The Drought Preparedness Grants and your eligibility

To kick off the 2022 year the Synergy Accountants team have recently been doing further research into the new Drought Preparedness Grants, and have compiled the detail below for your reference.

The Drought Preparedness Grants will contribute 25% of your costs up to a maximum contribution of $50,000 for new permanent capital infrastructure to assist with future drought proofing.

These grants are for Primary Producers looking to invest in permanent capital infrastructure to assist with the future drought proofing which could include:

1. pipes, water tanks and water troughs;
2. dam construction and/or expansion;
3. drilling a new working bore;
4. water conservation infrastructure and equipment including more efficient irrigation;
5. water pumps and power supply used to run water pumps;
6. storage, mixing and feeding out equipment for grain, fodder, molasses and other supplements;
7. grain storage and equipment that improves the ability of the business to manage drought;
8. reasonable freight components to purchase and install equipment or infrastructure;
9. consumables including fuel for own machinery used in relation to the drought preparedness project; and
10. contractor costs to install infrastructure.

If you have any capital infrastructure projects in the pipeline at the moment, please feel free to review the eligibility criteria and application requirements and let our team know if you have a project in mind that would be worthwhile for the application.

Key considerations include:

1. To be eligible for funding, the project will:
2. involve the purchase and installation of new permanent capital infrastructure;
3. improve the ability of the primary production business to prepare for; continue to operate in; or recover from, drought conditions;
4. be a drought preparedness activity listed in your Farm Business Resilience Plan for the primary production business; and
5. not have commenced the project before the assistance is approved
6. To be eligible for a Drought Preparedness Grant, applicants must also:
7. not have received either of the following in the financial year of application
8. a freight subsidy under the Drought Relief Assistance Scheme*
9. the Emergency Water Infrastructure Rebate under the Drought Relief Assistance Scheme*;
10. must not have previously received a Drought Preparedness Grant for the same project activity; and
11. must present a Farm Business Resilience Plan (as outlined in Section 6), satisfactory to QRIDA.
12. A Farm Business Resilience Plan, (or similar plan) should include content that addresses the following:
13. Production risks i. climate and weather ii. natural resource management iii. biosecurity
14. Business risks i. financial viability ii. market
15. Personal risks i. workplace health and safety ii. key people

A Farm Business Resilience Plan should identify if these risks need to be managed and if so, also include an Action and/or Implementation Plan for specific activities that have been identified to manage these risks.

A Farm Business Resilience Plan may reference other supplementary material that support the plan, for example, a current industry Best Management Practice (BMP) output, a Farm Biosecurity Plan and/or a Succession Plan.

For more information and to access the application forms and Farm Business Resilience Plan templates, please visit Drought Assistance Program (daf.qld.gov.au).

As always, our Synergy team are available to discuss any questions you may have about the Drought Assistance Program. Please contact us if you have any questions you wish to discuss.

Disclaimer: Whilst this publication has been carefully prepared it is written in general terms and is intended as general information and to provide commentary. It does not purport to be comprehensive or render any advice. No one should rely on information contained in this publication without first obtaining professional advice relevant to their specific situation.