National Machinery and Ag Tech writer Paula Thompson joins host Kirsten Diprose to discuss the latest federal grants for farm connectivity. They explore the quick uptake, expanded eligibility, and the impact on farmers and rural businesses.
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00:00Hi, welcome to AgriCast. Kirsten DeProse here. Have you tried to get any of the recent federal
00:12government grants for connectivity for your farm? It was closed really before it started.
00:17And to tell us more about it is Paula Thompson, who is the National Machinery and Ag Tech
00:23Writer for ACM Agri. How are farmers feeling about this? I mean, is it a good thing or
00:28a bad thing that these grants closed so quickly after they were opened? It's good and it's
00:34bad. I mean, obviously, any time you can get free money for anything is a good thing. And
00:39I think there are a lot of really good things with the second round of the funding, just
00:43the fact that the annual turnover cutoff went up a lot. So before it was only $2 million
00:49cutoff, which cut off a lot of people like in the cropping and cotton industries. So
00:53going up to $4 million turnover this year, that opened up to a lot more people. And also
00:57there was so many more suppliers that you could go through this time round. So the first
01:01round had 79 suppliers. This time there was over 300 people that you could work with.
01:06So I think that's all positives. And obviously, farmers just jumped on it and got in
01:11quick and made the most of it while they could. But then on the flip side, the bad thing
01:15is I'm based in South Australia, which we're having a shocker a year down here. And I
01:21think a lot of regional businesses would have really loved for the program to go on a
01:25lot longer. And we're kind of betting on it to run some promotions, drive a bit of
01:31business, because obviously rural businesses, if farmers are doing it tough, they're doing
01:35it tough. And that flows on to the broader community. So I think overall, it has to be
01:39seen as a good thing, anything that is driving innovation in the farming sector.
01:43What sort of things was that particular grant covering, if you could remind us?
01:47Everything from setting up remote water monitoring on outback stations, to setting up
01:52security systems for your farm, digital water tank monitoring, automatic weighing for
01:59livestock. So a really broad range of things farmers could spend their money on. And I
02:04guess that is another reason why it went so quick, because it really opened up to a wide
02:09range of areas that you could invest in and give it a go on your farm.
02:13Do you have any suggestions for farmers who have missed out?
02:16That's a hard thing now. So when the program was announced in October last year, it was
02:23announced as part of a $30 million federal government program. So it was $15 million over
02:29two rounds originally. And then the federal government bumped it up by $3 million this
02:33year to $18 million for the second round. But there's been no mention of any other pots of
02:38money being available. So yeah, we'll definitely be asking the government if there's more to
02:43come. But I'm afraid, yeah, I can't tell farmers that there's more definitely coming
02:47because we just don't know at this stage.
02:49How much do these sort of grants actually influence the uptake of ag tech and other
02:55innovations on farms?
02:56I think a great deal. And I think one of the things that happened before the grants were
03:00actually open this time was the National Farmers Federation ran a webinar for people to
03:05jump on. So they made sure they had all their ducks in a row before the grants opened. One
03:09of the speakers said that this is a really good way to minimise your risk. Obviously,
03:14farming, you're always going to have risks. So if you can minimise your risk by having half of
03:18your investment covered by someone else, it was just a really great way to, you know, try
03:23new things on farm without, you know, going all in and having to spend a heap of money.
03:28Well, Paula, I guess we'll be keeping our eyes and ears open for any future grants. Thank
03:32you so much for joining us on Agrocast.