NSW Government drought advice available at the farm gate
21 Nov 2023
The NSW Government is providing new frontline drought support for landholders as dry conditions continue, with the creation of drought adoption officer roles to boost services offerings for farmers.
The Government has been rolling out across NSW the new drought adoption officers in the South East, Riverina, Murray, North West and North Coast Local Land Services regions, with a position in the Central West starting soon.
Drought adoption officers can help farmers by offering:
- one-on-one advice on the farm about drought resilience and preparedness
- one-on-one advice offered at local events such as field days
- delivering workshops on drought preparedness including confinement feeding, decision making tools and farm planning.
Since August, the new drought adoption officers have already conducted over 100 technical consultations with farmers across NSW, covering topics such as whole farm drought planning and livestock nutrition.
The recently recruited drought adoption officers work closely with other Local Land Services staff such as livestock officers and district veterinarians to deliver frontline services for drought affected farmers and producers. Those services have undertaken since 1 July 2023 the following:
- delivered 230 drought preparedness and response events across NSW to 6,627 people
- provided 433 on-farm visits to offer one-on-one specialist advice to landholders
- responded to 13,906 landholder enquiries via phone calls, visits to Local Land Services offices and at field days
- proactively called 228 farmers with the goal of improving livestock welfare outcomes.
Another important part of planning includes understanding the amount of water you have available and how you will manage this to benefit on-farm outcomes, as well as assessing whether your crops will finish or can be grazed.
For more information, visit the Local Land Services website or NSW DroughtHub or contact your nearest Local Land Services office on 1300 795 299.
The new drought adoption officers are the result of a $1.5 million collaboration between the Southern Queensland and Northern NSW (SQNNSW) Drought Innovation Hub, the Southern NSW Drought Innovation Hub, and the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.
Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty said:
The Minns Government is working with the agricultural sector to provide innovative and proactive responses as parts of the state enter drought conditions.
During this new drought period we are introducing new services for farmers and producers in areas of financial assistance, more staff in the field offering advice and information, plus promoting the significant suite of tools available to enable better decision making.
These new drought adoption officers are in the field speaking to farmers to highlight the various support services and options available at local, on-farm, and community levels.
This includes offering drought resilience and preparedness advice as well as guidance on how to use important decision-making and farm-planning tools.
We are monitoring the drought indicator closely and we will ensure that farmers receive the support they need.