I firstly want to take a moment to acknowledge the challenges the communities in Gulf of Carpentaria are facing with the recent devastating floods. The word resilience gets thrown around a lot during these types of extreme events, but these communities truly show the meaning of the word as they rebuild and recover and I wish them all the best.
I encourage any landholder who has been impacted by the recent flooding, to report damages and losses on your property by completing the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Disaster Impact Survey. You can also access financial recovery assistance and mental health support.
Our Node, Southern Gulf NRM who are the natural resource management group in that area, are inviting landholders to send them information and photos of environmental damage so they can develop a report for the state and federal government. You can contact them here.
Next month we are supporting women across our region to attend a Women’s Community Leadership Forum hosted by our Building Human Capacity Program. The Forum will provide an opportunity for the women to improve their ability to influence a positive change in their communities and build confidence for stepping into leadership rolls. Spots are limited, so register now or find out more.
Applications have now closed for the Future Drought Fund Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Grants and we were pleased to provide Letters of Support for several members, partners and supporters for projects that include increasing pasture species, improved rangelands management practices and lifting the capacity of producers on some of Queensland’s largest extensive cattle operations just to name a few. Good luck to all the applicants!
Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter and catch up on what the team have been up to. If you have any questions about the Hub, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Keep safe and well,
David Phelps, Director
Agricultural Innovation Program
The TNQ Hub have established a Problem Statement Portal to capture and map the issues that affect farming and agricultural industries directly from landholders and producers. An example of this problem – solution match-up is a new breath-based pregnancy testing method for cattle. Find out more.
TNQ Hub connectivity trial
The TNQ Hub’s Technical Adoption Officer Keerah Steele has been out in the field delivering Starlink kits, a new high-speed, low-latency broadband service, to several trial sites across the tropical north Queensland region.
The purpose of the connectivity trial is to test both the speed and reliability of the service but to also try ease the frustrations around having limited and restricted data.
Normal day to day activities such a paying bills, answering emails, ordering supplied and connecting with family and friends is challenging in many places across Australia and as technology evolves, these challenges become more stressful.
One of these trial sites is Chudleigh Park in North West Queensland. Staff are taking the kit out and setting it up at their mustering camps where they are away for periods of up to 14 days to see if the service can ease some of these challenges faced during mustering season.
Node Partner NQ Dry Tropics is also trialing a mobile kit in areas where there is no internet to see if they can run workshops and field days in places where they normally wouldn’t be able to.
Outcomes of the trial will be regularly captured and reported back to the Future Drought Fund with aim of showing how technology and connectivity can help business productivity and improve resilience.
Building Human Capacity
Are you looking to build your confidence and courage for informed decision making? Or would like to step into the role as a leader in future roles?
Register now for the TNQ Hubs two day “Influential Women’s” Community Leadership Forum brought to you by BlueWren Connections, April 28-30, Mount Surprise. Numbers are limited so don’t miss out.
The TNQ Hub is pleased to present our Industry Experts Video Series where we explore the careers and knowledge of well-known experts Professor Roger Stone, Meteorologist and Climatologist and Bob Shepherd, Principal Extension Officer.
Each weekend we will be releasing a video from both Roger and Bob where they provide practical tips for producers, NRM’s and agricultural support services.
Episodes 1 – 6 for Roger and Bob are now available.
Sustainable Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Enterprise
SATSIE Program Lead Allan Dale recently participated in a working group that brought together 36 First Nations People in Rockhampton with the objective to establish a collective Traditional Custodian-led voice to address representation and participation in Cultural Natural Resource Management.
Read more.
Image courtesy of Fitzroy Basin Association.
Hub Highlight
Recently the TNQ Hub hosted a collaborative workshop with CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology to discuss the new Future Drought Fund Climate Services for Agriculture (CSA) platform and the opportunities it has to support producers.
Facilitated by Neil Cliffe, Program Manager, Drought and Climate Adaptation Program, the workshop saw our Drought Resilience Coordinators and Adoption Officer (who is also a Northern Australia Climate Program ‘Climate Mate’) share their on-ground experiences on what data producers are looking for to help make informed decisions and how CSA would help them in their own roles.
TNQ Hub is proud to be able to host these kinds of workshops to support the collaboration between industry groups to limit duplication across industry activities and programs.
Know someone who wants to be involved?
What’s Next?
Check out our Events calendar to see what’s happing in the agricultural industry around Tropical North Queensland and throughout the country. Some upcoming events to keep an eye out on are;
- Landcare Farming webinar ‘Maximising Ecosystem Opportunities to Fit Your Business: Biodiversity’, 4 April
- Shared Solutions for Waterway Health Forum, 13 April
- Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists Conference, 18 – 21 April
- Landcare Farming Webinar Series: Maximising Ecosystem Opportunities to Fit Your Business: Biodiversity Online, 4 April
- Shared Solutions for Waterway Health Forum Cairns, 13 April
- 10th Annual Innovative Grazing Forum Mackay, 18 – 20 April
- Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists Conference Cairns, 18 – 21 April
- “Influential Women” Community Leadership Forum, Mount Surprise, 28 – 30 April
- PIEFA Conference Canberra, 1 – 2 May
- Northern Australia Food Futures Conference 2023 Darwin, 22 – 25 May
- Rotary FNQ Field Days, Mareeba, 24 – 26 May
What's Been...
Here’s what the TNQ Hub team have been up to this month.
Drought Resilience Coordinator Community of Practice, 1 February
Each month we hold a Community of Practice meeting with out Node Drought Resilience Coordinators. The purpose of these meetings is to share and discuss each of our Nodes Drought Resilience activities such as any events, paddock walks, workshops, trials, demonstrations, projects or opportunities where we can collaborate and support our region.
MITEZ General Meeting, 8 February
TNQ Hub Director, David Phelps was invited to attend the MITEZ (Mount Isa to Townsville Economic Development Zone) General Meeting in Charters Towers which was centered around climate, carbon, sustainability and resilience. David spoke about the Hub’s place in the region, its partners and how it fits into building that regional resilience.
EvokeAg, 21 - 22 February
Several team members went to evokeAG and got the chance to talk to innovators, researchers, government, industry and producers to discuss how innovation and technology impacts farmers, food, soils and water. One of the highlights for our Knowledge Broker, Rachel Hay was the opportunity to catch up with the other Hub’s Knowledge Brokers and Directors who travelled from all over Australia.
Apply Now! Grants, Programs amd EOI's
- Horticulture Awards for Excellence Nominations Now Open. Acknowledging and highlighting Australasia’s industry leading growers and industry members with a focus on their exceptional innovation and contribution over the past 12 months. The Horticulture Awards for Excellence will again be presented during the Hort Connections 2023 Gala Dinner. Nominations are now open for the 10 Horticulture Awards for Excellence 2023. Find out more.
- How do you use the internet? James Cook University PHD student William Harrington is investigating how farmers use the internet. If you live or work on a farm or station then you are invited to participate in William’s survey about what technology you are using and the role the internet plays in your day-to-day life. Your answers can help shape the future of internet connectivity and technology in regional and remote Australia. The survey will take between 15 to 20 minutes. Complete the Survey.
- Nuffield Drought Resilience Scholarships. The Future Drought Fund (FDF) is investing $1.6 million dollars through Nuffield over the next two years to help farmers increase their knowledge of drought resilience and better prepare themselves and their communities for a changing climate. Scholars will have the opportunity to travel overseas to study drought resilience and learn from international leaders in the field. Each scholarship is valued at $35,000 and farmers and others working in food and fibre production aged between 28 and 45 should apply now. Applications close 9 June 2023. Find out more.
- Have your say on how we can become a world leader in AgTech. Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries been working closing with industry to draft a roadmap to take the digital and technological transformation of Queensland agribusinesses to the next level. The draft AgTech Roadmap 2023-2028 sets out a vision and path to accelerate innovation and adoption as Queensland becomes a destination for world-leading AgTech. You can provide feedback on the draft roadmap by completing the survey.
The TNQ Hub can provide Letters of Support (LoS) to assist with your application. Please email details of your application and how it applies to future drought resilience to tnqhub@jcu.edu.au and we will supply a LoS if applicable.
Are you looking for funding to enable your idea to become a reality? Visit the following Regional Development Australia initiative to find grants available in the TNQ Drought Hub region.
- RDA Townsville and North West Queensland Grant Finder
- RDA Tropical North Grants
- RDA Greater Whitsundays
TNQ Hub has worked with our NRM Node and industry partners to develop regional priorities. These are a useful resource in writing grant applications.
TNQ Drought Hub Nodes
Resources
Ag Jobs Queensland is a platform that provides agricultural industry employers with prospective employees across the state along the entire agricultural supply chain. Employers can advertise their available positions and job seekers can upload their CV and connect with interested employers.
