Wheatbelt NRM is proud to be a member of the recently unveiled $20 million South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub.
Along with WA’s other NRM regional groups, we will provide in-kind support to the hub, which has been established with an $8 million contribution over four years from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.
Led by the Grower Group Alliance, the hub’s core site will be in the Wheatbelt at the Merredin Dryland Research Institute, with another of its nine hub nodes at Northam.
Our involvement as one of the founding hub members – whose partners will collectively provide up to $12 million in co-contributions over the initial life of the initiative – follows our progress working with farmers to support them to counter the effects of drought and climate change.
“Working with farmers to adapt to climate change and dry conditions is one of our focus areas,” Wheatbelt NRM chief executive Karl O’Callaghan said.
“This hub demonstrates the commitment of the Federal Government and its member groups to finding innovative farmer-driven and supported solutions to one of our biggest challenges.
“We are very excited to be involved and look forward to helping deliver hub projects and programs with local growers and the Wheatbelt community.”
The South West WA Hub promises to put farmers and communities at the centre of agrifood innovation and create pathways for producers to input into how research is applied on the ground.
It is hoped this will speed up innovation and adoption, making Western Australia more resilient, productive and competitive in the face of future drought.