Gippsland’s dairy farmers are encouraged to apply for grants that will help to lower their energy costs.
Russell Broadbent, Member for Monash, said that energy bills are one of the big expenses for dairy farmers and the Commonwealth Government’s Energy Efficient Communities Program was targeted to help them reduce energy costs whilst lowering emissions.
“The dairy industry is a significant contributor to Gippsland’s economy and without dairy farmers there simply is no industry.
“In these tough economic times, anything that can help lower the cost of production for our farmers is going to be welcome,” Mr Broadbent said.
Grants are targeted towards identifying and putting in place better systems to manage energy usage for dairy farmers and can be used to assist farmers audit their on-farm energy usage, replace existing equipment with higher efficiency equipment and make the changes required to help an existing system run more efficiently.
“Providing this support to our dairy farmers results in less expense and more money for farming families, leading to greater peace of mind for them during this challenging period of economic uncertainty,” Mr Broadbent said.
The Energy Efficient Communities Program was announced as part of the Commonwealth Government’s Climate Solutions Package in the 2019 Federal Budget with an estimated $10 million specifically available for the dairy round.
To ensure an equitable distribution across dairying regions, funding will be available in each state in proportion to the number of dairy farms.
Grant guidelines and application forms for the dairy round are available at www.business.gov.au, or by telephone on 13 28 46.
Applications close on 17 August 2020.
