If you build it, they will come. Or if you apply, you may receive!
The latest round of Tweed Shire Council’s Sustainable Agriculture Small Grants Program is now open with applications being accepted until 25 August 2023.
The grant program has been running since 2018, providing farmers with financial and technical support to initiate projects that improve the health of soils, waterways and biodiversity on local farms.
Grants of up to $4,000 are available for eligible activities that trial or lead to the adoption of improved farming practices.
Farm walk and talk program
To further support sustainable farming, Council is introducing a farm walk and talk program to be held on the first Thursday of every month. Commencing on Thursday 3 August, the events will showcase local farms that have participated in the grant program and highlight their sustainability initiatives. Further details will be released closer to the date.
Council’s Program Leader – Sustainable Agriculture Eli Szandala said local farmers had embraced the program and were successfully using the funding with excellent environmental outcomes.
‘Some of these projects include reducing livestock access to waterways and natural areas, trialling the use of biological controls as substitutes for traditional chemicals, or implementing rotational grazing and multi-species cropping systems,’ Mr Szandala said.
‘Other farmers have used the funds to plant additional trees on farms or to come up with innovative solutions to their own unique challenges.
‘Healthy farms are the backbone of healthy communities and this grant program gives our local producers the opportunity to take the sustainability challenge to the next level and put aspirations into practice.
‘Council is particularly interested in supporting projects that have lasting environmental benefit and help farmers to better prepare for the climate disruptions we are increasingly experiencing.’
One beneficiary of funding from the program is David McNaught from Tweed River Pecans, who has completed 2 projects with support from the grant program.
‘We successfully trialled the use of a fungal biological control and foliar sprays to eliminate the need for synthetic chemicals as well as completing a project to exclude cattle from a wetland on our farm,’ Mr McNaught said.
‘We have seen an amazing regeneration of wetland species since we fenced the cows out and the water coming through the wetland is now so much cleaner than before.’
The Sustainable Agriculture Small Grants Program highlights Council’s commitment to working with the community to reduce our impact on the natural environment and adapt to climate change for a sustainable future.
To view the grant guidelines and case studies of previous grant recipients, visit tweed.nsw.gov.au/agriculture or contact the Program Leader – Sustainable Agriculture on 02 6670 2400 for further information.
