The Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub covering Northern WA and the Northern Territory received a boost in funding on 6 October to expand the focus of the Hubs role in driving agricultural innovation.

Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia David Littleproud announced that the Australian Government was providing a further $20 million to the eight Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs across the country to develop regionally focused and responsive innovation and adoption strategies and to undertake activities.

Minister Littleproud said that the hubs are key to unlocking the potential of the agricultural innovation system, enabling people to collaborate and deliver regionally targeted productivity gains.

He said the hubs will further build connections between researchers, technology developers, investors, producers and agribusinesses to drive innovation and digital technology uptake across industry and the supply-chain.

The  Northern WA and Northern Territory Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (NWANT Drought hub) welcomes the announcement and is looking forward to seeing more detail about the expanded role of the Hub.

The Hub believes the additional funding is vital for the future sustainability of primary producers and that this investment will help facilitate the ability of primary producers to access innovative research and technologies to better manage production and secure supply.

The region has been calling for increased capacity in agricultural research, extension and adoption so this is a welcome announcement that allows the hub to connect more producers with innovative technologies and practices that will benefit the Northern Territory and Western Australia environment, economy and people.

The Minister has announced that the expansion of the hubs role will include fisheries and aquaculture so the Hub will  look to engage more closely with aquaculture and fisheries sector.