PROC-9177282: NGN Supporting others through drought: training for early and mid-career agriculturalists.

Description

Description:Southern Australia is in the midst of the driest 15-month period on record. There has been a focus on supporting growers through this period with a number of measures for them and their families announced by state governments. A gap in these measures is in supporting those working in grower facing sectors of agriculture, including agronomists, farm business consultants, farming systems groups (FSGs) and regionally based researchers. These agriculturalists are farmer facing and, are important in the community and for those going through stressful times, often becoming the first, trusted port of call for discussing difficult farm decisions. The skills needed to manage self, and others through stressful decision making are critical for grower consultancy roles, and there is an immediate need to support people in analytical decision making and how to reduce the influences of emotion and stress in the process.To address this, GRDC are investing in a series of workshops aimed at early and mid-career professionals working in grower facing roles to upskill them in key skills required to consult during drought periods. This involves understanding and recognising distress in themselves and those they consult, how best to help people while maintaining their own mental health and tools and strategies to bring analytical decision-making processes into discussions. This will be followed up with further support post-workshop delivery to assist in implementation of what was learnt and allow the participants to debrief and access a network of others consulting in a similar environment.Outcome:By December 2026, at least 100 early or mid-career researchers, advisers and other grower facing professionals will have improved confidence in identifying growers in distress, providing support and applying analytical decision-making processes.OutputsOutput 1.Title: Delivery of managing tricky seasonal conditions program for grower facing roles.Description:By November 2025, deliver up to 17 workshops throughout the southern region (South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania) to assist advisers in supporting growers through challenging drought decisions.Training will be aimed at supporting early career prole working in farmer facing roles (including but not limited to agronomists, farm business consultants, farming systems groups etc.), however attendance from any career level will be supported.The service provider will develop a plan before delivery for GRDC approval covering content to be delivered, promotion and engagement of service providers and evaluation of the program. I will also include a schedule of key deliverables, timelines and resource requirements and a detailed list of all tangible project outputs and resources after delivery.The program may include:• Identifying distress in growers and self.• How to refer someone to help.• Consulting in challenging situations (seasonal and/or financial), ow to establish compassionate boundaries and use of analytical decision making to support growers (drawing on approaches from RiskWi$e).• An opportunity for ongoing support and/or check-ins with the participants for 6 months post training to share stories, maintain support and reinforce training.Output 2.Title: Impact evaluation.Description:By December 2026, a report evaluating the impact of this investment against the outputs, outcomes andimpact on adviser and grower outcomes across the southern region will be delivered.Baselines to be defined at beginning of investment to measure and assess future impact.Impact evaluation will include an assessment of project impact on adviser confidence in management of distress in clients and themselves and active decision making, and recommendations for further investment and extension activities.