L.ADP.2005 - ‘Back to Business’ Bushfire Recovery Project – South Australian coordinator

Summary

In response to extensive the bushfires in December 2019 which had significant impacts upon livestock producers in the Adelaide Hills (Cudlee Ck.) and on Kangaroo Island, MLA funded Livestock SA to enter into contract arrangements with landholders and consultants to provide 1 on 1 consultancies to assist in and plan for recovery from the fires.

Livestock SA followed MLA Guidelines for delivering the project which included marketing and promotion, processes for establishing landholder eligibility and engagement, consultant eligibility and contracting and for monitoring, evaluation, and reporting.

Objectives

The project had specific objectives set out in the contract between MLA and Livestock SA around:
• engaging and contracting Farm Management Consultants (FMCs) to work in bushfire affected regions.
• engaging and verifying eligibility of red meat producers in bushfire affected regions.
• ensuring Farm Management Consultants met the eligibility criteria.
• pairing bushfire affected producers with an appropriate FMC.
• providing MLA with regular updates on the program progress
• collating and reporting from farm management consultants and detail in a final report.

Key findings

The project funded 7 registered consultants who provided services to 40 landholders. 10 consultants registered with Livestock SA, with 3 not following up or not being preferred by producers. 59 landholder expressed initial interest, 54 followed up but in the end 40 participated in the consultancies.
Feedback from consultants and landholders consistently expressed their gratitude for the opportunity provided and of the benefits to their business and personal lives in recovering their livestock enterprise post bushfire.

Benefits to industry

The fires had a catastrophic impact upon the lives and livelihoods and producers. The loss of infrastructure and livestock potentially having direct impacts upon the future capacity to produce and supply product into the market, particularly on Kangaroo Island.

The consultancies were well received and demonstrated positive impacts and benefits to landholders in recovering from the fires. Funding from their industry body to support this was acknowledged and contributed to building toward a positive outlook in the recovery process.

MLA action

Evaluation of the program should be undertaken to understand the economic, social, welfare and environmental impact of this investment

Future research

Not all landholders were ready to take on a business planning approach, preferring to seek advice on more operational/production related matters.
With the hundreds of landholders affected by the fire, the modest uptake meant that many chose not to participate for reasons not explored. There will be a number of reasons that will be best be understood in future projects.
The ‘paperwork’ and delivery processes were somewhat onerous and could possibly be streamlined.
In future, greater vetting of consultants to ensure integrity and standards should be followed.