Premier Mike Rann announced an additional $11 million drought aid package this week that includes funding for three new drought co-ordinators in the regions of Eyre Peninsula, the River Murray and northern areas of the State.

These drought co-ordinators will have the power to co-ordinate initiatives on behalf of the community and become a single point of contact for farmers to go to for help.

The new drought package also includes:

• A ‘Young Farmers Package’ comprising a rural leadership program to target up to 20 leaders in drought affected regions.
• An extension of the ‘Planning for Recovery’ initiative that provides grants of $4,000 for the development of integrated business plans, plus up to $10,000 to make on-farm changes for farmers in receipt of Exceptional Circumstances (EC) Interest Rate Subsidies.
• TAFESA expanding off-farm employment and training to provide regionally-based training to farmers so they can more easily access supplementary employment, particularly in the mining and transport industries.
• Accelerating the processing of EC applications for Federal Government consideration.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries will also write to key financial institutions proposing to convene a Banking Leaders’ Forum, including grain traders, to discuss how best to support farmers through their current circumstances, especially those who have entered contracts to forward sell their grain.

Meanwhile, PIRSA’s Executive Director, Minerals and Energy, will conduct talks with key mining companies with the aim of developing special rostering cycles to enable people to continue living on their farms while working in the mining sector.

The State Government has appointed former Premier Dean Brown as the Premier’s Special Adviser on Drought.

In this role Dean Brown will have direct access to the Premier and the High-Level Drought Taskforce while personally briefing Cabinet and reporting directly to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries on drought related matters.

He will work to identify and coordinate State-wide responses – hand-in-hand with regional drought coordinators and through State-wide drought forums.

This new role will build on the work he has already been doing since late last year with drought affected communities along the River Murray.

In that role, he has taken on the key leadership role, working as a liaison between the State Government and River Murray communities as they come to grips with record low in-flows.

Grants of up to $20,000 are available to irrigators in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) from the Federal Government. These grants will assist irrigators to help them respond to significantly reduced water allocations.

Applications for the Irrigation Management Grant can be made through Centrelink.

Activities eligible for assistance include:

• Payment of fixed water charges
• Installation or upgrading of piping, troughs and associated activities for stock and domestic water
• Sinking/extending/refurbishment of bores (and pumps)
• Pruning activities to minimise the impact of low water allocations
• Reconfiguring irrigation systems
• Equipment replacement to maintain irrigation systems (including computer software, piping and pumps)
• Costs associated with implementing water efficient crop options, and
• Laser levelling.

The grant will be payable for activities undertaken between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2009 and will be paid directly to irrigators.

Eligible irrigators must meet the EC Interest Rate Subsidy off-farm assets test of $750,000.

For more information about the new assistance measures contact the Murray-Darling Assistance and Referral Line on 1800 050 015 or local Riverland Rural Councillors on 8595 9100.

A number of South Australian sheep and cattle producers have provided input into a report that looks at what lessons were learnt from last year’s drought conditions.

As part of funding from the State Government’s Drought Response, Rural Solutions SA surveyed farmers in the South East and Kangaroo Island who confinement fed their sheep during the drought.

Meanwhile in mid 2007, five community groups ran a series of ‘drought review’ meetings as part of the State Government’s community support grants to identify the lessons farmers had learnt from the drought.
 
The report is a summary of both of these projects, which shows farmers can save time, money and their paddocks from erosion if they implement drought plans early.

Key recommendations from the report include:

• Containment feeding stock when necessary
• Making allowances for feeding past the normal break-to-the-season
• Allowing for extra feed in late pregnancy
• Doing a feed test (about $50) to determine energy, protein and dry content of pasture and fodder. People who did not test were unsure of the correct ration to feed
• Feeding less hay in paddocks and once stock settles in containment areas as hay is hard to get and is expensive
• Stretching paddock feed by feed budgeting, having good water supply and rotational grazing
• Introducing grain carefully because grain poisoning is still the major cause of deaths.

Copies of the report are available by visiting the latest news page at http://www.ruralsolutions.sa.gov.au or by contacting Brian Ashton, ashton.brian@saugov.sa.gov.au.

Lower Murray and Lakes farmers can receive free individual consultations with a nutrition and farm business adviser, thanks to feed.FIBRE.future, a program funded through Dairy Australia.

These 90-minute ‘1-on-1 sessions’ enable farmers to identify what their current position is, explore feasible options and develop an action plan. Farmers will leave with a plan specifically designed for their individual situation.

For more information please contact Kirsty Flower, DairySA (08) 8765 9043.

To assist local water users to access and incorporate the latest weather data into their irrigation management practices, the SA Murray-Darling Basin NRM Board is offering a free workshop.

The NRM Board’s automatic weather station network collects hourly data at Mypolonga and Caurnamont together with a stand-alone rainfall collection site at Woods Point.

The workshop will be held on Wednesday 31 October 2007 at the Mypolonga Sports Club from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm and will cover:

• How to access on-line data
• Summary of available data
• Data definitions
• Calculating irrigation requirements
• Crop co-efficient values (for irrigation scheduling) for local crop types e.g. vines, citrus, stone fruit, potatoes, onions, dairy pasture
• Interaction with River Murray Irrigation Annual Reporting
• Bureau of Meteorology presentation: web based resources to assist with irrigation management.

A field session to view the automatic weather station will also be included, along with a light lunch, a workshop manual and a Certificate of Attendance.

To register or for further information please contact Michael Cutting at the SA MDB NRM Board Strathalbyn Office on 8536 4979, michael.cutting@samdbnrm.sa.gov.au.

The SA Murray-Darling Basin NRM Board is holding a free irrigation workshop on Thursday 8 November at the Langhorne Creek Bowling Club, Murray Rd, from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm.

The workshop will assist growers in getting the most out of their irrigation systems and will cover:

• Evaluating drip irrigation systems
• What to measure
• Equipment needed
• Measuring pressure and flow rate
• Evaluating drip system performance
• Calculating field data.

Morning tea and lunch will be provided along with a workshop manual and a Certificate of Attendance.

To register or for further information please contact Michael Cutting at the SA MDB NRM Board Strathalbyn Office on 8536 497 or michael.cutting@samdbnrm.sa.gov.au.

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