Agency: Australian Government – Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Closing: 19 November 2024
Eligibility: A consortium of at least two entities that can include:
- Company
- Cooperative
- Corporate Commonwealth Entity
- Corporate State or Territory Entity
- Incorporated Association
- Indigenous Corporation
- Local Government
- Non-corporate State or Territory Entity
- Non-corporate State or Territory Statutory Authority
- Statutory Entity.
The Future Drought Fund (FDF) is a $5 billion commitment that provides funding for programs and projects that support Australian farmers and regional communities to build their drought and climate resilience.
The Resilient Landscapes Program will focus on demonstrating how implementing and scaling of practices, technologies or approaches to manage natural resources on farm, contribute to building drought and climate resilience by improving landscape function and ecosystem services.
The Program will support implementation and scaling of activities that identify and manage natural capital tipping points or thresholds on farm for the public good of the Australian agriculture sector, landscapes, and communities.
Drought and climate resilience will be increased by projects that:
- achieve and measure impact at scale
- integrate environmental, economic, and social drought resilience
- target opportunities for long-term transformational change
- enable farmers to be prepared for and respond to drought
- promote learning and build capacity.
Examples of activities include, but is not limited to:
- increase participation and outcomes for a diverse range of people, businesses and landscapes involved in the agricultural sector and rural, regional, and remote communities, including First Nations led initiatives which encompass any eligible grant activities
- management of groundcover through alternative grazing and/or cropping practices, technologies or approaches, for example:
- rotational grazing, no-till cropping, pasture cropping and sustainable intensification
- cropping and grazing practices, technologies or approaches that are known to increase biomass, improve soil health, and build soil carbon specifically in low rainfall environments
- multi-species cropping and pastures
- transitioning from pasture to drought resilient shrub forage systems
- using soil moisture management approaches such as at seeding on a range of soil types, irrigation techniques and mulching
- diversification into alternative livestock, pasture or crop species
- holistic, integrated pest and weed best management practices
- innovative approaches to monitor and manage pasture biomass
- enhancement of biodiversity on farm, by planting shelterbelts and biodiversity blocks, revegetating gullies and other erosion-prone areas, or protecting remnant trees
- management of farm dams and riparian areas, for stock and domestic water and biodiversity purposes through soil conservation techniques, landscape rehydration, farm dam rehabilitation
- controlling total grazing pressure, including by non-domestic herbivores.
The minimum grant amount is $2 million, the maximum grant amount is $6 million. Co-investment will be looked upon favourably and will be assessed as part of considering value for money.
Link for information here
