Projects Already Underway
The South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SW WA Hub) has helped to attract investment into the State that directly benefits producers and the agricultural industry. This has included providing information, guidance and co-design opportunities to many stakeholders that have applied for Australian Government Future Drought Fund (FDF) grant rounds.
As of June 2024, the Australian Government had funded 27 SW WA Hub projects valued at over $41 million, including co-contributions. These projects address local drought resilience priorities the Hub has identified through a comprehensive and consultative process.
The SW WA Hub has also supported other Future Drought Fund projects over the past three years. The Hub’s involvement in these projects ranges from the Hub being the lead organisation through to investing capability into projects or maintaining contact with project representatives and communicating outcomes.
View the projects below.
Visit this page to view the projects grouped according to the SW WA Hub’s themes and priorities.
| Project Name | Lead | Description |
|---|---|---|
| WaterSmart Dams | Grower Group Alliance/SW WA Hub | Better understand how dams can function in dry years, and through co-design develop new farm water planning tools to create more drought-resilient farm enterprises and regional communities |
| Kondinin Group Drought Resilience for Agriculture Research Extension and Adoption program | Aspermont Limited | A comprehensive farmer-focused extension and adoption program aimed at seeking out the most successful drought-related techniques, strategies and technologies being used by farmers and agribusinesses around the country. |
| A Sustainable Weather Certificate Industry project | Arquus Pty Ltd | This project will establish a sustainable Weather Certificate Industry. |
| The Benefits of Shelter Belts | Murdoch University | The project will undertake a comprehensive review to evaluate the use of shelterbelts in the South West region of Western Australia. |
| Revitalising the Drought Resilience of Western Australia’s Southern Rangelands | Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) | The project will implement and demonstrate mature drought resilience strategies and land management practices to pastoralists in WA’s Southern Rangelands, spanning 52.3 million ha |
| Making Every Drop Count – Below and Above Ground Targeted Soil Moisture Conservation from Paddock to Landscape | Mingenew – Irwin Group | The project demonstrates a combination of practices to improve drought resilience of cropping and grazing lands. This involves maintaining permanent groundcover by managing pasture legume systems, sowing techniques, stubble height and other elements. |
| Improving sowing opportunities for increased farm resilience in a changing climate | CSIRO | The project demonstrates the impacts on drought resilience of practices involving early sowing and optimal soil water storage. The program spans regions in WA, VIC, SA and NSW. |
| Drought resilient landscapes with profitable native shrub and legume systems across southern Australia | CSIRO | The project demonstrates the use of novel forage systems based on native shrubs and self-regenerating annual legumes to address feed gaps during drought. This will improve profitability and drought resilience of mixed farming and rangeland enterprises |
| Modern soil moisture monitoring for improved drought resilience | Grower Group Alliance/SW WA Hub | This project will establish on-farm demonstration sites at growers’ properties in WA, Northern Territory, and Victoria to build their capacity to strategically implement soil moisture monitoring. |
| Managing rangelands for drought resilience | Northern Hub | This project will demonstrate management strategies and technology to assist Rangelands producers to improve grazing management, pasture regeneration and water use efficiency, making their businesses more drought resilient. |
| Fast tracking WA and NT to align with nutritional feed base mapping technologies | Northern Hub | This project will test and refine the Cibo Labs satellite-based biomass monitoring platform in WA and NT. |
| Value added lupin exports | Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) | Establishment of an incorporated lupin value-adding syndicate to advance the production and export of lupin food ingredients, finished food products and concentrated livestock feeds. |
| Digital Edge: Next generation agribusiness analytics for the Eastern Wheatbelt | Centre for Crop and Disease Management (Curtin University) | Deploying the next generation of agribusiness models aimed at improving climate resilience in the eastern wheatbelt of WA by targeting profitability and sustainability at paddock, farm and farm enterprise scale. |
| Avondale First People’s Traditional Produce Innovation and Manufacturing Hub | Noongar Land Enterprise Group | The Avondale First People’s Traditional Produce Innovation and Manufacturing Hub (‘Avondale Hub’), a commercially viable not-for-profit organisation, will support existing and aspiring Noongar and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional produce entrepreneurs to develop and grow traditional produce businesses. |
| Agtech decoded: growers critically analysing the role of new technology in on-farm decision making | Liebe Group | The objective of this project will be to critically assess the ability of modern data analytics to address farming system challenges and improve in-season decision making when faced with a variable climate. |
| Paddock Level Carbon Benchmarking | Farmanco | Development and implementation of Clean Energy Australia-approved University of Melbourne GAF10.4 (and future updated versions of the same) Carbon Calculator within a cloud-based data capture and benchmarking platform. |
| Reducing technical barriers for malting barley market access using innovative technology | Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) | This project will generate value to barley growers, barley breeders and the entire barley industry by supporting a faster pathway to market and market acceptance of new higher yielding barley varieties. |
| Implementing improved vineyard floor management for premium grape production | The University of Western Australia (UWA) | This project partners with Wines of Western Australia, the Agricultural Produce Commission (Table Grapes), and directly with at least four leading WA growers, to test and demonstrate whether cover crops can be used in vineyards to address this challenge. |
| Drone-Mounted Feral Species Recognition System | Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance | This project aims to use a drone mounted species recognition system to locate and visually record feral animal species that contribute negatively to total grazing pressure. |
| Developing automated technology to assess natural capital on pastoral leases | Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance | This project will develop automated technologies for the assessment of the natural capital elements of biodiversity and soil organic carbon to remove the current human requirements which impact resources, time and costs. |
| Supporting the adoption of biodegradable mulch technology in vegetable and perennial fruit enterprises | Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) | Demonstrating a novel, semi-commercialised Sprayable Biodegradable Polymer Membrane (SBPM) developed by CSIRO. |
| Deakin University Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Grants | Deakin University | Investigating diversity in pastures to build resilience and support 365 days of feed production in southern temperate grazing enterprises. |
| De-risking the seeding program. Adoption of key management practices for the success of dry and early sown crops. | AG Excellence Alliance Incorporated | Partnering with fifteen prominent Grower Groups and four Drought Hubs, the project will aim to deliver a program that accelerates the adoption of strategic dry and early sown crop management approaches. |
| Up-skilling farming communities with landscape rehydration infrastructure and farm system solutions for drought resilience | The Mulloon Institute Limited | Working across five states with both land managers and NRM professionals, this project will increase adoption of landscape rehydration practices. |
| Cropping Resilience 2025 – Delivering lasting large-scale practice change by building capacity and infrastructure for adoption of soil health drought resilience practices amongst Australian croppers | Soils for Life Pty Ltd | The project supports building capacity and infrastructure for large-scale practice change and adoption of drought resilience practices to improve soil health in cropping systems. |
| Adoption & extension of digital weather and soil moisture monitoring technologies to drive climate-resilient farming practices in the South-West Agricultural region of Western Australia. | Stirlings to Coast Farmers Inc. | The project will promote adoption of digital weather and soil moisture monitoring technologies to drive climate-resilient farming practices in the South-West agricultural region of Western Australia. |
| Better Making and Use of Hay and Silage – Mitigating drought and season variability effects for WA livestock industry. | Western Beef Association Inc | The TopFodder (TF) program will be used to up-skill dairy, beef and sheep producers in WA on successfully making, storing and feeding silage. The project will also enable these producers to improve the quality of traditionally produced hay, which will further improve the quality feed for their stock in times of drought. |
| Expanding Adoption of Bee Friendly Farming Best Practices to strengthen drought resilience of Australia’s pollinator- dependent crops | The Wheen Bee Foundation Limited | The project will use the proven, science-based Bee Friendly Farming (BFF) Certification program to help farmers in pollinator-dependent industries, such as nuts, avocado, berries, and stone fruits, to protect, preserve and promote pollinator health on their farms. This will improve drought resilience by bolstering food security, biodiversity and ecosystem health. |
| Novel approaches to build drought resilience | CRC for High Performance Soils Ltd | Evaluating novel approaches to build drought resilience in farming systems and soils through capitalising on an established network of long-term trials. |
| Managing water in a changing climate – An extension toolkit to facilitate adoption of best practice water management for pork and poultry producers in Western Australia | Pork Innovation WA Inc | The project focusses on increasing adoption of best practice water management in the Western Australia pig and poultry production systems to improve resilience to drought. |
| Water Quality Testing and Herbicide Efficacy | Grower Group Alliance/SW WA Hub | This Open Innovation project explores technology options to simplify and encourage on-farm water quality testing. This will help farmers make best practice choices regarding water use for spraying to improve herbicide efficacy. |
| SMART SPRAYS: maximising the benefits of rainfall | Murdoch University | Testing the use of biodegradable polymer sprays to improve water harvesting and water retention in cropping systems. |
| Diversified Farmland Income: Assessing the impact and opportunities for integrating renewable energy generation into farming systems and regional economies | Farmanco | Identifying opportunities where renewable energy initiatives can enhance and complement existing agricultural businesses in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region. |
| Barriers and opportunities for agricultural natural capital as an asset class | The University of Western Australia (UWA) | Helping WA farmers understand how Natural Capital might be valued as an asset class. |
| Transformative Aboriginal agricultural methods: Maaman Marra Boodjar | Edith Cowan University (ECU) | Exploring how First Nations knowledge can provide alternative ways to address current and future climate challenges in contemporary agricultural systems. |
| Preliminary investigation of methane emissions from farm dams in Western Australia | The University of Western Australia (UWA) | Exploring methods for monitoring methane emissions from WA farm dams. This project will highlight the broader benefits of improving water quality for better livestock health and productivity, and more effective spray programs. |
| Sustainable transformation of waste from the potato industry into novel feedstock | Whole Green Foods | Scaling-up a manufacturing process to turn potato peel into a livestock feed. The technology will increase the bioavailability of ingredients, enhancing livestock productivity. |
The SW WA Hub’s operational activities are funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), the Future Drought Fund (FDF), the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT), and AgriFutures.
| Activity name | Description |
|---|---|
| South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub | This project supports networks of key stakeholders to work together to plan and undertake codesigned and demand-driven drought resilience RDEA&C. |
| Adoption Officers | Adoption Officers facilitate the adoption of project findings throughout the network. |
| Innovation Broker | The Innovation Broker provides assessment of issues and opportunities for specific industries or regions and match possible innovation/technology options between stakeholders and agrifood innovation partners. |
| Regional Soil Coordinator | The Regional Soil Coordinator provides opportunities for researchers, primary producers and community groups to work together to enhance drought resilient practices. |
| Innovation Hub Expansion – Management activities | This project enables the SW WA Hub to expand its remit beyond drought and to deliver on one or more of the four innovation priorities identified within the National Agricultural Innovation Agenda. |
These projects are funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), the Future Drought Fund (FDF), and AgriFutures.
| Project Name | Lead | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SMART SPRAYS: maximising the benefits of rainfall | Murdoch University | Testing the use of biodegradable polymer sprays to improve water harvesting and water retention in cropping systems. |
| Diversified Farmland Income: Assessing the impact and opportunities for integrating renewable energy generation into farming systems and regional economies | Farmanco | Identifying opportunities where renewable energy initiatives can enhance and complement existing agricultural businesses in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region. |
| Barriers and opportunities for agricultural natural capital as an asset class | The University of Western Australia (UWA) | Helping WA farmers understand how Natural Capital might be valued as an asset class. |
| Transformative Aboriginal agricultural methods: Maaman Marra Boodjar | Edith Cowan University (ECU) | Exploring how First Nations knowledge can provide alternative ways to address current and future climate challenges in contemporary agricultural systems. |
| Preliminary investigation of methane emissions from farm dams in Western Australia | The University of Western Australia (UWA) | Exploring methods for monitoring methane emissions from WA farm dams. This project will highlight the broader benefits of improving water quality for better livestock health and productivity, and more effective spray programs. |
| Sustainable transformation of waste from the potato industry into novel feedstock | Whole Green Foods | Scaling-up a manufacturing process to turn potato peel into a livestock feed. The technology will increase the bioavailability of ingredients, enhancing livestock productivity. |
| Digital Edge: Next generation agribusiness analytics for the Eastern Wheatbelt | Centre for Crop and Disease Management (Curtin University) | Deploying the next generation of agribusiness models aimed at improving climate resilience in the eastern wheatbelt of WA by targeting profitability and sustainability at paddock, farm and farm enterprise scale. |
| Avondale First People’s Traditional Produce Innovation and Manufacturing Hub | Noongar Land Enterprise Group | The Avondale First People’s Traditional Produce Innovation and Manufacturing Hub (‘Avondale Hub’), a commercially viable not-for-profit organisation, will support existing and aspiring Noongar and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional produce entrepreneurs to develop and grow traditional produce businesses. |
| Agtech decoded: growers critically analysing the role of new technology in on-farm decision making | Liebe Group | The objective of this project will be to critically assess the ability of modern data analytics to address farming system challenges and improve in-season decision making when faced with a variable climate. |
| Paddock Level Carbon Benchmarking | Farmanco | Development and implementation of Clean Energy Australia-approved University of Melbourne GAF10.4 (and future updated versions of the same) Carbon Calculator within a cloud-based data capture and benchmarking platform. |
| Reducing technical barriers for malting barley market access using innovative technology | Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) | This project will generate value to barley growers, barley breeders and the entire barley industry by supporting a faster pathway to market and market acceptance of new higher yielding barley varieties. |
| Implementing improved vineyard floor management for premium grape production | The University of Western Australia (UWA) | This project partners with Wines of Western Australia, the Agricultural Produce Commission (Table Grapes), and directly with at least four leading WA growers, to test and demonstrate whether cover crops can be used in vineyards to address this challenge. |
| Drone-Mounted Feral Species Recognition System | Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance | This project aims to use a drone mounted species recognition system to locate and visually record feral animal species that contribute negatively to total grazing pressure. |
| Developing automated technology to assess natural capital on pastoral leases | Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance | This project will develop automated technologies for the assessment of the natural capital elements of biodiversity and soil organic carbon to remove the current human requirements which impact resources, time and costs. |
| Supporting the adoption of biodegradable mulch technology in vegetable and perennial fruit enterprises | Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) | Demonstrating a novel, semi-commercialised Sprayable Biodegradable Polymer Membrane (SBPM) developed by CSIRO. |
| Value added lupin exports | Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) | Establishment of an incorporated lupin value-adding syndicate to advance the production and export of lupin food ingredients, finished food products and concentrated livestock feeds. |
WaterSmart Dams | Grower Group Alliance/SW WA Hub | Better understand how dams can function in dry years, and through co-design develop new farm water planning tools to create more drought-resilient farm enterprises and regional communities |
| Modern soil moisture monitoring for improved drought resilience | Grower Group Alliance/SW WA Hub | This project will establish on-farm demonstration sites at growers’ properties in WA, Northern Territory, and Victoria to build their capacity to strategically implement soil moisture monitoring. |
| Managing rangelands for drought resilience | Northern Hub | This project will demonstrate management strategies and technology to assist Rangelands producers to improve grazing management, pasture regeneration and water use efficiency, making their businesses more drought resilient. |
| Fast tracking WA and NT to align with nutritional feed base mapping technologies | Northern Hub | This project will test and refine the Cibo Labs satellite-based biomass monitoring platform in WA and NT. |
| Water Quality Testing and Herbicide Efficacy | Grower Group Alliance/SW WA Hub | This Open Innovation project explores technology options to simplify and encourage on-farm water quality testing. This will help farmers make best practice choices regarding water use for spraying to improve herbicide efficacy. |
| Revitalising the Drought Resilience of Western Australia’s Southern Rangelands | Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) | The project will implement and demonstrate mature drought resilience strategies and land management practices to pastoralists in WA’s Southern Rangelands, spanning 52.3 million ha |
These projects are funded by the Future Drought Fund (FDF).
| Project Name | Lead | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Kondinin Group Drought Resilience for Agriculture Research Extension and Adoption program | Aspermont Limited | A comprehensive farmer-focused extension and adoption program aimed at seeking out the most successful drought-related techniques, strategies and technologies being used by farmers and agribusinesses around the country. |
| A Sustainable Weather Certificate Industry project | Arquus Pty Ltd | This project will establish a sustainable Weather Certificate Industry. |
| The Benefits of Shelter Belts | Murdoch University | The project will undertake a comprehensive review to evaluate the use of shelterbelts in the South West region of Western Australia. |
| Making Every Drop Count – Below and Above Ground Targeted Soil Moisture Conservation from Paddock to Landscape | Mingenew – Irwin Group | The project demonstrates a combination of practices to improve drought resilience of cropping and grazing lands. This involves maintaining permanent groundcover by managing pasture legume systems, sowing techniques, stubble height and other elements. |
| Improving sowing opportunities for increased farm resilience in a changing climate | CSIRO | The project demonstrates the impacts on drought resilience of practices involving early sowing and optimal soil water storage. The program spans regions in WA, VIC, SA and NSW. |
| Drought resilient landscapes with profitable native shrub and legume systems across southern Australia | CSIRO | The project demonstrates the use of novel forage systems based on native shrubs and self-regenerating annual legumes to address feed gaps during drought. This will improve profitability and drought resilience of mixed farming and rangeland enterprises |
| Novel approaches to build drought resilience | CRC for High Performance Soils Ltd | Evaluating novel approaches to build drought resilience in farming systems and soils through capitalising on an established network of long-term trials. |
| Diversity in pastures | Deakin University | Investigating diversity in pastures to build resilience and support 365 days of feed production in southern temperate grazing enterprises. |
| De-risking the seeding program. Adoption of key management practices for the success of dry and early sown crops. | AG Excellence Alliance Incorporated | Partnering with fifteen prominent Grower Groups and four Drought Hubs, the project will aim to deliver a program that accelerates the adoption of strategic dry and early sown crop management approaches. |
| Up-skilling farming communities with landscape rehydration infrastructure and farm system solutions for drought resilience | The Mulloon Institute Limited | Working across five states with both land managers and NRM professionals, this project will increase adoption of landscape rehydration practices. |
| Cropping Resilience 2025 – Delivering lasting large-scale practice change by building capacity and infrastructure for adoption of soil health drought resilience practices amongst Australian croppers | Soils for Life Pty Ltd | The project supports building capacity and infrastructure for large-scale practice change and adoption of drought resilience practices to improve soil health in cropping systems. |
| Adoption & extension of digital weather and soil moisture monitoring technologies to drive climate-resilient farming practices in the South-West Agricultural region of Western Australia. | Stirlings to Coast Farmers Inc. | The project will promote adoption of digital weather and soil moisture monitoring technologies to drive climate-resilient farming practices in the South-West agricultural region of Western Australia. |
| Better Making and Use of Hay and Silage – Mitigating drought and season variability effects for WA livestock industry. | Western Beef Association Inc | The TopFodder (TF) program will be used to up-skill dairy, beef and sheep producers in WA on successfully making, storing and feeding silage. The project will also enable these producers to improve the quality of traditionally produced hay, which will further improve the quality feed for their stock in times of drought. |
| Expanding Adoption of Bee Friendly Farming Best Practices to strengthen drought resilience of Australia’s pollinator- dependent crops | The Wheen Bee Foundation Limited | The project will use the proven, science-based Bee Friendly Farming (BFF) Certification program to help farmers in pollinator-dependent industries, such as nuts, avocado, berries, and stone fruits, to protect, preserve and promote pollinator health on their farms. This will improve drought resilience by bolstering food security, biodiversity and ecosystem health. |
| Managing water in a changing climate – An extension toolkit to facilitate adoption of best practice water management for pork and poultry producers in Western Australia | Pork Innovation WA Inc | The project focusses on increasing adoption of best practice water management in the Western Australia pig and poultry production systems to improve resilience to drought. |
