Future Drought Fund Long Term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Round 2

Overview

The Australian Government through the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (the department) is inviting consortia to apply for grants under the Future Drought Fund Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Program Round 2 (the Program). The program will fund innovative and transformational practices that have the potential to build the economic, environmental, and social resilience of Australian farms to drought and climate variability.  The Program allocates $40.3 million GST exclusive over 6 years for projects commencing in May-June 2024-25 to 2029-30. Applicants can apply for a minimum of $3 million up to a maximum of $8 million GST exclusive. Applications must include a consortium of partners, with a lead organisation nominated as the ‘applicant’. Co-design and farmer involvement is required. The grant is open to eligible agricultural industries defined as cereal and other broadacre crops, horticulture crops and livestock. Projects will contribute to drought and climate resilience through investigations that test, refine and demonstrate the effectiveness of innovative farming practices, technologies and/or approaches through scientific, evidence-based trials. This evidence-based approach is designed to support and drive adoption by providing farmers with the confidence to apply new techniques on farm. Longer term projects are supported as they are more capable of driving long-term transformational change. Drought and climate resilience will be increased by projects that enable farmers to: be prepared for, and respond to drought experiment with the adoption of innovations that build drought and climate resilience establishing and strengthen networks between stakeholders to improve knowledge sharing.