Hon Damien O’Connor

Minister of Agriculture

6 July 2018 – EMBARGO 8PM SAT 7 JULY MEDIA STATEMENT

Productive riparian planting, flies as pollinators, protecting hill country soils – innovative projects sitting on the side-lines will now go ahead thanks to a funding boost to the Sustainable Farming Fund, Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor announced today.

The 15 new SFF projects add to the 28 already confirmed from the 2017 funding round.

A massive oversubscription to the fund in recent years was relieved earlier this year by Budget 2018’s $15 million boost over four years.

“This Government is working alongside farmers in helping to grow a sustainable, modern, productive and profitable primary sector.

“These projects, spanning sectors from meat and wool to forestry and aquaculture, are led by those on the front-line and provide further opportunities for grassroots-up solutions to some of New Zealand’s most pressing issues such as climate change, pest and disease management, water quality, and food production and safety.

“Since 2000, the SFF has supported more than 1000 primary sector projects, which provide economic, environmental and social benefits to all New Zealanders.

“A key part of all SFF projects is sharing the knowledge with the wider community to boost the uptake of sustainable practices,” Damien O’Connor said.

Mr O’Connor announced the extra Sustainable Farming Fund projects at the Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final in Invercargill this evening.

The next SFF funding round opens on Monday 9 July.

A table of the 15 projects is attached.

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1807/SFFextraprojectstable.docx

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