Infrastructure Grants - 2026

2026-11-03

Description: Trust among rural and urban communities is vital to ensure Australian grain growers are able to conduct business with minimal disruption and continue to innovate and adopt new technologies. In many cases, trust is something that only becomes apparent when it is broken or tested. Measures of trust in the grains industry by the Australian community have changed over time, with a small decrease since 2020. Decreasing trust can lead to increased regulation, limited market access, disincentives to invest in infrastructure, and reduced industry productivity, profitability and sustainability. Poor levels of trust within an industry make it more likely to be under high levels of scrutiny for practices used on farm, more likely to struggle with talent attraction for future workforce requirements (both on farm and in support and research roles) and reduce the ability for innovation, such as automation, to be adopted as commonplace on farm. There is a high risk that not addressing or maintaining current levels of trust within the grains sector will lead to future challenges impacting grain producers ability to maintain profitability and adopt new technology. GRDC is seeking a service provider to conduct stakeholder analysis, mapping and consultation to establish clear roles and responsibilities for developing community trust activities in the grains sector. It will bring grains industry stakeholders together, including peak bodies, to develop clear definitions and guidelines for working through issues relating to community trust. The developed blueprint will consequently help guide future activities, including use cases of a data and insights program, a pilot industry communication development program and future education-based activities. Critically, the blueprint requires multi-stakeholder ownership for it to succeed. Getting this right will enable clear GRDC roles and functions that can be used to inform areas of potential investment that can support collaborative industry efforts to build community trust and address industry challenges. This investment will contribute towards building positive, proactive relationships with the broader community to allow continued innovation, reduce potential innovation bottlenecks and support grain growers with freedom to operate. Outcome: By December 2027, deliver a community trust collaboration blueprint for the Australian Grains Industry. Outputs. Output 1. Title: Development of a Community Trust Collaboration Blueprint for the Australia Grains Industry. Description: By December 2027, deliver a community trust collaboration blueprint for the Australian Grains Industry. This will be used to inform GRDC involvement in community trust activities and guide future proposed programs of work. The blueprint will include: · Establishing the definition of community trust across the sector, and its role in building industry sustainability and specify outcomes. · Mapping stakeholders, undertaking stakeholder identification and prioritisation and define roles, responsibilities, and best practices for trust building, including open and effective engagement, co-planning strategies and community investment programs. · Outcomes from a stakeholder workshop to discuss areas for potential collaboration · Using existing resources, define the quantitative trust baseline, and model and use existing trust drivers to inform objectives for key areas of collaboration. · Review existing information and consultancies relating to community trust to inform how proposed investment is structured. In consultation with GRDC a position statement outlining GRDC’s responsibilities and scope aligned to the blueprint will be drafted for GRDC use.

Australia

2026-09-01