Round 2 Funding Announced
The Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Program Round 2 grants have been awarded.
The Program funds projects that investigate innovative farming techniques through science-based long-term trials, building drought and climate resilience for Australian farmers.
The Program has an expanded list of eligible agricultural industries including cereal, other broadacre crops, horticulture crops and livestock.
The Program is providing $39,680,949 to 5 successful applicants, and their consortiums, to deliver projects from 2025 to 2030.
Australian farmers preparing for drought want proven practices they can rely on.
That’s why the Future Drought Fund is investing in the Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Grants Program.
Grant recipients will trial innovative drought resilient farming practices over several years.
Projects focus areas include cereal and other broadacre crops, horticulture crops and livestock sectors.
All these sectors are prone to productivity losses due to drying conditions and climate change.
Projects will use a combination of sites and at least one trial location for scientific evaluation.
This evidence-based approach will provide farmers with the information and confidence they need to try the practices themselves.
Grants of up to $8 million (GST exclusive) per project have been awarded to successful consortia to undertake activities in consultation with farmers across a broad range of landscapes and production systems.
The program provides up to $40.3 million through an open competitive grants process.
Projects will receive funding until 2029-30.
| Lead organisation | Project description | Project locations | Number of consortium members | Grant amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation | This project will closely study new regenerative cropping and pasture management methods to improve drought resilience in dryland farming systems in southern Australia. | NSW, SA and Vic | 10 | $7,978,634 |
| Charles Sturt University | This project will build drought resilience in Australia's cooler viticulture and horticultural regions, in NSW and Tasmania with wine grapes, apple and cherry, addressing vulnerability to declining rainfall and rising water demand in systems with high rainfall dependence and limited irrigation. | NSW, Tas and Vic | 9 | $7,937,062 |
| Department of Regional NSW | Focused on cotton-growing regions, this project will exploit knowledge from core long-term experiments in NSW and Queensland, alongside 25 on-farm trials in NSW, Queensland and Northern Territory in developing innovative farming practices combined with real-time crop and soil monitoring to mitigate drought impact. | NSW, NT and Qld | 16 | $7,979,970 |
| The University of Adelaide | This project will enhance resilience of sheep production systems by combining climate resilient sheep with novel, drought tolerant pastures, shrubs and trees which enhance consistency of feed supply, stabilise and improve landscape health, and create microclimates that increase sheep welfare and productivity. | NSW, SA, Vic and WA | 22 | $7,926,008 |
| University of Melbourne | The project aims to develop guidelines and tools, through extensive research activities, to help Australia's $16.3 billion horticulture industry and better manage drought conditions. It will establish tree survival signatures that indicate water stress levels impacting productivity and monitor orchards under different stress scenarios, for almonds, pears, and summer fruits. | Vic | 4 | $7,859,275 |
| Total funding (ex GST) | $39,680,949 | |||
Grants of up to $8 million (GST exclusive) per project, were awarded to successful consortia to undertake activities in consultation with farmers across a broad range of landscapes and production systems.
The program provided up to $40 million through an open competitive grants process.
Projects will receive funding until 2027-28.
| Lead organisation | Project description | Project locations | Number of consortium members | Grant amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | WA, NSW, and Vic | 12 | $3,935,493 |
| Charles Sturt University | Investigations into the interdependence and whole-system effects of cropping and livestock components and managing environmental and social impacts in response to seasonal variation. | NSW | 7 | $6,229,926 |
| Deakin University | Investigating diversity in pastures to build resilience and support 365 days of feed production in southern temperate grazing enterprises. | Vic, WA, SA, and Tas | 10 | $7,994,500 |
| Flinders University | Innovative applied science to improve the climate resilience of cropping, livestock, and mixed farms, assessed through a network of long-term trials across the pastoral, low, medium, and high rainfall zones of SA. | SA | 39 | $8,000,000 |
| NQ Dry Tropics Ltd | Demonstrate the effectiveness of virtual fencing to enable rangeland graziers to implement fine scale, drought resilient grazing systems over large areas. | Qld | 3 | $4,320,584 |
| University of Melbourne | To provide rigorous scientific evidence for the effectiveness or otherwise of farming-systems adaptations hypothesised to improve drought resilience of broadacre grains, grazing and mixed farming systems. | Vic and Tas | 6 | $7,204,015 |
| Total funding (ex GST) | $37,684,518 | |||
Funding information
Find details of the payment information for the Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Grants, as required under Section 27A of the Future Drought Fund Act 2019 below.
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