Southern Downs farmers have been invited to register their interest in a new program to manage on-farm energy consumption and lower carbon emissions.
Delivered by Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF), the Energy Southern Queensland program is free for participating farms and aims to identify tangible ways increased energy productivity and efficiencies can be achieved while supporting environmental outcomes on farm.
The two-year program will enable QFF to work with between 100 and 150 farms during the project lifespan.
Producers and growers from the Southern Downs and Goondiwindi regions are invited to participate individually or in a ‘cluster’. Their participation in the project is anticipated to take between two and three months, with ongoing follow-up and support. Farms participating in a cluster will have the opportunity to attend a series of short workshops to help navigate the process.
QFF CEO Jo Sheppard said rising input costs and disrupted supply chains continued to challenge farmers across the State and energy was a key-line item for most farming enterprises.
“This program will support farmers across the Southern Downs and Goondiwindi local government areas to identify ways in which they can become more efficient in their on-farm use of energy to save costs, improve productivity, and reduce emissions,” Ms Sheppard said.
“Queensland farmers continue to innovate and work to achieve efficiencies on-farm so that they can remain competitive in an increasingly difficult operating environment,” said Ms Sheppard.
“It is important that Queensland farmers are supported to continue to build on farm capability to innovate and adapt if we are to ensure a sustainable food, fibre and foliage system into the future.”
QFF previously delivered the Queensland Government’s Energy Savers Plus Program which supported more than 300 farms in achieving savings through independent electricity audits.
Extending on this program, participants of the EnergySQ program will work with QFF’s energy project team to develop their own individual Energy and Carbon Action Plan.
QFF have partnered with ACCIONA Energía Australia to fund the delivery of the project. ACCIONA Energía are developing the MacIntyre Wind Farm near Warwick.
“We’re proud to be supporting the QFF to help primary producers manage their energy use. The pressures faced by farmers have never been greater and by supporting this program we hope assist farmers continue to play their vital role across Queensland,” said ACCIONA Energía Managing Director Brett Wickham.
Ms Sheppard said the support being provided by ACCIONA Energía was enabling QFF to take the learnings from previously delivered Energy Savers programs to develop EnergySQ and provide farmers in the region a tailored program to assist in achieving on-farm efficiencies, productivity gains and a reduction in emissions.
“We encourage farmers within the Goondiwindi or Southern Downs regional council areas who would like to understand more about this initiative to contact the team at QFF to find out more and register their interest,” Ms Sheppard said.
For more information about the program and to express interest in participating, visit www.qff.org.au/energy-sq/ or contact QFF’s energy team via email energysq@qff.org.au or phone 07 3837 4729.
