The Federal Government is providing $11.2 million to expand the Horticulture Netting Program.
The new round of grants will be open to all eligible horticultural enterprises, excluding wine grapes, to buy and install new netting over established production areas.
Agriculture Victoria’s Sarah-Jane McCormack said the grants were ideal for producers looking to future-proof their farms.
“The expansion of the Horticultural Netting Program provides a terrific opportunity for horticultural enterprises to receive support for installing netting infrastructure that will increase their resilience to adverse weather events and improve efficiency,” Ms McCormack said.
Agriculture Victoria will implement the grant program on the Federal Government’s behalf.
The grants (capped at $150,000) are available to eligible producers covering up to 50 per cent of the cost to purchase or install horticultural netting over commercial production areas.
Netting has been shown to deliver productivity benefits by protecting crops from extreme weather and predators and increasing water use efficiency.
“These grants provide valuable assistance to growers to increase productivity at a time where they are also bouncing back from the impacts of COVID on their businesses,” Ms McCormack said.
Applications close on October 17.
For more information, visit https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/netting