Australia: Primary Producer Flood Recovery Grant

Deadline: 30-Apr-23

The Rural Finance is seeking applications for Primary Producer Flood Recovery Grant to help them clean up, re-establish their properties, and get their businesses up and running again.

The objective is to support clean-up, relief and recovery costs for Primary Producers that have suffered direct loss or damage as a direct result of the 2022 Victorian Floods.

This grant covers activities like the removal and disposal of debris and injured or dead livestock, replacing or repairing essential equipment, fixing and replacing fencing, buying fodder, water and water storage, salvaging damaged crops, grain or feed, and hiring or purchasing materials to clean up a property or equipment.

Primary Producers play an integral part in local economies and communities, and this assistance will go towards minimising disruption in the affected areas and assisting with recovery in the affected communities.

Funding Information

• The Primary Producer Recovery Grant has a two tired payment structure:
  • Tier 1: An initial up-front amount of up to $25,000 is available to applicants on the provision of evidence of direct damage and an outline of expected recovery costs. Tax invoices and/or receipts are not required to be supplied as part of the application. However, applicants must keep evidence of payment to verify expenditure of funding.
  • Tier 2: A subsequent amount of up to $50,000 can be accessed on the provision of evidence of payment (tax invoices and official receipts). This evidence of payment must also include any amounts claimed under the initial (Tier 1) claim if not already provided.

Note: This grant replaces the $10,000 Primary Producer Clean-Up and Relief Grant. Applications that have already been submitted for the Primary Producer Flood Clean-Up and Relief Grant will continue to be processed. Producers who have received the $10,000 grant will need to complete a new application form for the $75,000 Flood Recovery Grant to receive additional funding, however they will not need to supply all the information again.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible for the Primary Producer Flood Recovery Grants, the Primary Producer applicant must:
  • Be a Primary Producer,
  • Devote part of their labour to the Primary Production Enterprise;
  • Derive at least 50 per cent of their gross income from Primary Production in an average year
  • An applicant may also be eligible for a grant if the applicant derives at least 50 per cent of their total gross income from primary production and value-added products (e.g. wine) made directly from raw produce grown by the applicant
  • Hold an Australian Business Number (ABN) and have held that ABN at the time of the disaster;
  • Have a Primary Production Enterprise that is located in the defined disaster area for the eligible disaster and have suffered direct damage as a result of the eligible disaster;
  • Have been engaged in carrying on the Primary Production Enterprise when affected by the eligible disaster;
  • Intend to re-establish the Primary Production Enterprise in the same community, region or sector as the defined disaster area for the eligible disaster;
  • Be primarily responsible for meeting the costs claimed in the applications.
• An applicant may also be eligible for a Primary Producer Flood Recovery Grant if in the opinion of Rural Finance:
  • Based on the demonstrated production potential, the primary production enterprise will derive at least 50 per cent of their gross incomes from the primary production enterprise2  within a three-to-eight-year period, taking into account the nature of the industry; or
  • If the income is less than 50 per cent of their total gross income, the applicant can demonstrate it is a commercial enterprise generating more than $75,000 gross income from the primary production enterprise in an average year.
  • A Primary Producer applicant may also be eligible for a Primary Producer Flood Recovery Grant if both of the following apply:
  • The applicant’s Primary Production Enterprise is located outside the defined disaster area for the eligible disaster but is carried on at least sometime on a regular basis within that area; and
  • Property, plant or equipment of the Primary Production Enterprise situated in the defined disaster area has been damaged as a result of the 2022 Victorian Floods.
• Where two or more independent and separately owned Primary Producers operate a Primary Production Enterprise from the same property, each Primary Producer may be eligible to receive the maximum amount of grant funding providing each applicant can demonstrate that:
  • The Primary Production Enterprises are independently owned and separately operated from any other Primary Production Enterprise operated on that property;
  • Each Primary Producer would be eligible for the grant in their own right (including the requirement that they derive at least 50 per cent of their gross income from the Primary Production Enterprise as provided in clause 5.1);
  • The Primary Producers are each claiming for different expenses from those claimed by the other Primary Producer operating a Primary Production Enterprise from the same property; and
  • The expenses that each Primary Producer is claiming are essential to the operation of their respective Primary Production Enterprises.

For more information, visit Rural Finance.