The drying and heating climate presents a ‘wicked problem’ for producers and there is a continuing need to accelerate innovation and practice change to stay ahead of the negative effects of climate change.
This was the message from South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SW WA Hub) Director Mark Holland to GGA Forum23 – the Grower Group Alliance’s (GGA) flagship biennial event.
He stressed that, in its short life, the SW WA Hub had leveraged Australian Government Future Drought Fund (FDF) investment to deliver real results for farmers and industry in Western Australia.
“The process is working, significant money is flowing to WA and projects are underway,” Mr Holland said.
He told the event there had been a decline of about 15 per cent in April to October rainfall in the south west of Australia since 1970, and across the same region, May to July rainfall had seen the largest decrease – by about 19 per cent since 1970.
“We can expect a further 5 to 20 per cent decline in April to October rainfall that will result in, for example, later and weaker breaks to the season, as well as dry periods opening up during the growing period for crops,” Mr Holland said.
The SW WA Hub, funded by the FDF and led by the GGA, supported farmers and their communities to prepare for, and become resilient to, the impact of future droughts, which in WA simply meant hotter and drier conditions.
Mr Holland said the Australian Government and FDF had already funded 29 projects worth $23 million (including co-contributions) aligned with the SW WA Hub program in WA.
“Across the Australia’s eight hubs, 140 projects have been funded, and we think about half of these projects have application to WA industry,” he said.
“We will be working hard to ensure the findings are extended here.”
Mr Holland highlighted the SW WA Hub’s comprehensive process to develop a consensus list of drought resilience priorities to inform and shape projects.
This ongoing process involved situational analyses and input from the hub’s Regional Advisory Committees, Regional Node Leads and producers.
He highlighted the SW WA Hub’s unique role during FDF grant opportunities when the hub improved collaboration between potential applicants, efficiency, the quality of applications and the success rate.
“These supporting activities – led by SW WA Hub Adoption Manager Julianne Hill’s team – don’t happen if we are not doing it, and thanks to the hub’s efforts, innovators have a higher success rate,” Mr Holland said.
