Directors Welcome

The Hub team have had a busy few months attending, presenting and facilitating workshops, conferences and events.

A highlight to report was our involvement in the International Rangeland Congress conference held in Adelaide. This conference gathered over 750 delegates from 45+ countries, to address evolving challenges and opportunities in global rangeland management. The Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs, including the SA Drought Hub, were actively involved, delivering workshops, tours, poster presentations, and panels on drought resilience and climate adaptation in rangeland systems.

I was also thrilled to see the significant representation of our SA Drought Hub team at the Drought Resilience Conference, held in Geelong in early July. Presentations delivered by Dr Peter Hayman, Tony Randal, Dr Penny Schulz and Rachel May demonstrated the range of projects the SA Drought Hub are driving to support our agricultural community.

Drought conditions across South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales were a key focus at a recent national meeting of the eight Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs, held in Canberra. I was pleased to attend and meet with the Future Drought Fund’s Consultative and Hub Advisory Committees, along with senior DAFF executives. This provided a valuable opportunity to share insights and discuss how Hubs are helping farmers and communities prepare for and respond to drought

Thank you to our Hub partners who attended the recent SA Drought Hub regional engagement webinar. We really appreciated you taking the time to join us. We had over 30 people attend, a great response for our first webinar for members. We are happy to share this webinar with you here: Regional Engagement Update: A webinar for SA Drought Hub Members and Network Partners – SA Drought Hub

The webinar reflected on the Hub’s regional engagement approach for 2025, which is designed to maximise impact, reduce duplication, and better utilise the strength of existing networks and partnerships. Further information about the updated engagement model is available here: 2025/26 Regional Engagement Program Overview (PDF)

There were also few queries about the crop establishment and dry sowing work, which was summarised by Rachel May, the SA Drought Hub Farming Systems Specialist Adoption Officer. We have consolidated this information and created a resource page which you can view here.  

I would like to take the opportunity to provide a reminder that the State Government is investing $73 million to assist farming communities affected by drought across South Australia. We encourage you to review this drought support package.  Drought support package – Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia – PIRSA

We are also thankful for the ongoing work of Hub partner ifarmwell. For access to wellbeing and resilience based resources and information, please click here. We understand that drought can impact people in many ways, if you or someone you know needs support we recommend the ifarmwell “what to do in a crisis” support tools.

Please feel free to reach out to our Hub team with any further questions.

Kind regards
Dr Stephen Lee
Director SA Drought Hub