Agricultural
1 December, 2022
Grains Research Development grant application period extended
A program designed to maximise the profitability of grain growers by providing better infrastructure for planned projects, will be extended.
The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has announced it will extend the application period for its $20 million infrastructure program to December 21.
The corporation said it had made the decision in light of the challenging weather conditions and flooding experienced across much of the eastern states.
GRDC Managing Director Nigel Hart said the infrastructure program was announced in September with applications initially due by the end of November.
“We understand extreme weather events have had a widespread impact on our growers, farming communities and research organisations in eastern Australia. It’s been a really tough season so we’ve been doing what we can to support our sector,” Mr Hart said.
The GRDC has said it aims to help growers across the country develop infrastructure that is up to speed with the latest developments in science from around the grain-growing world.
Mr Hart said the infrastructure grant program was a major national initiative for GRDC that was designed to ensure Australia’s world class researchers and technicians had the facilities and resources they need to deliver science that improved grain growers’ profitability.
“It’s really important to us, and to the growers we invest on behalf of, that we get high quality applications that are going to make a genuine different to Australia’s research capability,” he said.
To be eligible for GRDC infrastructure grants applicants must provide a minimum co-contribution of 20 per cent for projects up to $1 million and of 30 per cent for projects of $1 million and above.
Grants will be provided to help support the building of new, or existing facilities such as glasshouses, greenhouses, irrigation works, laboratories or sheds.
The grants can be also used for: sensing and communication equipment, farm and research equipment and sample preparation and analytical equipment.
In order to apply growers will have to make sure their project is fully planned and approved before they are submitted to the GRDC.
Applications are targeted at planned projects, which have all relevant approvals in place at the date of the application or in sufficient time, to enable construction to start by no later than 30 June 2023.
