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Wednesday, 20 May 2009 The Ricegrowers’ Association of Australia Inc. (RGA) has today welcomed the announcement that they will receive up to $80,000 for the development of a training and professional development package for rice-based farm businesses through the Federal Government’s FarmReady Industry Grants program. Executive Director, Mrs Ruth Wade said, “This funding is very welcome as the industry and individual growers are currently facing enormous challenges due to the ongoing drought and low water allocations. Growers need the skills and support to effectively manage all aspects of their business (economic, production, people and environment) through this difficult period.” The aim of the project is to build on existing skills, knowledge and programs in the industry and equip individual farm businesses with higher level management skills. This grant will enable the industry to develop an accredited training course specifically for the rice industry. “Once the industry has an approved package, individual farmers will then be able to claim up to $1,500 each financial year under the FarmReady Reimbursement Grants to attend the course”, Mrs Wade said. Another pleasing aspect of this announcement is that one of the key recommendations from a series of workshops held last year was the need to develop such a package. The FarmFit workshops were funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) through the Irrigated Industries Workshop Program and one aspect of that program was to develop a knowledge base and identify gaps in rice growers’ knowledge in dealing with low or zero water allocations. During that program farmers indicated that they were looking to work either individually or in small groups to develop business tools and knowledge to apply to their individual farm businesses. The development of this package aims to provide the framework to give farmers this opportunity. CONTACT |
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