The State Government sets a high bar for its farm energy assessments

The on-farm energy grants will help eligible Victorian farmers purchase and install equipment, such as irrigation pumps, solar panels, heat exchangers and compressors.

The initial assessments analyse energy use and identify opportunities to make energy savings, or convert to renewable sources.

But farmers must spend more than $8000 a year on energy bills.

“That was a conscious decision to target it to people who had not thought about it before,” Ms Pulford said.

“We were not being mean to the hobby farmers, but they weren’t the primary focus of this program.”

Ms Pulford said the number of applications for assessments was increasing, with strong representation from dairy farmers.

The $30 million package involves: 

•    $5 million for energy efficiency assessments on farm

•    $20 million in grants to support farmers invest in energy efficiency and generation technology

•    $1.5 million to demonstrate energy efficiency and generation measures on farm

•    $2.5 million to link farmers and businesses to information, education resources and apps

•    $1 million in research to commercialise research for the farming sector.

Crossley dairy farmer Karinjeet Singh-Mahil said she’d like to see the guidelines changed, to include more farmers.

“What if a farmer has worked really hard to reduce power costs, by doing a whole lot of stuff?” Ms Singh-Mahil said.

‘Why can’t they have an assessment to see if they can do more?

“An assessment may be helpful, they may find other things they might be able to do.”

Ms Pulford said she was always open to positive suggestions.

“The opening of applications has suggested we might need to tweak those settings,” Ms Pulford said.

The Tier One grant stream would be open for applications from eligible farm businesses until March 2020, or until funding was exhausted.

Funding of up to $50,000 was available for eligible farmers and relevant projects and would be provided on a dollar for dollar co-contribution basis.

Recommendations from the government’s free on-farm energy assessments program would provide the evidence needed for grant applications.

The Victorian Farmers Federation recently adopted policy that it advocate for the upgrade of regional power infrastructure, to improve fire safety and allow farmers to participate in the ‘energy generation economy.’

Ms Singh-Mahil said the recent south-west Victorian fires were the catalyst to look at alternative energy sources.

She said the State government energy efficiency grants required appropriate power infrastructure to move electricity in, and out, of the grid.

While poles and wires were one area that affected power costs, they were not the only option for providing electricity.

 “When you look at the cost of power for people, it’s becoming unmanageable,” she said.

“Do we have to have poles and wires everywhere?” she said.

“It’s not the only option available to people, any more.”

Ms Singh said she and husband Brian Schuler had often talked about how they could use their effluent pond to generate methane and run a generator.

“We need to be far more flexible, in our thinking,” she said.

“This is not about doing the same old thing, over and over again, it’s about starting to think about what it is people need and how can it be provided.”

Ms Singh-Mahil farmers needed to look for opportunities.

‘We’ve had two backpackers from Germany working for us in recent years,” she said.

“They came from pig, cropping and dairy farms, but also had power generation from big biodigesters, with the electricity fed back into the grid.

“It was part of their economic model, it covered their costs and gave them a bit more cash on the side.”

She hoped the VFF would continue to do policy work on alternative energy sources.

 “What I want the VFF to do is to find out what opportunities are out there, what is in development, and how could it work for the benefit of our members.”