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Hub on the ground | talking to stakeholders

By Dr Habib, MEL Guru (Toowoomba)
24 June 2026

In the first week of June, Dr Rob Mellor and Dr Habib travelled across South East Queensland and the Northern Rivers of NSW to engage directly with landholders, gaining first-hand insights into how the SQNNSW Innovation Hub is supporting on-ground drought resilience activities. 

South East Queensland

During this visit, they met with three landholders in Bunjurgen, Boonah, and Carney Creek in Queensland. All three landholders are actively involved in two Hub-funded projects delivered by Healthy Land & Water: the Dung Beetle Survey project, and the Southern Beef Group.

The first landholder, a stud cattle producer managing around 80–100 head, has been engaged in the Dung Beetles project. Reflecting on his experience, he shared: “I've just done the dung beetle project, which has been an absolute eye-opener to me.” He particularly highlighted the importance of the on-property dung beetles assessment that was part of the project.

“I had maybe 10% of dung beetles and I should have had a lot, lot more,” he said.

 The Hub funded an expansion of the Healthy Land & Water Dung Beetle Survey project into the Laidley and Rathdowney region.

The second landholder, a beef producer managing around 330 head including 46 breeders, based in Boonah, is also participating in the dung beetles project, and is actively seeking further engagement through the Southern Beef Group. He emphasised the importance of peer learning, noting that being part of a network of producers creates valuable opportunities to exchange ideas and experiences.

As he explained: “With a whole lot of peers, you learn so much… it’s often the conversations you have with others that spark new ideas or ways of doing things.”

Similarly, the third cattle producer managing around 120 to 160 head highlighted the practical value of soil assessment initiatives by Healthy Land & Water, supported by the Hub, and mentioned that “the soil sample work has been an absolute success”.

The Southern Beef Group, a peer-to-peer learning activity, is a Hub-funded initiative of Drought Adoption Officer Grant Pringle, based with Healthy Land & Water.

Overall, these visits reinforced the importance of the Hub supporting locally grounded, peer-supported programs in building the knowledge, confidence, and capability of producers to strengthen drought resilience across the region.

Nothern Rivers NSW

Impact from research, and building resilience through erosion mitigation works were hot topics for a Hub’ team visiting the Northern Rivers, including a visit to the Rous County.

The visit included meetings with research participants engaged in the Translating Research into Impact project and landholders engaged in the project in partnership with the Rous County Council.

At SCU, the team met with Evanna McGuiness, a PhD student and participant in the Translating Research into Impact program, co-funded by the Hub. The program brings together researchers from across 10 universities to strengthen research translation and impact. Reflecting on her experience, Evanna noted that working closely with the Hub had reshaped how she approaches her PhD research. She has changed the way she packages her research, and the way she discusses it with farmers. “And now I have changed the format of my thesis and thinking how it will have more impact in terms of policy and practice into how we build carbon in soils,” Evanna said.

The team also met with Professor Terry Rose from SCU, who emphasised the critical role of the Hub in supporting extension and adoption.

“The Node’s Gavin Tinning and Rebecca Lollback have been super, because like most unis, extension isn't embedded in it,” Terry said. “It's not our core business but we've been lucky because we've had these guys that have been able to help us in all aspects of simplifying ideas to get out to landholders… So basically, as a conduit to landholders, they have been fantastic for us.”

 Engagements with landholders further reinforced these insights. Producers involved in waterway projects delivered through Rous County Council highlighted the tangible on-ground benefits of the program. One landholder reflected on the pace of change achieved through collaboration, stating: “We thought this would take us the entire life to get where we are now and it has just taken as two-and-a-half years, and it’s through the support of Gavin and Rous County Council.”

Overall, the visit demonstrated how strong partnerships between researchers, extension providers, and landholders are accelerating the adoption of practical solutions and supporting resilient farming systems across the region.

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The SQNNSW Innovation Hub receives funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

Published: 24 June 2026