Drought resilience priorities a focus at regional workshops

Workshops will be held in Wudinna, Port Augusta, Loxton, Orroroo, Roseworthy and Naracoorte.

A strong farmer representation is being encouraged and the workshops are open to all regional community members - not just those who work in agriculture - who are keen to contribute ideas about strategies to strengthen local drought preparedness and endurance.

SA Drought Hub interim director, University of Adelaide Professor Chris Preston, says the workshops will be vital in defining and co-designing the future activities of the Hub and five regional Nodes.

"The workshops are our most important opportunity to begin to identify the priority activities the SA Drought Hub should be delivering for the next three years," he said.

"They will be positive and highly interactive meetings involving regional Hub partners, primary producers and other stakeholders where we will brainstorm what practices and technologies each region needs to build their drought resilience - we welcome all ideas, and the conversation is just the beginning."

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To address the regional drought resilience priorities that are identified at the workshops, bespoke extension programs will be co-designed to facilitate adoption of drought resilience practices in farming systems through peer-to-peer learning, on-farm demonstrations and training workshops.

The SA Drought Hub is one of eight Hubs established across the nation through the federal government's Future Drought Fund.

Led by the University of Adelaide, the SA Drought Hub comprises the core hub at Roseworthy and five regional nodes at Minnipa on Eyre Peninsula, Port Augusta in the Far North, Orroroo in the Upper North, Loxton in the Riverland, and Struan in the South East.

Prof Preston says the location of the nodes ensures state-wide coverage of all pastoral, low, medium and high rainfall agricultural production zones.

The SA Drought Hub consists of a comprehensive and dynamic network of 59 industry partners, including grower groups; the three SA-based universities; government agencies; indigenous partners; agribusinesses; research, development and extension partners; and various industry organisations.

The partners are injecting into the SA Drought Hub $11.47 million of cash and in-kind support - in addition to the $8m of funding over four years from the federal government's Future Drought Fund.

SA Drought Hub interim knowledge broker Mark Stanley says the regional workshops will be an important part of the process to understand what has happened in the past through benchmarking existing research knowledge, resources and practices.

"We need to know what has worked and where, and identify the gaps in adoption and research to build resilience," he said.

"We can then develop new initiatives to extend this existing knowledge into areas where adoption has been limited, validating practices and building skills and understandings.

"Developing a portfolio of good ideas from farmers and their key influencers will assist in informing future research.

"The key to the success of the SA Drought Hub will be the ability to connect directly with farmers, so that their ideas are developed, and they are then able to build their skills and knowledge to implement new and innovative practices.

"Through the SA Drought Hub partners, farmers will work with researchers from the very beginning to ensure activities are relevant to their specific needs."

Workshops will be held on:

Registration for these workshops will be essential to ensure a COVID-safe event. The workshops, being conducted through an in-person and online format, will be moved to online-only if the COVID-19 situation changes. Registrants will be kept up to date on any changes as they occur.