The South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SW WA Hub) provides regionally focused information and support to accelerate the adoption of drought resilient practices.
The SW WA Hub, led by the Grower Group Alliance (GGA), was established in 2021 as one of eight Hubs across Australia funded through the Australian government’s Future Drought Fund (FDF). Together, these Hubs aim to help farmers and regional communities prepare for and adapt to the impacts of drier, warmer seasons.
The Hub plays a unique role in the agricultural ecosystem by bringing together researchers, agribusinesses, farmers, grower groups, industry leaders, and government agencies.
It leverages the GGA grower group network through a ‘hub and spoke’ model to promote ground-up innovation and help farmers enhance resilience to an increasingly variable climate in the South-West WA region.
Twenty-two grower groups are among the Hub’s more than 50 consortium partners, who represent all segments of the WA agricultural supply chain and are providing cash and in-kind co-contributions.
This focus on collaboration enables 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 Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs 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
What is resilience in agriculture?
Resilience in agricultural systems is the capacity of people, farms and landscape to anticipate, absorb, adapt and, where necessary, transform in response to climate-related disturbances.
As global agriculture confronts frequent and severe events, including prolonged droughts, intense heatwaves, episodic flooding and shifts in pest and disease dynamics, resilience has become central to both academic inquiry and policy formulation.
National Drought Hub Network
The eight national Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs are organised into regional areas that broadly reflect the key agricultural and climatic zones across the country.
SW WA footprint
The geographical area of the SW WA Hub extends far beyond what many Western Australians know as our South-West region. The SW WA Hub is essentially everything south of the Pilbara, and includes what those in the agricultural industry know as the southern agricultural growing region of Western Australia.
South-West 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 (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.
