Vic Hub
South-East Node Lead

Vic Hub, funded by the Commonwealth of Australia in July 2021, is the shorter name for Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption & Innovation Hub.

Eight of these strategically important hubs have been funded across the country, with one located in the state of Victoria.  Each hub is currently funded through to 2024.

The Vic Hub comprises a consortium of partners:

·        University of Melbourne:  Consortia Lead

·        Agriculture Victoria: Vic Hub Partner

·        Deakin University:  Hub Knowledge Broker

·        Federation University:  Digital Platforms

·        LaTrobe University:  Capacity Building

Five regional Node Leads

o   Gippsland: Food & Fibre Gippsland

o   South-West: Southern Farming Systems

o   North-West: Birchip Cropping Group

o   North-West Irrigated Horticulture: Mallee Regional Innovation Centre

o   North-East: Riverine Plains

The Gippsland node will coordinate locally-based, credible community engagement and projects targeting the four key phases of drought:

  1. Good years

  2. Periods leading into drought (where things could go either way)

  3. Drought

  4. Recovery after drought

Current Gippsland Drought Hub Activities

Future Fodder
Gippsland Agricultural Group and F&FG are working together to explain the options available to conserve more feed in good years and how to ensure that feed stays nutritious for livestock.

Greening Dams
F&FG will be working in collaboration with South Gippsland Landcare Network on the development of green dams with biodiverse plantings in farm dam catchments. Water quality, biodiversity and the economic value of creating green dams on farm will be measured as part of ongoing Drought Hub activities.

Train the Trainer - Mental Health Professionals
Development of training products for mental health professionals focusing on the drought cycle, what to look for across the landscape, early indicators of drought and who may be impacted. This train-the-trainer program will assist in awareness building, especially for new regional mental health professionals.

Advanced Irrigation Technology
Installation and demonstration of advanced irrigation sensors in field scale vegetable production systems to determine if more can be grown with less water, how to monitor water use and how to understand data generated from soil based sensors. This is a partnership with commercial sensor manufacturers and data specialists.

 

Our Gippsland program of work will support agriculture, environment, communities, and local Government to adapt and transform, and achieve both better preparedness and increased resilience to the impact of drought.

Collaboration is key and innovation is a strong driving force in the intended outcomes. Engagement with producers and ensuring producer-led contribution to projects within the Drought Hub program is front and centre.  

Anthony Snow from Snow Rural - participating in the Future Fodder Project - part of the Gippsland Node on the ground activities.

A key role of the university partners is to respond to producer consultations and node leader-proposed projects through research and development, innovative solutions, sharing of knowledge and supporting technology. 

Aligning to federal government expectations, the Drought Hub is certainly not intended to be a business-as-usual program!

Contact us for more information:

Dr Julian Hill - Drought Program Manager
e: julian.hill@foodandfibregippsland.com.au

 

Growing Gippsland's Drought Resilience with
Technology and Better Soil

This project centres around a demonstration of soil moisture sensors for Gippsland’s vegetable industry, providing an opportunity for vegetable growers to experiment with using soil moisture sensors in the context of short-cycle crops, a setting which has not seen much adoption of the technology.

Using soil moisture monitoring is likely to result in more efficient use of water and a decreased risk of nutrient and sediment runoff into waterways as a result of over or under watering.

The purpose of the project is to build drought resilience among Gippsland’s vegetable producers and concurrently work to reduce the risk of damaging nutrients and sediment finding their way into the Gippsland Lakes.

The project’s objectives are –

1. To increase the water use efficiency of the host landholder over the peak vegetable growing season, between September 2021 and March 2022.

Sensors in Field

2. To increase the adoption of soil moisture monitoring technology by Gippsland’s intensive vegetable growing industry by the end of the project (August 2022).

3. To increase engagement between Gippsland’s intensive vegetable growing industry, Agriculture Victoria and the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority.

 The Project Reference Group is made up of representatives from –

  • Agriculture Victoria (Alexis Killoran, Billy Marshall, Scott Botten)

  • West Gippsland CMA (Anthony Goode)

  • Elders (Noel Jansz)

  • AUSVEG (EnviroVeg program: Danielle Park)

  • Tripod Farmers (Farm Manager: Walter Chadwick)  

This program is funded by a Natural Resource Management (NRM) Drought Resilience Program Grant, part of the Future Drought Fund.

Click here to view the online launch of program. It provides in depth detail of the program and introduces the industry stakeholders.

For more information, please email our VegNET Regional Development Officer Emily Scott or call her on 0455 214 102.