Drought support package for Victorian farmers
The Victorian Government is providing more than $146.5 million in drought support.
Household Financial Relief payments – south west Victoria
The Household Financial Relief Program continues to provide financial assistance to help with household expenses of eligible farming families and those working on farms affected by drought conditions.
Up to $1,000 is available for farmers, farm employees and contractors in 11 south west local government areas and parts of West Wimmera Shire.
The program is being administered by the Country Women’s Association of Victoria (CWA).
Applications close on 31 December 2026.
For more information or to apply, visit the CWA website.
Mental health and community support for Victorian farmers
The statewide ‘Look Over the Farm Gate’ program provides grants of up to $5,000 to local organisations to run community events that support mental health and wellbeing.
Applications for Look Over the Farm Gate funding are open.
All funded activities must be delivered by 31 December 2026.
The program is managed by the National Centre for Farmer Health on behalf of the Victorian Government.
In addition, wellbeing counsellors have been funded to work alongside the Rural Financial Counselling Service in each region to support drought-affected farmers and their families.
Catchment Management Authority (CMA) Drought Employment Program
The Victorian Government invested $1 million in a Catchment Management Authority Drought Employment Program to support people affected by dry conditions.
Corangamite CMA and Glenelg–Hopkins CMA delivered regional programs focused on improving catchment health through activities like pest and weed control, riparian fencing and revegetation.
This program is expected to close later this year.
More information is available at:
Farm Drought Support Grants (now closed)
This program closed on 30 September 2026.
Statewide, eligible farmers could apply for grants of up to $5,000 as a co-contribution to support activities including infrastructure upgrades. In south-west Victoria, an additional $5,000 (ex-GST) top-up was available through the grant program
If you have an application pending, contact Rural Finance.
Farm Advisory Service (now closed)
This program closed on 30 September 2026.
The Farm Advisory service provided one-on-one consultations to farmers across the state to support technical decision-making.
For enquiries about the status of a previous Expression of Interest, email drought.support@agriculture.vic.gov.au
Primary Producer Support Payments – south west Victoria (now closed)
This program is now closed.
Primary producers received equivalent of up to a 40% farm property rate reduction in 2025–26.
Councils were responsible for distributing these payments.
Moving hay and fodder across states
The Victorian Drought Freight Network is in place to support fodder and grain movements on key freight routes in south west Victoria.
Agriculture Victoria provided a free and tailored service to suppliers, transporters and farmers to help them to efficiently navigate the permit requirements to bring feed into Victoria while managing biosecurity risks.
The drought permit processing service closed on 30 June 2026, reverting to standard permit processing times and fees.
Duties and fees relief package
This was a duties and fees relief package of more than $10 million towards waivers of biosecurity duties and targeted relief from regulatory fees and charges.
Agriculture Victoria worked with livestock biosecurity compensation fund advisory committee chairs, and food safety regulators Dairy Food Safety Victoria and PrimeSafe, to develop this package.
In addition, Agriculture Victoria waived indexation on its 2025–26 biosecurity fees and charges, to assist farmers experiencing cashflow challenges.
More information on duties and fees relief.
On-Farm Kangaroo Control Rebate Program (now closed)
This program closed on 30 June 2026.
For more information visit Managing kangaroos on your farm.
Statewide and south-west regional drought coordinators (now closed)
This program closed on 30 June 2026.
Small Business Financial Counsellor – south west
Extra funding was available to support small businesses in south west Victoria also impacted by drought.
For more information:
- call SBFC on 1300 735 758
- visit the RFCS website.
Water management
Funding is available to support practical measures to provide greater access to water, including extending existing water infrastructure and investigating options to widen access to reliable regional water sources.
Funding will cover:
- $3 million to fund a review of Victoria’s Emergency Supply Point network and undertake priority capital works to construct and refurbish water access points
- a $15 million contribution towards the Mininera Rural Pipeline to complement funding already available for Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water
- $3.5 million towards a renewed Western Region Sustainable Water Strategy
- $2.5 million for a new program to leverage private groundwater bores for additional domestic and stock water access in drought-affected areas.