Future Drought Fund

These projects will:

provide opportunities for farmers and communities to adopt new technologies
improve their environmental and natural resource management
diversify their farm business planning and decision making
participate in a range of community resilience activities.

Following a successful pilot year over 2021-22, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has become a signatory to deliver 2 extension programs from the FDF over 2023-25, with a total value of $20.2 million.

Programs

The Future Drought Fund's Regional Drought Resilience Planning Program (RDRP) supports Australian agricultural regions in developing Regional Drought Resilience Plans to manage future drought risks. These community-led plans are created through partnerships among local governments, regional organisations, communities, and industry.

In Western Australia, DPIRD has collaborated with Regional Development Commissions to implement the RDRP program in three pilot regions: Mid West, Great Southern, and Wheatbelt. Regional Drought Resilience Plans for the Mid West, Southern Wheatbelt, and Inland Great Southern have been developed, detailing actions and interventions identified by stakeholders and technical experts.

The RDRP program, delivered by the state government and Regional Development Commissions, began with a foundational year of funding (2020-21) and has been extended through 2024-25. The initial funding supported the development of RDR Plans, while the extension includes both plan development and small grants for implementing drought resilience activities.

New plans are being developed for the Goldfields-Esperance and Gascoyne regions and a joint initiative for the Kimberley and Pilbara regions. Existing plans that were developed in the pilot program will be further expanded to cover additional areas within these regions.

The plans will be community-led and owned, focusing on innovative ways to build regional drought resilience across the agricultural sector and supporting industries.

Find out more in your region

The WA Government is working with the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, as part of the Farm Business Resilience program to create opportunities for pastoralists and farmers across 6 agricultural industries, as well as targeted Aboriginal programs, to connect with each other and business professionals to improve their farm business resilience.

The program caters to farm businesses across the following:

dairy
Aboriginal primary industries (via 5 sub-streams)
aquaculture
broadacre mixed farming
pastoral and horticulture north west
apiculture
horticulture.

The program builds the strategic management capacity of farmers/farm managers and employees to prepare for and manage risk, adapt to a changing climate and improve the farm business’s economic, environmental and social resilience. It supports learning in areas including:

strategic business skills
risk management
natural resource management
personal and social resilience.

The Farm Business Resilience program will help farmers identify gaps in their business strategy and provide them with the tools they need to prepare for, and manage, risk and improve farm business resilience. It also supports farm business planning, tailored to participants’ business and situation, and the opportunity for professional feedback on the plans.

For more information visit the Australian Government's FBR webpage.

Program industry providers

The 2022–2025 program implemented a single grants process exclusively for service providers. This streamlined approach was designed to ensure a focused and efficient allocation of funding, enabling providers to deliver targeted support and services within the program's framework.

The lead providers for each industry/landscape are:

Industry/landscape	Lead provider
Aquaculture	Aquaculture Council of Western Australia Inc.
Northern pastoral	Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen’s Association Inc.
Southern rangelands/pastoral	College of Extension
Northern horticulture	Value Creators Pty. Ltd.
Southern horticulture	Grower Group Alliance (Inc.)
Apiculture	The Bee Industry Council of Western Australia
Broadacre - grains	AgriStart Pty. Ltd.
Broadacre - livestock	Grower Group Alliance (Inc.)
Dairy	Western Dairy

Aboriginal economic development program

The department is working with Aboriginal organisations and key partners to build resilience across industry sectors. Five programs are being run.

Program	Description
Aboriginal Pastoral Academy	Expand Aboriginal Pastoral Academy to East Kimberley Purpose-built training hubs to deliver annual entry-level training, upskilling and leadership development
Indigenous Aquaculture and Fishing Project	Build capacity in commercial fishing and aquaculture across Pilbara and Kimberley Partner with established Indigenous Salt Water Advisory Group
First Nations Regenerative Agribusiness Capability Project	Increase demand for Aboriginal workforce across the supply chain for land restoration and rehabilitation work in Southern WA Tailor regeneration, agribusiness and restoration training with industry expertise
Aboriginal Bushfood Business Support Service	Target capacity building to support Aboriginal businesses Establish DPIRD Aboriginal Bushfood Business Support Service
First Nations Sandalwood Industry Capability Program	Implement WA Sandalwood Taskforce Report Increase Aboriginal participation and leadership in the wild sandalwood industry Deliver Setting up for Success Framework

The remainder of the program is being delivered through industry analysis, resourcing delivery and undertaking communication and reporting.

South-West WA

The South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub is led by the Grower Group Alliance (GGA) and supported by a partnership between peak industry representative organisations, natural resource management groups, and the WA Government. The hub builds greater connectivity across WA to drive the uptake of new research and innovation, with collaborative and co-designed projects translating knowledge into practical on ground outcomes.

The SW WA Hub has appointed Regional Node Leads, who provide guidance on priority issues impacting the drought and climate resilience of farming systems, their industries and communities. Node Lead positions are aligned with DPIRD office locations.

Regional Advisory Committees (RACs) comprise skills-based representatives of agricultural industries. They provide guidance to the Hub on priority issues impacting drought and climate resilience of farming systems, their industries and communities.

Northern WA/Northern Territory (NT)

Charles Darwin University leads the Northern WA/NT Hub supported by core partners including:

Kimberly Pilbara Cattlemen’s Association
Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association
Northern Territory Farmers Association
Territory Natural Resource Management (NRM)
WA Rangelands NRM
Regional Development Australia
DPIRD
NT Department of Industry Tourism and Trade.

The hub collaborates to improve the resilience of farmers, traditional owners, and communities in the NT and WA tropical Top End and rangelands. Centred on pastoral, broadacre, horticulture and forestry systems and water management, the major focus will be on co-creating innovative tools, techniques and practices to support producers and their communities to achieve greater efficiency and sustainability in agricultural lands management. The Hub works closely with the network of existing research farms in the NT and WA.