The Farm Business Resilience (FBR) Program is helping Western Australian producers take practical steps to prepare for drought and climate variability by strengthening business planning, improving risk management and supporting informed decision-making. Jointly funded by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund (FDF) and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), the program is delivered across a range of agricultural sectors through industry-specific delivery partners.
Two of these partners are the Grower Group Alliance (GGA) delivering the FBR program to broadacre livestock and southern horticulture farm businesses under the FarmElevate banner, and the Aquaculture Council of Western Australia (ACWA), delivering FBR as Aquaculture for the Future to support aquaculture producers.
For Peta Hogarth from Samson Brook South, a family-run business producing figs, mandarins, grapes and value-added products, the program provided the tools and confidence needed to plan for growth while managing climate-related risks.
“We needed some guidance and we knew that we needed to expand, but we didn't know what sort of risks were related to that and how we were going to get there,” Peta said.
After participating in the program, the business implemented changes to strengthen water security and improve efficiency, including installing additional water tanks and refining irrigation practices to better meet the needs of different crops while reducing water use.
The program also helped the business prioritise future actions, improve communication and take a more strategic approach to expansion and risk management.
For Scott Bell, co-owner of Aqua Farms Australia in Capel, the program highlighted the long-term impacts that rising temperatures could have on marron production. Through a climate risk assessment, Scott gained a clearer understanding of the risks facing his business and developed strategies to respond.
“One of the key takeaways from the program is the climate risk assessment,” Scott said. “That really allowed us to identify the changing temperature that's going to affect the region and that's changed the way we look at best practice for our production system.”
As a result, Aqua Farms Australia is reviewing its production systems and considering increasing pond depths from two to three metres to help manage water temperatures and support animal health under future climate conditions. The program also helped establish a plan to manage risks and identify opportunities for industry-wide collaboration.
Beyond the on-farm outcomes, both producers highlighted the value of connecting with other businesses facing similar challenges. By sharing experiences and learning from one another, participants gained practical insights and greater confidence in responding to future uncertainty.
By helping producers assess climate risks, improve resource management and develop clear plans for the future, the Farm Business Resilience Program is helping producers build the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to prepare for and manage drought and climate-related challenges in their farm businesses.
To learn more about these programs visit the GGA FBR or ACWA FBR websites.
Watch to see how the Future Drought Fund is supporting producers to build resilient farm businesses into the future.
Video duration: 6 mins 37 secs
Introduction
This is the transcript of a video case study produced by the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund (FDF). The Grower Group Alliance (GGA) received funding, via the FDF’s Farm Business Resilience (FBR) program, to deliver this program under their FarmElevate banner, supporting southern horticulture producers in WA to strengthen their businesses and adapt to an increasingly complex operating environment. In WA, the FBR program is jointly funded by the FDF and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD).
Learn more about the Future Drought Fund
Rohan Prince [00:39]
The department's role in delivering the Farm Business Resilience Program, in Western Australia, was to develop a delivery model that was flexible and suitable for Western Australian businesses.
Rikki Foss [00:48]
The Farm Business Resilience Program is delivered as Farm Elevate. The reason why we did this from the very start was to ensure that growers really understood the importance of elevating their business and supporting them on their journey through this process of business resilience. This program is jointly funded by the Australian Government through the Future Drought Fund and the state through the Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development.
Peta Hogarth [01:15]
Samson Brook South is a small family business. We produce figs and mandarins, horticulture. We produce gins with our mandarins and figs, and we have grapes in production.
Rohan Prince [01:29]
Horticulture has some really unique challenges. We have multiple multiple commodities. Annual crops, perennial crops, and many different market avenues. So horticulture is quite complex.
Rikki Foss [01:39]
We know the agricultural sector at large, and in particular the horticultural businesses, really are faced with the pressures of climate variability in regards to water security and extreme weather events, such as heat. Also, other pressures include the rising of import costs, labour challenges, and the complexities around compliance. Also in addition, whereas freights pressures and access to market.
Peta Hogarth [02:06]
We needed some guidance and we knew that we needed to expand, but we didn't know what sort of risks were related to that and how we were going to get there.
Rohan Prince [02:17]
Delivery partners like the Grower Group Alliance bring their extensive networks, their cross-sector experience, and their capacity to stand up and deliver these programs that are really relevant to growers.
Rikki Foss [02:29]
A key component of the program was to deliver a business plan, and this ensured that we had the right trainers and the right coaches to assist growers on this journey. The program had five deliverable areas around business strategy, finance management, risk management, natural resource management and wellbeing. What has been the highlight of this program is actually seeing the confidence that we're seeing from producers and their ability to make good decisions around their business, but also their sustainability and the resilience into the future.
Peta Hogarth [03:04]
We've looked at our water management strategies and we've added extra water tanks. We've looked at how we deliver water to the trees and vines, making sure that we're using minimal water, but that we're supplying what it is the trees and the vineyards need, because they need different amounts. One of the highlights of the program for me was our planning, being able to prioritise what we did. Being able to look at how we expand our business, how we communicate in our business, and what we do about our risk management.
Rohan Prince [03:40]
A benefit of the Farm Business Resilience Program is to allow businesses to step up and out of their business. It encourages growers to use data driven decisions, make changes based on data rather than emotions.
Peta Hogarth [03:53]
It was really beneficial to be able to talk to other people who were in similar situations to us. To be able to look at how they do things, to be able to share information, to look at how we manage our citrus and make sure that we are following best practice.
Rikki Foss [04:12]
When you have an industry that has more confidence, it really does lift a resilient community and we really see the on-flows of that. Some of the conversations that were happening in these sessions, or this program have really unleashed some valuable conversations and structures around businesses going forward, which they may not have had previously within their business.
Rohan Prince [04:38]
It was important for the department to include horticulture in the Farm Business Resilience Program, because of its importance to the state's food system, the sustainability of the regional economies and also the sustainability of the businesses within horticulture in WA.
Horticulture businesses are a relatively large employer compared to other agriculture businesses and they contribute so much to communities through their employment, through services and jobs that they create in other sectors that flow on from horticulture. One of the largest ones we see is through tourism, experiential tourism, food service, and without those businesses being sustainable and resilient, they may not be there. That would mean the end of those regular communities, but not only that, to a lot of the food that they provide to the cities.
Peta Hogarth [05:24]
The program has helped us in looking at how we are planning at moving ahead. It has taught us the value of looking at where we are now and where we want to be in the future. Looking at how we get there. It's helped us communicate really well and look at the things that we need to prioritise in order to do the things that we're aiming to do.
Rikki Foss [05:52]
We know that this program of farm business resilience does invest in the individual, but the key component here is ensuring that it has a ripple effect across the industry. These producers actually put food on our table. They play a really important role in our economy and our food security.
Rohan Prince [06:09]
Individual farms participating in the program is part of a food ecosystem. Having businesses that are resilient, profitable, strong, and more likely to be there in the future is a benefit to everyone.
Recording ends [06:37]
A screen displays the logos for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Future Drought Fund.
Video duration: 5 mins 50 secs
Introduction
This is the transcript of a video case study produced by the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund (FDF). The Aquaculture Council of Western Australia (ACWA) received funding, under the FDF’s Farm Business Resilience (FBR) program, delivered under their Aquaculture for the Future banner, to support aquaculture producers in WA to prepare for drought and climate change. In WA, the FBR program is jointly funded by the FDF and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD).
Learn more about the Future Drought Fund
[Recording begins]
Music plays.
Scott Bell [00:38]
My name is Scott Bell. I'm one of the owners at Aqua Farms Australia. We're located in Capel, in the south west of Western Australia, and we farm Marron and Murray Cod. Along with being a working farm, we also have the aquatic feed mill on site, along with a hatchery and also a processing facility, and we've recently installed a restaurant to offer a pond to plate experience.
Marron’s unique in it can only be grown here in the southwest of Western Australia due to the climate conditions. People have tried to grow Marron throughout other parts of the world, unsuccessfully. They're quite a fussy animal and require the perfect, pristine waters that we find in this location to be able to survive and grow.
Justin Bellanger [01:26]
Here in Western Australia we've recently had closures of significant finfish commercial fisheries, and so the aquaculture sector is playing an incredibly important role in maintaining the supply of Marron protein and seafood products to our local markets. That's really critical because it means that our local consumers are buying locally produced fish. We see aquaculture as a really important part of our seafood and our food security and sovereign capacity within Western Australia and Australia as a whole, and we've only seen that continue to increase.
The Farm Business Resilience Program is jointly funded by the Future Drought Fund and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
We delivered the FBR program under the banner of aquaculture for the future, and we branded it in that way so that we could provide a sense of optimism and for it to be future focused.
Scott Bell [02:21]
The FBR program was all about breaking our businesses down, looking at marketing, accounting, research and development, and other aspects of our business operationally, to identify where the risks are and what can be done to increase the industry.
Justin Bellanger [02:24]
It allows them to assess what their business operating environment is, what the risks are at a holistic level, and how they can adjust different elements of that to deal with some of the vulnerabilities and the externalities that are impacting on their operating environment.
Scott Bell [02:57]
Some of the key risks that we face are the water, energy risks and the change and increasing temperatures that can affect the survival and growth of the Marron.
Justin Bellanger [03:08]
The most significant thing about the FBR program for our sector is that it's allowed us to take a science-based approach to analysing the vulnerabilities of different businesses from a climate perspective, but also from a business management perspective.
Scott Bell Capel [03:23]
One of the key takeaways from the program is the climate risk assessment. That really allowed us to identify the changing temperature that's going to affect the region and that's changed the way we look at best practice for our production system. Typically, we would produce our ponds at two meters in depth, and we're now looking at increasing that to three meters as best practice to future proof us, to ensure the Marron are happy and healthy with the changing climate.
By participating in the FBR program, it's allowed us to establish a plan so we can accommodate those risks moving forward, and it allows us to have a conversation as an industry on how we can best work together to resolve and mitigate some of these risks moving into the future.
One of the most valuable parts of the program was being able to sit down and discuss risks with our peers, and it allowed me to get the lessons without the scars of having to go through the challenges ourselves.
Justin Bellanger [04:26]
I think programs like FBR are really important for different businesses. Whichever phase of investment into the sector that they're in, to realise what the particular risks are and how they can go about addressing those.
For us, bringing all of those sectors together was really important, and that's been one of the fantastic byproducts of the FBR program was to create that network and to enhance that network of aquaculture producers in Western Australia. It's really important that we have resilient businesses that can learn from other people's successes and failures and build upon that.
Scott Bell Capel [04:59]
Conversations with having everyone in the same room really assists in identifying the risks associated for the businesses moving forward and allowing us to continue to grow as an industry.
Justin Bellanger [05:12]
I think the future for aquaculture in Western Australia, is a significant expansion across a few of our sectors, particularly barramundi, oysters, and seaweed, and in the freshwater space. I think there's some real optimism around the Marron sector expanding as well in short to medium term, which is fantastic. I think there will be some challenges on the horizon, no doubt, but we think the opportunities are significant
Recording ends [9:32]
A screen displays the logos for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Future Drought Fund.
Acknowledgement of Country
We acknowledge the continuous connection of First Nations Traditional Owners and Custodians to the lands, seas and waters of Australia. We recognise their care for and cultivation of Country. We pay respect to Elders past and present, and recognise their knowledge and contribution to the productivity, innovation and sustainability of Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries.
This project was jointly funded under the Future Drought Fund's Farm Business Resilience Program.
