The federal government has announced a $10 million investment into helping dairy farmers lower their power bills and reduce emissions.
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From Monday, June 22, dairy farmers can apply for grants that will help reduce power bills and make energy use more efficient through the Energy Efficient Communities program.
The announcement was made at the Broad family dairy farm in Bodalla, where Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said grants of up to $20,000 were available.
Mr Taylor said the grants would help dairy farmers upgrade to equipment that will reduce energy consumption, get monitoring systems to better manage their energy use, and conduct energy audits.
"Farmers have long been at the forefront of innovation to reduce their cost of doing business and their emissions output, but energy costs remain high for many in our dairy sector, especially when farmers are doing it tough on the back of bushfires and COVID19", Mr Taylor said.
"The Government's support will help dairy farmers in their efforts to better manage their energy use while also continuing to play a role in reducing global emissions."
Eden-Monaro Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs welcomed the announcement.
"These grants will provide support at a time when so many of our farms are struggling, having gone through fires and floods, and ongoing drought," Dr Kotvojs said.
"As a farmer myself, I know how tough it can be to keep a farm going in such difficult conditions. These grants will ease the burden on our farmers by helping to lower their energy costs, while also helping to boost long-term sustainability of their farms and lowering Australia's emissions."
Bodalla dairy farmer Matt Broad said energy was "one of four big bills".
"Anything that we can reduce those bills with is a huge help," he said.
"Cooling milk is a huge user of energy, pumping water - especially irrigation water to keep feed up to the cows is another huge energy bill."
Nationals candidate Trevor Hicks also welcomed the announcement although was concerned about the "long-term viability" of dairy farmers.
"Something needs to change in order to get the pricing right for them," he said.
"The distribution chain from the farm to the fridge needs to be looked [and] the import, exportation, plus water management and allocation needs to be addressed too."
He called for a Royal Commission "before farmers go off the farm and into city jobs".
The Energy Efficient Communities Program was announced as part of the Government's Climate Solutions Package in the 2019 Federal Budget.
Grant guidelines and application forms for the dairy round are available at business.gov.au, or phone 13 28 46. Applications will close on August 17, 2020.
