The enthusiasm of participants has seen extra meetings planned as part of the project looing into the future of irrigation in the Goulburn Broken Catchment.
The enthusiasm of participants has seen extra meetings planned as part of the project looing into the future of irrigation in the Goulburn Broken Catchment.
More than 100 people attended a third round of workshops at five locations around the region recently. They considered how the region will respond to changing scenarios in the irrigation sector.
The Chair of the Irrigations Futures Project John Pettigrew said these were to be the last in the series of meetings that has also considered people’s aspirations and scenarios for the future involving irrigation.
But he said the high level of commitment of the participants has lead them to request another round of workshops to allow them to continue to consider the issues of planning and responding to future scenarios in the irrigation industry.
“They realise that the issues are complex, and they need more time to formulate the regional response,’’ Mr Pettigrew said.
“Their commitment to this process is highly valued and augers well for the future.’’
The next round of Workshops in October will also look at what indicators should be used to measure the positive and negative impacts of change in the community, the environment and regional business.
In the next few months, the project will run special programs focusing on input from women and ethnic communities in agriculture; young people and next generation farmers; and the Indigenous community.
“We are very keen to hear from these people, but recognise different approaches are needed to capture their input,’’ Mr Pettigrew said.
Interviews with business leaders are also planned, so that the proposals for the future recognise the investment plans of major employers in the processing and service industries.
For information on the project please contact Leon Soste of DPI on 5833 5956.