In order to achieve environmental and productivity benefits, the Government is funding a $12 million initiative to link farm and catchment programs to irrigation modernisation. The Linking Farm and Catchment Programs to Irrigation Modernisation Initiative will develop the urgently required linkages between modernisation and broader catchment management consistent with Government policy and existing programs.

The initiative will integrate current farm engagement, extension and works programs with delivery modernisation programs. Activities include:

• Engaging irrigators and catchment managers in the modernisation process to understand how farm businesses will be affected;
• Ensuring farming and catchment communities are active participants in program design and delivery to ensure that solutions to connect farms to the delivery system backbone promote private investment on farm that will increase productivity and resilience in a drier water future;
• Actively working with designers of infrastructure programs to advise how modernised infrastructure can be constructed in a manner that suits short to medium term farm service needs, and is flexible enough to adapt to a range of uncertain longer term service needs;
• Designing new tools, instruments and approaches that will enable the accelerated level of farm change required to meet modernisation objectives;
• Enhancing irrigator business decisions by providing access to these support mechanisms, e.g. grants for financial and business management advice, farm planning and in some cases farm infrastructure works.

Environmental benefits will be delivered by linking existing NRM programs to infrastructure modernisation programs, including:

• identifying where in the landscape modernisation programs will have NRM impacts;
• managing negative NRM impacts with existing and new tools;
• optimising the positive NRM impacts;
• reporting on the overall NRM benefits generated by the integrated programs.

The initiative will complement the Government’s recently released Future Farming Strategy that contains actions and investment to encourage productive, competitive and sustainable farming across Victoria. $2.3 million over 2 years ($1.15m/annum starting in 2008/09) has been made available to support farm business decision-making.