FDF 2021-2022 Annual Report published

The Future Drought Fund (FDF) has published its second annual report. It shows how progress is being made across all the FDF programs and outlines learnings that will contribute to the direction of its funding cycle. It’s good to see recognition of the foundations being set by the programs and the establishment of networking and collaborations which are necessary for their growth and success. Through our work with a number of the FDF programs, we’ve seen that these first couple of years have really been establishment phases, with groundwork being undertaken to facilitate growing momentum over the coming years. Most of these programs are playing the long game, and we’re looking forward to seeing their hard work pay off.

Call for abstracts for the 26th European Seminar on Extension Education (ESEE)

ESEE is a biennial conference about agricultural advice and education and aims to support discussions between science and practice. The 2023 conference is being held in Toulouse, France July 10-13, and is now calling for abstracts. The theme of the 2023 conference is “Sustainability transitions of agriculture and the transformation of education and advisory services: convergence or divergence?” The deadline for submission is 17 February 2023.

To find out more visit the conference website.

Toulouse, France (image from: https://www.toulouse-visit.com/)

Record crops deliver big agriculture gains

The five yearly Agricultural census undertaken by the ABS showed that 2020-21 was an exceptional year for Australian Agriculture.  According to the article in the West Australian, Australian farmers made a 17 percent increase in profits in that year. Wheat and cotton were big winners thanks to drought-breaking rains and increased availability and use of irrigation. It was reported that the livestock situation stayed mostly constant. This has implications for the ability of RDCs to use extra levy funds to work with the Future Drought Fund initiatives to improve drought preparedness in the future. 

https://thewest.com.au/business/agriculture/record-crops-deliver-big-agriculture-gains-c-7646578