NSW Hub, Wagga Wagga (hub lead, Charles Sturt University)
- Tropical North Queensland Hub, Cairns (James Cook University)
- Southern Queensland/Northern NSW Hub, Toowoomba (University of Southern Queensland)
- Victoria Hub, Dookie (University of Melbourne)
- Tasmania Hub, Hobart (University of Tasmania)
- South Australia Hub, Roseworthy (University of Adelaide)
- South West WA Hub, Merredin Dryland Research Institute (Grower Group Alliance)
- Northern Hub, Darwin (Charles Darwin University)
Each hub services a broad area and responds to the needs and opportunities in their region.
