Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford says rural Victoria will benefit just as much from funds of the successful passage of the Port of Melbourne lease legislation through the parliament as metropolitan areas.
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Ms Pulford was in Windermere on Monday to meet local farmer Lyle Powell and discuss the new $200 million Agriculture Infrastructure and Jobs Fund.
Inspecting the Powell family’s cattle underpass, Ms Pulford said projects like cattle underpasses would be considered by the new fund, which will support investment in agricultural infrastructure and supply chains to boost productivity, increase exports and reduce costs to allow farmers to stay competitive.
“The overwheleming focus is on infrastructure, the type that will make our farming businesses more productive and more profitable,” Ms Pulford said.
“The needs of our agriculture producers vary. In some areas the focus will be on water infrastructure projects, some areas it will be around upgrades to local roads and things like underpasses that we are seeing here at Lyle’s property.
“It will be available for practical projects and programs that wholly benefit the agriculture sector including transport, irrigation, and energy projects, as well as skills development programs and market access campaigns.”
Details of how the fund will work are yet to be finalised, however Ms Pulford said she would be working closely with the Victorian Farmers’ Federation to establish the guidelines.
Member for Buninyong, Geoff Howard said the Agriculture Infrastructure and Jobs Fund would open doors for farmers throughout Western Victoria.
“Across my electorate of Buninyong and more broadly in Ballarat there’s a lot of farms and agribusinesses that are operating,” he said.
“This is going to be a great opportunity for those farmers to access funding that is going to improve their opportunities to get their products to market and upskill in a range of ways.”
Premier Daniel Andrews announced the fund on Sunday and said it would be available to those in the agricultural sector for more than four years, helping “get produce from paddock to port”.
Ms Pulford said there were a number of projects that were identified by the Andrews Government prior last November’s election that would be used from funding generated by the Port lease.
“These included $1 billion for country roads, $1 billion for suburban roads and the 50 most dangerous and congested level crossing in Melbourne,” she said.
“There will benefits to regional communities to having our capital city vastly less congested than it currently is. The Government has a number of initiatives and projects that are exclusively about regional Victoria."
