Drought Preparedness and Recovery 

Training future extension staff

This project received funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

Up2Us Landcare Alliance and Gecko Clan Landcare Network have joined together to deliver a series of workshops to educate future extension officers in drought preparedness, resilience, and recovery.

Up2Us and Gecko will engage university students in the NRM and Agricultural fields, with training underpinned by an ongoing mentor program supporting participants in extension activities, building confidence, and employability skills. In conjunction with student training the project will also provide landholders with essential information in how to develop resilience within their farming system in times of drought. This program will give participants the opportunity to build networks with regional employers, promoting regional employment.

Landowners and Landcare staff will also have the opportunity to participate in training of drought preparedness, technology use, resilience and drought recovery topics through a series of workshops and train the trainer opportunities. Through increasing knowledge within staff and the farming community we increase support and adoption of practice change. 

Extension training with Landcare - Intensive program

In this project, Up2Us and Gecko CLaN are collaborating to train the next generation on drought preparedness and recovery techniques, technologies and approaches proven to work in our region. This training will be delivered via an intensive five-day extension training workshop that is ideal for young adults who are currently studying or recently graduated from Agriculture or Natural Resource Management (NRM) who would benefit from extension training in drought preparedness and recovery. 

The training will cover the following topics:  

  • Drought preparedness and recovery 

  • Extension training 

  • Soil health and pasture management

  • Farm visits 

  • Water budgeting 

  • Biodiversity on farms 

There are two options to choose from, each week will deliver similar content, however the first week will be based within the Benalla/Swanpool region and will cover cropping, dryland grazing and natural resource management. The second week will be based within the Mansfield region and will cover dryland grazing and natural resource management only. The training dates are below:  

  • Monday 3rd February to Friday 7th February 2025 (Benalla/Swanpool - cropping, dryland grazing, NRM)

  • Monday 10th February to Friday 14th February 2025 (Mansfield - dryland grazing, NRM)

This is a FREE event for those who are currently studying, or recently graduated, from Agriculture or NRM and includes the following: 

  • Five days extension training 

  • Cabin accommodation for four nights 

  • All meals, catered to dietary requirements 

  • Transport provided during the event (please note that you will be responsible for your own transport to and from the accommodation at the beginning/end of the training).  

  • Access to people in industry/mentors  

To register your interest for the February 2025 training, please fill in this EOI: https://forms.office.com/r/5YwUnkMh1i

For further information please contact us on 03 5779 1593 or projects@up2us.org.au  

Media Partner

We would like to acknowledge NRMjobs for supporting this program. Please view their website here https://nrmjobs.com.au/