Dairy industry receives $1m grant for energy-efficiency education

Dairy Australia has received a $1 million federal government grant for 900 dairy farm energy assessments across the country.

The grant was awarded for the Smarter Energy Use on Australian Dairy Farms project as part of the government’s $20 million Energy Efficiency Information Grants program. Dairy Australia says the project will provide farmers with information and technical support to improve farm energy efficiency.

The energy assessments will be conducted across all eight Australian dairy regions and will be tailored to meet local needs, said Dairy Australia’s Natural Resource Management Program Manager, Catherine Phelps.

“There is a high level of interest in energy efficiency in the dairy industry and farmers are increasingly concerned about the cost of energy impacting on their businesses, so the conditions are right for a very effective national project,” Phelps said.

“It is expected the project will result in supplying farmers with real practical solutions for significant savings in carbon emissions and energy costs on-farm.”

The assessments will include recommendations for efficient, cost-effective energy use, including changes to management practices, optimisation of current equipment and capital investment.

“Dairy farmers are under time pressure at the best of times and don’t have the luxury or often the resources and information to find the best way to save money by improving their energy use,” Phelps said. “This will definitely provide the help they need.”

The government announced the 28 recipients of the first round of funding on 17 May.