The chair of a charity set up to support the region's dairy industry is scratching her head after a lack of applicants has left coffers full.
DemoDAIRY Foundation chair Andrea Vallance said up to $100,000 a year was available to fund tertiary training in dairy-related sciences and for individual grants, but a lack of applicants had forced organisers to launch a new campaign.
"You wouldn't think it would be hard to give money away, but people don't think their ideas are worth considering or they don't think they should seek support to undertake further study," she said.
The charity was established in 2018 with funds remaining from the wind-up of the DemoDAIRY Cooperative, which included the liquidation of assets at Terang and shareholder contribution refunds.
Ms Vallance said while the DDF was about mid-way through its planned 10-year lifespan, it hadn't yet allocated half of its funds.
"We've got till the funds run out but it looks like we're going to continue for longer than anticipated because people aren't taking up these grant and scholarship prospects," she said.
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The new campaign will streamline the application process and offer an option to apply for scholarships or submit grant applications twice-yearly, with a cut-off date of May 30 and late October.
Ms Vallance said she hoped the move would help boost the number and variety of applicants.
"We need people to apply across the board," she said.
"We won't hand out funds willy-nilly, but we are interested in any worthwhile application that is going to benefit dairy farmers, the dairy industry and dairy communities.
"The DDF Board wants to continue supporting our regional dairy industry and encourages more individuals, groups or industry stakeholders to apply for funding that could deliver direct benefits to other dairy farmers and our wider dairy community."
Grants and scholarships from the fund have supported a range of dairy or agribusiness-related proposals including a Water Rat, field trials, events, advisory panels, the Neil Porter Legacy and a variety of dairy conferences and study tours.
Anyone interested in applying can find more information on the initiative at https://www.demodairy.com.au/scholarships-and-grants/
