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

⁠⁠⁠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 farmers 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 growth 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 the implementation of what was learnt and allow the participants to debrief and access a network of others consulting in a similar environment.

Document contact and enquiries

Attention: Lyndal Gordon

Grains Research and Development Corporation

Email: lyndal.gordon@grdc.com.au

Make all requests for further information or clarification in relation to this procurement in writing (email) prior to 23 June 2025.

GRDC will publish all requests and responses to requests on the GRDC website under Questions and Answers at the bottom of this webpage.