Tatura dairy farmer Hamish Crawford received $29,735 through the grant program — the second-highest sum awarded in the Goulburn Valley region.
“I’ve got to spend $58,000 to get the $29,000; I haven’t told the bank that yet,” Mr Crawford said.
“Up until now I wasn’t even sure I was going to get the grant. I’ve applied before and been knocked back.”
Mr Crawford will put the money towards a chill mister, a variable speed drive on the dairy’s vacuum pump, LED lights, and a 6 kW solar power system.
Mr Crawford originally requested a 33 kW solar system but the government reduced it by 80 per cent after predicting 70 per cent of the power generated would feed back into the power grid.
“In the end they decided it wasn’t a good use of taxpayers’ money to be putting all this power into the grid,” Mr Crawford said.
“I had proposed switching the hot water system from operating overnight to during the day to use more solar energy, but they didn’t accept that.”
Nearby Tatura farm Fenton Hall was successful with its 35 kW solar application, receiving $18,632 for the system and a vacuum pump variable speed drive.
Kyabram’s Taripta Dairy received $6380 for a vacuum pump variable speed drive, milk and water pressure pumps, LED lighting, a new hot water tank, and solar analytics.
Minhas Orchards in Lemnos was the recipient of the largest grant in the area, with the maximum amount of $50,000 for a smart-control drip irrigation system.
Stanhope dairy farmer Craig Emmett was awarded $17,860 for three major upgrades.
“We’ll be installing a variable speed drive on the vacuum pump so it doesn’t have to run flat out all the time, a 13 kW solar system to heat the hot water, and a 16 kW solar to run the bore pump,” Mr Emmett said.
“We’ve had a small buzz box of a 5 kW solar system on top of the dairy for the last 20 years, and it's served us well.”
Mr Emmett said this was his first time applying for the farm efficiency grants.
“There was a bit of paperwork involved but it wasn’t too hard,” Mr Emmett said.
“We applied around May and didn’t get a response for a long time. It was a bit frustrating because the guys we got quotes from were asking what was going on and we didn’t know, either.”
Both farmers said the requirement that every project be quoted twice was largely redundant, since they always went with the local tradesperson.
“You’re always going to go to the local guy, so it was hard having to ask these second guys to drive out to a farm they’ve never been to and quote for a job they knew they weren’t going to get,” Mr Crawford said.
Member for Northern Victoria Mark Gepp said it was important the government undertook energy efficiency assessments so farmers could get the best cost savings.
“We’re making sure we can best support farmers to save on their energy bills and make their businesses more efficient,” Mr Gepp said.
Victorian Agricultural Minister Jaclyn Symes said the government was proud to be helping farms move into the future with projects designed to bring costs down and make the industry more sustainable.
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