Your role - what is it and what does it involve?
I am the Director of the SQNNSW Hub, based at our headquarters at the University of Southern Queensland’s Toowoomba campus. The Hub is one of eight national Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs, a flagship of the Australian Government’s multi-billion dollar Future Drought Fund. Rural and regional Australians live the reality of a changing climate, with sometimes devastating impacts on production and profit. Our Hub supports producers and their communities in growing resilience to manage climate variability through innovation, collaboration and building capacity and capability. It is a mature and long-sighted approach to supporting and connecting people – building partnerships, working towards shared goals, and working with industries and people to create vibrant landscapes and thriving communities. We have a presence in seven ‘nodes’ – Longreach, Roma, Stanthorpe, South East Queensland, Narrabri, Lismore and Armidale, servicing a large area throughout Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales. We have 37 Members and Network Partners, all helping us to empower farmers and communities to apply proven drought resilience research, build the capacities of communities and people, and foster agricultural innovation.
I also undertake several other roles which align well with my work at the Hub, one being Executive Director of the Institute for Resilient Regions. The work we do in the institute helps regional communities embrace and adapt to change while maintaining their unique identities. We draw together research expertise to address complex issues, challenges, and opportunities in regional communities.
What most excites you now regarding the work you do in relation to drought resilience?
I was raised on a grain farm on the Darling Downs in Queensland, and agriculture has always played a vital role in my life and career. I have been fortunate to have worked across a broad range of agricultural activities throughout my career – both at an academic level, within industry and in the Australian political sphere (from local to state to federal levels). Farmers really are the backbone of our great nation, and it is critical they not only survive, but thrive into the future. The work we are doing within the hub is at a grass roots level, on-the-ground, through our Node Managers, Extension Officers, Regional Soil Coordinator, Knowledge Broker and First Nation Knowledge Broker, having constructive discussions with farmers and communities and partnering with organisations to coordinate information across the region. What excites me about the work we are doing is that we are talking to communities, listening to their challenges and concerns, and genuinely providing support to adapt to our changing climate.
I’d specifically like to recognise the importance that our First Nations people play in drought resilience - keeping alive knowledge for future generations of First Nations People so we can walk the pathway to resilience, innovation, and sustainability together. I was recently part of a tour with other Hub Directors visiting locations in the central Northern Territory which are developing horticultural operations underpinned by co-mapping and planning led by local Elders and First Nations groups that are tremendously water efficient, simply because they are applying traditional knowledge and the latest technology. This is an example of the hub’s approach to being innovative, showcasing the extension and adoption of agtech, soils knowledge and practice change information.
For us, the Hub will be successful if we establish an ongoing discussion in our regional communities that leads to the implementation of innovation, and the testing of the latest techniques to build drought preparedness… and there is evidence to demonstrate that this is happening and becoming the new ‘business as usual’ approach.
Examples of how you and your colleagues work with farmers and the community
The Hubs work with other interstate hubs and numerous local nodes, members, and partners – including the likes of Queensland Farmers’ Federation, NSW DPI, Local Land Services, farming systems groups, Rural Aid and the region’s universities. Our work has strengthened communication, which has reduced competition and research duplication, and improved information flows between farmers, researchers, state government and federal programs.
Some examples of how the Hub is ramping up on-the-ground activity include:
- Vermicast trials in Stanthorpe (Queensland) – demonstrating the benefits to local producers of vermicomposting operations and in particular the potential for improved soil health, drought resilience and carbon sequestration.
- Improving adoption and evaporation mitigation technologies for open water storages in Stanthorpe (Queensland) – providing awareness, learning, scaling, business development, networking, capacity building and extension, leading to practice change and increased adoption of Evaporation Mitigation Technologies (EMTs).
- Automated image analysis for detection of downy mildew from drone imagery – providing proof-of-concept of a sensing tool to detect downy mildew infection in grapevines from drone imagery.
- Farmers on Tour, Roma (Queensland) – offering Maranoa-Balonne farmers a 3-day subsidised trip to the research-intensive Narrabri region to view a variety of sites that will offer research and peer learning opportunities across both cropping and grazing enterprises.
- Regenerative agriculture professional learning pilot program – facilitating system-level behaviour and practice change in the farming sector, that will lead to improved efficiencies along the value chain to increase profitability and productivity and reduce emissions.
- Regenerative agriculture mentoring program (RAMP) – led from the Lismore (NSW) Node, this program facilitates and supports farmers to make the transformational change from traditional to regenerative agricultural principles and practices.
- Primary producer engagement program (PPEP) – led from the Lismore (NSW) Node, this project positions the Northern Rivers as leaders in landscape management and the carbon economy, attract investment, funding and reduce barriers to broad participation in environmental markets for local industries by developing a ‘carbon neutral’ brand for the Northern Rivers.
- Changing the game – resilience to seasonal variations and drought through agtech – introducing the next generation of farming technologies (automation/autonomy based) that are tasked for climate resilience and drought preparedness in highly developed farming systems.
- Enhancing Ag360 through development of mobile phone app versions (iOS and android) – a web-based software tool that allows producers to access the most up to date weather forecast (updated daily) for the next six months, customised to within 5km of their property location.
Thoughts on the Hub as the regions move forward into drought conditions
The Hubs are a long-term investment in climate resilience to help farmers improve their position over time. This is Australia’s first-ever proactive drought strategy, and it has only been going two years. Hub projects are already leading to new landcare strategies on farms and, as dry conditions start to bite, we will be able to assess the benefits and learn more about managing future events. This will lead to continual improvements in drought resilience and recovery for farmers, communities, and landscapes.
At the recent National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) conference in Canberra (October 2023), Senator Murray Watt, Federal Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management Australia, announced that additional funding for an extension has been secured for all Hubs across the Nation from the Future Drought Fund. This allocation of funds will enable us to continue our vital work and sustain key staff on the ground. The continued support from the Future Drought Fund underscores our commitment to addressing the pressing issues of drought resilience and preparedness. With this funding we can further strengthen our efforts and drive positive change in the communities we serve. We are immensely grateful for this opportunity and remain dedicated to providing our region with drought preparedness, wellbeing and employability toolkits and best practice agriculture and preparedness research extension.