Drought Innovation Hub - Southern Queensland node
Building drought resilience in SEQ’s ag community - from adoption of agtech to soils knowledge.
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Drought preparedness activities, field days, workshops, information, tools. |
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Best practices and latest research to help adoption of practices. |
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Building resilience into landscapes to achieve a more sustainable, and profitable future. |
South East Queensland is home to a new drought preparedness initiative aimed at helping farmers continually adapt and thrive into the future in the face of an ever-changing climate.
Healthy Land & Water is heading up delivery of a suite of drought preparedness activities for Southern Queensland as the local delivery node of a larger drought hub which covers Southern Queensland and Northern NSW.
The Southern Queensland and Northern NSW Drought & Innovation Hub (SQNNSW Hub) and its regional nodes are promoting activities, information, tools and opportunities to support landholders and rural communities to improve drought preparedness and help build resilience in the region’s natural assets, agricultural businesses and landscapes.
The Southern Queensland node is actively supporting local producers and their communities to grow resilience to manage climate variability through innovation, collaboration, and building capacity and capability.
Improving knowledge, skills, and capacity..
It is designed to:
- Share the latest technologies, best practice and innovation the SEQ agricultural community.
- Help apply proven drought-resilience research on the ground to improve innovation and adoption across agriculture, industry, and the community.
- Empower stakeholders to co-design drought preparedness activities for the region.
- Support landholders, agricultural industries, supply chains and communities in SEQ to manage and adapt to a highly variable climate and respond to ever-increasing environmental, biosecurity, financial, and market challenges.
The project aims to promote innovation to achieve a more resilient, sustainable, and profitable future. It aims to do this by thinking forward and sharing solutions for the future.
What is being delivered
Enhancing community capacity for ongoing management actions to adapt to a highly variable and changing climate.
Landholders will be equipped with vital strategies for drought management and business resilience.
- Extension and adoption support – from agtech to soils knowledge – to help landholders, supply chains and communities manage and adapt to a highly variable and changing climate.
- Information and tools for land managers and landowners, including climate updates from Bureau of Meteorology & ClimateMates, preparing for and managing drought and natural disasters, best management practices for sustainable production and resources to help improve community resilience and wellbeing.
- Workshops, field days and events where participants will learn more about an array of drought-related topics, including but not limited to practical considerations for managing extended dry and drought conditions, livestock nutritional requirements, supplement and drought feeding options, and supporting the development of Farm Business Resilience Plans.
- Collaboration and ongoing discussion with landholders, industry groups, regional communities, and researchers aimed at contributing to the implementation of adaptive and innovative plans and practices, and opportunities to test the latest techniques identified by the local farming and regional communities.
Why this project is important
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With Australian farmers experiencing the reality of a changing climate with sometimes devastating impacts on production, profits, and our natural assets and people, this initiative is set to help them to continually adapt and thrive into the future. Healthy Land & Water, with its extensive landholder network and long-lasting relationships with the community in SEQ, will be the point of engagement and will work with node partners to organise and facilitate activities for farmers, agribusiness, and local communities to access innovative technologies and practices to build drought resilience in the region. The SEQ node will help landholders, agricultural industries, supply chains, and communities of South East Queensland. Local landowners and land managers will be able to receive advice in relation to Future Drought Fund opportunities, learn about existing drought management and decision support tools, receive climate outlook information targeted to the location, and access training opportunities and extension services in various topics related to drought resilience, and sustainable agricultural production. |
Project snapshot
| Node: | SQNNSW Drought & Innovation Hub - South East Queensland Node |
| Node manager: | Bruce Lord, Healthy Land & Water |
| Node team: | Vanessa Smolders, Jorgen Schmidt, Healthy Land & Water |
| Catchment: | South East Queensland |
| Timing: | 2023 - 2024 |
| Partnerships: |
The SQNNSW Innovation Hub project is supported by Healthy Land & Water and the University of Southern Queensland, through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund. |
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| Related Articles: |
What's next
Landholders and organisations interested in being involved in the project are encouraged to contact Healthy Land & Water – Bruce Lord 0427 013 284 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
About the Drought Hub
This University of Southern Queensland-led SQNNSW Hub is one of eight national Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs, a flagship of the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund. With headquarters at UniSQ in Toowoomba, the SQNNSW Innovation Hub covers the region from Longreach in Queensland to Dubbo in New South Wales, and from the coast to the Southern Australian & Northern Territory borders in the west. Here’s a link to the overarching drought hub’s website: https://www.unisq.edu.au/research/sqnnsw-hub
Project collaborators
The SQNNSW Innovation Hub project is supported by Healthy Land & Water and the University of Southern Queensland, through funding received from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.
