ISSUE 56 — FEB 2021
Productivity Through Smart Farming Farmers, tradespeople, service providers and anyone living on the land are invited to get involved in the new Energy Smart Farming Community of Practice. The Community of Practice provides a great place to find information and chat about energy efficient and renewable energy technologies and practices that improve farm productivity and resilience. The Community of Practice is a collaborative project between Agriculture Victoria and New South Wales Department of Primary Industries with participation from Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Sustainability Victoria and Regional Development Victoria. Community of Practice Leader, Liz Hamilton, said the new Energy Smart Farming Community brought together farm energy experts including farmers, service providers, advisors, researchers and community advocates to share energy knowledge, research and solutions to help make Australian farming more profitable. 'Energy is crucial for agricultural production with factors such as rising energy costs of gas, diesel and electricity impacting most farmers,' Ms Hamilton said. 'Energy reliability and the financial barriers such as the high up-front cost of investment, concerns about return on investment and uncertainty around appropriate technologies create significant challenges to farmers looking to make the best energy investment decisions. 18
'Saving energy on farms not only helps farmers to sustain profitable businesses, it can also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.' The Community of Practice is designed so that participants can share and build on the existing knowledge around practical energy and money saving solutions for farmers by providing access to relevant information, resources and people who can help with energy efficiency and renewable technology. Key features of the Energy Smart Farming Community include peer-reviewed articles on energy-saving initiatives and renewables, farmer case studies, online events, as well as the ability to ask energy-related questions of the community. This initiative is part of the Victorian Government’s Agriculture Energy Investment Plan, which is supporting producers to improve energy usage on-farm. For more information, visit the Energy Smart Farming page: www.extensionaus.com.au/ energysmartfarming/ on Extension Australia's website.
