David Shambrook, Leongatha, with Del Delpitiya and Scott McDonald from Agriculture Victoria, who were encouraging farmers to apply for drought funding.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
A $5000 grant to support drought mitigation measures has had poor take-up.
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Administered by Agriculture Victoria, the grant can be applied to eligible expenses backdated to September 30 last year.
The grant supports activities including water carting, pasture re-establishment, water infrastructure upgrades — pipes, tanks, troughs and dams — and stock containment areas, as well as grain and fodder storage infrastructure.
AgVic’s Del Delpitiya and Scott McDonald, GippsDairy’s executive officer Karen McLennan and members of the Rural Finance Corporation were encouraging attendees at the recent South Gippsland Dairy Expo to apply for the funding.
“The take-up of the drought support grants has been very low,” Del said.
“We want to encourage people to apply for drought support grants.
“We also want farmers to utilise the free technical support, which also hasn’t been taken up.
“There is a list of advisers on the department’s website, who farmers can contact for one-on-one support.”
Farm business advisers, livestock nutritionists, soil and pasture specialists, water experts and veterinarians are among the advisers available. They can be booked for a three-hour face-to-face or online consultation, with a follow-up telephone call.
“As dairy farmers bring fresh cows into the milking herd in spring, they can utilise free advisers who can assess the productivity of their cows,” Del said.
“This is a valuable use of an appropriately qualified farm adviser.
“In some circumstances, advisers can also assess the farm business to enable the farming family to apply for farm household allowance from Centrelink.”
Nick Dudley, Allison Dodd and Trudi Laing, from NEX/Rural Financial Counselling Service, with Mick and Ryan Landry from Leongatha South (centre).
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Mick Landry from Leongatha South said he had recently built a new dam, at a cost of $65,000.
He was unaware of government assistance, when he arrived at the NEX/Rural Financial Counselling Service marquee at the dairy expo.
Trudi Laing, from RFCS, said the organisation was helping people to fill in the paperwork, although she said it wasn’t complex.
Trudi encouraged Mick Landry to apply for the $5000.
“There’s been little take-up of the grants,” she said.
Sandra Jefford from Clydebank said she was applying for the $5000 grant to help defray the costs of installing a pipe-and-riser system.
“We have a flood irrigation channel on the farm that wombats like and we were often repairing,” Sandra said.
“We’ve replaced it with a pipe-and-riser system. That costs a lot more than $5000, or $10,000, obviously.
“But recovering $5000 gives us money to do another project on the farm.”
Karen McLennan, from GippsDairy, encouraged all dairy farmers in Gippsland to apply for a $5000 grant to reimburse them for drought mitigation measures they have implemented.
The funding is available until June 2026, and is being allocated after individual applications arrive with Agriculture Victoria and are assessed.
“Dairy farmers can also take advantage of the three-hour consult one-on-one with an adviser, funded for any aspect of their business,” Karen said.
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