Dear SA Drought Hub Members and Network Partners,
Over the past twelve months the SA Drought Hub has undergone an extensive external review which focussed on further enhancing the Hubs governance, structure and delivery models to ensure the best possible outcomes for South Australian primary producers and regional communities in becoming more prepared for, and resilient to, drought.
Thank you to all of you who provided input to this process and through our feedback channels. We have carefully considered all of your feedback with the ultimate goal of improving the way the Drought Hub operates and ensuring we can have maximum impact for our farming community.
One of the review’s key recommendations was to implement a revised regional engagement approach to realise greater potential from existing regional networks and groups and avoid duplication with Hub partners that are delivering existing or established activities. As a result, the Hub’s regional engagement in 2025-26 will be focused on ensuring continued high quality delivery of activities and information that are relevant and timely for stakeholders while better capitalising on the SA Hub’s existing network.
A collaborative approach to regional engagement is proposed that builds the capacity of Farming Systems Groups and their providers and Landscape Boards, while also strengthening links with other Future Drought Fund and State Government programs.
Key actions aligned to the new regional engagement approach include:
- New SA Drought Hub roles: Several reviews have recommended changing the regional engagement model of the Hub. New outreach and engagement roles will be established for 2025/26 that will enable the Hub to expand our industry sector coverage, build collaboration across FDF and other aligned programs, and better leverage established groups and networks across South Australia.
- Extension and facilitation workshops: We will continue to deliver extension workshops with Hub research partners and extension professionals.
- Sponsorships program: The Hub sponsorship program will continue to support one off events held by Hub Members and Network Partners. This includes cross region bus tours, decision making workshops, crop walks and guest speakers to support extension of Hub supported project outcomes.
- Climate workshops and Yarning Circles: Continuation of the successful climate workshop series run by Dr Peter Hayman, SA Drought Hub Deputy Director, and the Yarning Circles project.
- DRINKS project: The Drought Resilience Information and Knowledge Sharing (DRINKS) project will be rolled out across South Australia. This is based on the successful model implemented by the Victorian Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub. Workshops will be piloted in the south east and pastoral regions, with other areas of the state to be engaged later in the year.
- Scoping projects: We are currently co-designing several long-term programs focused on feed-base improvement and management, drought resilient soils and containment feeding strategies for implementation in the future 2026-2032 iteration of the Hub.
The Hub will also continue our partnership with State Government and our engagement will be driven via our members and partners. We will continue our extensive range of drought resilience and adoption projects, workshops and trials with many of the 2025 activities well progressed.
There are multiple opportunities for Hub members and partners to be involved in these programs throughout 2025 and we whole heartedly encourage that participation. Please see https://sadroughthub.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-SA-Hub-Regional-Engagement.pdf for further information on our 2025/26 regional engagement program.
We are looking forward to ongoing engagement with our Hub members, partners and valued networks. Please direct any questions to myself.
Kind regards
Dr Stephen Lee
Director, SA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub
stephen.lee@adelaide.edu.au
