IF any meat producers in northwest Victoria or southwest New South Wales want to run a local project to improve their enterprises, they have until May 12 to apply for producer demonstration sites (PDS) funding.
The PDS open call – for projects to start from the end of this year – is available to support groups of sheep, beef cattle and goat enterprises interested in running local projects to demonstrate on-farm benefits of best management practices, commercially available technology and new research and development findings.
The PDS program aims to increase the rate of adoption of key practices and technologies which improve business profitability, productivity and sustainability through livestock producers pursuing new skills and management practices in their own commercial livestock production systems.
PDS project manager Alana McEwan told North West Farmer the open call is “an exciting opportunity for producers and the broader industry to be supported in demonstrating research outcomes in their own business”.
“The MLA PDS open call supports activities which are a practical way of bringing MLA research into the paddock and into practical outcomes for primary producers,” she said.
“They allow groups of producers to get a practical first-hand look at the research and test how it could work for them.”
Producer groups wanting to participate in the PDS program can apply for a range of funding options for their proposed PDS ranging from $30,000 to $100,000, per year for the length of the project.
Producer groups are required to engage a facilitator who is experienced in group co-ordination and extension, monitoring and evaluation of on-farm practice change and communication and reporting.
Applications are welcome from groups of producers, farming system groups, NRM Groups, as well as state departments, consultants, universities, and other service providers in partnership with an engaged group of producers.
For more details go to www.mla.com.au/extension-training-and-tools/pds-producer-demonstration-sites/
