MRIC to take a lead in Victoria’s drought resilience hub

The Mallee Regional Innovation Centre (MRIC) will be a leading partner in The University of Melbourne’s Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub which will receive $8 million in funding over the next four years from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

The Victorian hub will be a unique state-wide partnership to help farmers, agricultural businesses and communities become more resilient to the impacts of future droughts. It will play a critical role connecting these sectors to innovative technologies and practices. It will also translate research and knowledge into impactful outcomes and support take-up through testing adoption and scaling-up of new solutions and commercialisation.

“The Mallee Regional Innovation Centre is delighted to be part of the collaboration as a key ‘node’ as well as providing leadership support to the Victorian Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub,” MRIC CEO Rebecca Wells said.

“A feature of this hub is the unprecedented co-operation between the partners to co-design and co-govern innovative approaches to future drought resilience. It bodes well for the team to make a real difference to our regional industries and communities,” Ms Wells said.

The MRIC will lead a “node” in the region. Other partners in the Victoria Hub include Birchip Cropping Group, Food & Fibre Gippsland, Southern Farming Systems and Riverine Plains, together with La Trobe University, Deakin University, Federation University and Agriculture Victoria.

“For us it’s a real plus that the Centre partners of The University of Melbourne and La Trobe University are involved. We look forward to continuing the collaboration with them and building new collaborations with other partners,” Ms Wells said.

Fiona Hart, Riverine Plains; Professor Richard Speed, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global and Regional), La Trobe University; Professor John Fazakerley, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, the University of Melbourne; the Hon Damian Drum MP, Federal Member for Nicholls; Professor Tim Reeves, Enterprise Professor In Sustainable Agriculture, the University of Melbourne; Scott Chirnside, Southern Farming Systems; Associate Professor David Ulgade, Enterprise Fellow (Land and Environment), the University of Melbourne; Angela Avery, Agriculture Victoria. Photo: Kate Norman.

Chair of the MRIC Strategic Advisory Panel Leonie Burrows believes the hub will offer farmers and regional communities a new delivery mechanism to ensure research and extension outcomes are provided in practical and tangible ways that are locally relevant.

“This hub will demonstrate how organisational collaboration coupled with interdisciplinary research can address the drought-related critical challenges of environmental resilience, food security and economic sustainability,” Ms Burrows said.

“We’ll be able to focus on what we see as priorities and then seek to build collaborations that are fit for purpose, drawing on a wide range of expertise from all the partners,” Ms Burrows said.

The Victoria Hub, which will be led from the University of Melbourne’s Dookie campus and is one of eight drought resilience hubs across Australia.

Hub Co-Director Professor Tim Reeves, from the University of Melbourne Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, said this investment will make a real difference to how we deal with future droughts on farms, in the management of our environment and in our communities.

“This hub brings together a great team focused on delivering real impacts for the agri-food sector in Victoria, in terms of enhanced drought resilience and greater adaptation to our changing climate,’’ Professor Reeves said.

“This investment will make a real difference to how we deal with future droughts on farms, in the management of our environment, and in our communities.” Professor Reeves said.