The Climate-Smart Agriculture Program includes grant rounds focused on improving the sustainability and productivity of Australian agriculture. Each grant round addresses the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program outcomes in different ways.
All grant funding under the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program has now been committed. The funded projects are underway.
Further information on current Australian Government grant opportunities is available on GrantConnect.
Partnerships and Innovation
The Partnerships and Innovation grant round provided a total of $45 million in funding over 4 yers (2024-25 to 2027-28) through an open-competitive grant round for medium to large scale projects.
The Partnerships and Innovation grant round opened on 22 February 2024 and closed on 8 April 2024.
These grants aim to drive the development, trialling, adoption and roll-out of climate-smart, sustainable, innovative tools and on-ground farm practices that increase the agriculture sector’s productivity and profitability.
See the list of successful applicants funded through this round.
| Recipient legal entity name | State | Project/activity title | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Mulloon Institute Limited | National | The Landscape Function Toolkit. Equipping Australia with a Systems-Approach to Landscape Climate Resilience. | $3,796,700 |
| Grower Group Alliance Inc. | National | The Ripple Effect. A national, grower-led collaboration to increase biodiversity and reduce emissions via the demonstration and accelerated adoption of best-practice water management, strengthening farm water security, productivity and sustainability. | $5,000,000 |
| The University of Western Australia | WA, SA, VIC, NSW, QLD | Pasture diversification and management to promote climate resistance and resilience. | $4,964,936 |
| Living Knowledge Indigenous Corporation | QLD | Increasing climate resilience, ecosystem health and agricultural profitability in Queensland grazing landscapes with Cultural Fire management and traditional plant knowledge. | $4,937,057 |
| Southern Gulf NRM Ltd | QLD | Improving land condition across Northwest Queensland to boost productivity, build climate resilience and increase biodiversity. | $5,000,000 |
| Healthy Land and Water Ltd | QLD | Building resilient and productive grazing landscapes through the adoption of climate-smart practices and engagement with natural capital markets, industry driven environmental credentials and sustainability frameworks. | $1,867,258 |
| The Queensland University of Technology | NSW, QLD | Climate-Smart Cotton - reducing nitrous oxide emissions with enhanced efficiency fertilisers. | $1,985,000 |
| Cotton Research and Development Corporation | TAS, NSW, QLD | Advancing the adoption of climate-smart, innovative irrigation control technology for the cotton and dairy industries. | $1,249,069 |
| Adelaide University | SA, NSW, TAS, WA, VIC | Innovative Soil Technologies to Foster Resilience and Climate-Smart Crop Production in Australia. | $4,951,000 |
| Charles Sturt University | NSW, VIC | Developing practices for profitable, sustainable sheep production in a variable climate. | $2,236,249 |
| Australian Wool Innovation Limited | National | Australian Wool Insetting Project. | $4,086,000 |
| James Cook University | National | Rejuvenating agricultural soils to enhance productivity, resilience and carbon sequestration using enhanced rock weathering. | $4,877,768 |
Capacity Building
Capacity Building grants provided up to $25.5 million in funding over 4 years (2024-25 to 2027-28). Funding was allocated through 2 open-competitive grant rounds.
These grants aim to strengthen community efforts in sustainable agriculture and natural resource management practices. The goal of the grants is to drive on-ground adoption. The grants build on the success of existing climate-smart, sustainable agriculture projects, initiatives and information sources.
Round 1
Capacity Building Round 1 grants provided up to $9 million in funding. Round 1 opened on 22 February 2024 and closed on 28 March 2024.
See the list of successful applicants funded through this round.
| Recipient legal entity name | State | Project/activity title | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Mulloon Institute Limited | NSW | Water Stewardship for Climate resilience - Nurturing skills for First Nations / Farmer collaborations. | $998,300 |
| Narrabri Local Aboriginal Land Council | NSW | Climate-smart Gomeroi grain and food production with regenerative agriculture. | $768,986 |
| Bass Coast Landcare Network Inc | VIC | Creating climate-smart communities - building awareness, knowledge and skills to increase the capacity of the agricultural sector and First Nations people in West and South Gippsland to transition to a sustainable, climate- smart future. | $641,770 |
| Geographe Catchment Council Incorporated | WA | Geographe Resilient Farms - Geographe Farmers protecting Geographe Bay (GFPGB) by implementing climate- smart and sustainable agriculture practices. | $498,100 |
| Mimal Land Management Aboriginal Corporation | NT | Mimal First Nations-led whole of community approach to build, test, and pilot knowledge resources and decision- making tools to guide the transition from buffalo enterprises to nature capital markets in Arnhem Land and to scale. | $728,694 |
| Mallee Catchment Management Authority | VIC | Increasing the capacity of Mallee farmers to identify and adopt climate-smart farming practices with innovative soil mapping tools. | $597,600 |
| Stirlings to Coast Farmers Inc. | WA | Improving farmers' knowledge and capacity to increase nitrogen use efficiency and reduce grain crop carbon emissions through optimised rotations and in-season nitrogen strategies in the highly inefficient high rainfall zone of Western Australia. | $589,457 |
| Accounting For Nature Limited | National | Empowering Regions, Agricultural Industries, and First Nations with Trusted Environmental Accounting Solutions through Accounting for Nature. | $999,140 |
| The University of Queensland | NT | Enhancing soil health and climate resilience in the Northern Territory. | $996,139 |
| Local Land Services | NSW | Water wise for the future - Community-led learning for productive, sustainable and future climate ready intensive irrigation industries. | $871,574 |
| West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority | VIC | Cultivating Connections - First Nations peoples and farmers collaborating for Climate-Smart Agriculture. | $368,700 |
| Northern Australia Aboriginal Kakadu Plum Alliance Co- operative Limited | NT, WA | Wild harvest & Kakadu Plum cultivar capacity development project. | $334,848 |
| Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management Incorporated | WA | Wheatbelt land-use paradigms - navigating new industries in the low carbon and natural capital era. | $522,011 |
Round 2
Capacity Building Round 2 grants provided up to $16.58 million in funding. Round 2 opened on 18 February 2025 and closed on 31 March 2025.
The objectives for Round 2 were the same as Round 1.
See the list of successful applicants funded through this round.
| Recipient legal entity name | State | Project/activity title | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soils for Life Pty Ltd | National | Orchard Resilience - Collaboratively delivering context-specific climate-smart practices and impacts across four key perennial horticulture regions in Australia. | $1,451,976 |
| West Pine | TAS | Carbon that Counts: Increasing understanding on implications for profitability and productivity from sustainable and climate-smart practice change for the agricultural sector. | $610,517 |
| West Hume Landcare Inc | NSW | Linking land management, dryland salinity and soil health in the Eastern Murray Catchment. | $376,777.93 |
| Central West Farming Systems Incorporated | National | Improved decision making for climate-smart flock management. | $2,032,734 |
| Adelaide University | NSW, WA | Smart grazing, stronger lands - building grazing and land management capacity across Australia's southern rangelands. | $2,676,003 |
| Ricegrowers Limited | NSW | Sustainable Rice Farming - Enhancing biodiversity in the context of reduced water availability. | $1,836,288 |
| Sheep Producers Australia Limited | National | Climate-Smart Sheep - building industry capacity across the supply chain (Green Sheep). | $2,997,200 |
| Wine Industry Association of Western Australia (Inc) (Wines of Western Australia) | WA | Western Australian Wine Sustainability Advancement Program (WAWSAP). | $2,130,337.95 |
| Soils for Life Pty Ltd | National | Dairy Resilience - Supporting a critical mass of farmers to move from curiosity to confidence in adopting climate-smart soil health practices for social, economic and environmental resilience. | $1,338,938 |
| Upper Barwon Landcare Network Inc. | VIC | Leading farmer adoption of sustainable agriculture for climate resilience. | $1,070,867 |
Small Grants
A Small Grants round provided up to $2.5 million in funding over 2 years (2024-25 to 2026-27) through an open-competitive grant round.
The Small Grants round opened on 30 April 2024 and closed on 4 June 2024.
Funding was provided for on-ground projects led by a range of community groups, Landcare groups, First Nations groups and research organisations.
These grants aim to support the adoption of climate-smart, sustainable agriculture practices that improve management of our natural resources, build resilience to climate change and increase on-farm productivity.
See the list of successful applicants funded through this grant round.
| Recipient legal entity name | State | Project/activity title | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chestnuts Australia Inc. | VIC, NSW, TAS | Management of orchard and landscape micro-organism biodiversity with variable climatic conditions to ensure ongoing viability of major production regions for nut crops. | $100,000 |
| University of Tasmania | TAS | Circular nutrient economies for climate resilient soils. | $99,826 |
| Kiewa Catchment Landcare Groups Incorporated | VIC | Futureproofing farms for climate resilience in the Kiewa Catchment. | $99,970 |
| Outback Academy Australia Limited | WA | First Nations Climate-Smart Agriculture - Outback Academy Australia, Follow the Flowers WA. | $100,000 |
| Mallee Catchment Management Authority | VIC | More Grain per Drop of Rain - Increasing the yield potential of Mallee dryland cropping systems in a drying climate. | $100,000 |
| Mallee Sustainable Farming Inc. | VIC, NSW, SA | Driving on-farm adoption of carbon-friendly soil management practices adaptive to climate change impacts across the Mallee region of southern Australia. | $98,000 |
| Holbrook Landcare Group | NSW | Climate-Smart Revegetation Plots on Farms in the Holbrook Landcare Network Region. | $100,000 |
| Soil Regen Solutions Pty Ltd | VIC | Driving Climate-Smart Agriculture for Wimmera Broadacre Farmers Through Collaborative Discussion Groups and Peer Influence. | $84,100 |
| Southern Farming Systems Ltd | VIC, TAS | Enhancing Agricultural Productivity and Climate Resilience Through Sustainable Soil Acidity Management Practices - A Collaborative Approach Leveraging Advanced Tools, Extension Services, and Local Expertise. | $99,749 |
| Bass Coast Landcare Network Inc. | VIC | Creating Climate-Smart Farms in Bass Coast through Climate Adaptation Planning, Emissions Reduction Planning and community education. | $98,095 |
| Future Farmers SA Incorporated | SA | Regenerating the Hills and Fleurieu Region. | $71,456 |
| The Wheen Bee Foundation Limited | National | Pollinator Stewardship Program - Improving the adoption of best practice land management strategies and techniques to increase pollinator abundance and biodiversity nationally on Australian farms, public parks and private lands. | $100,000 |
| Outback Academy Australia Limited | VIC | First Nations Climate-Smart Agriculture, Outback Academy Australia, Follow the Flowers Regenerative Farmers Alliance, Victoria. | $100,000 |
| Young Farmers Connect Inc. | VIC, NSW, QLD, SA, ACT | Small Farms Count - place based Climate-Smart land management for small scale farms. | $80,500 |
| Western Port Catchment Landcare Network Inc. | VIC | Farmers digging deeper to grow stronger through supportive peer networks in Gippsland. | $100,000 |
| Wodonga Urban Landcare Network Inc. | VIC | Expanding Healthy Hectares in North East Victoria. | $94,416 |
| Hazelnut Growers of Australia Inc. | VIC | National Expansion of Adaptation to Nut Farming Trial - Managing Water and Soil in a Changing Climate. | $100,000 |
| Irrigation Research & Extension Committee | NSW | Improving irrigation management via demonstrations, training and use of technology for horticulture farmers to better manage their natural capital and increase their knowledge and skills. | $100,000 |
| Weddin Landcare Steering Committee Incorporated | NSW | 'Over the Fence' - Connecting farmers with farmers and other experts to increase local adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices in the Weddin district. | $94,700 |
| Buchananco Pty Ltd | QLD | Demonstrating the real benefits of cover cropping in intensive horticulture on Kambuwal land, the Granite Belt region of Queensland. | $97,500 |
| South Gippsland Landcare Network Inc. | VIC | Climate-smart farm planning for South Gippsland. | $92,740 |
| Gippsland Agricultural Group Incorporated | VIC | Gippsland 250 Climate-Smart, Soil Smart. Enhancing sustainable agriculture, reducing emissions, and conserving biodiversity through education, networking, and expert support for 250 farmers and the Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust. | $100,000 |
| Delta Agribusiness Pty Ltd | NSW | Deep soil amelioration to increase agricultural productivity and Soil Carbon levels in northern NSW. | $95,000 |
| Barossa Australia Incorporated | SA | Encouraging Reluctant Farmers to Adopt Sustainable Winegrowing Practices Utilising Non-Typical Champions and Focused Regional Support. | $100,000 |
Contact us
For more information contact NHTengagement@aff.gov.au