Digital Farm Grants program

Page last updated: Monday, 2 August 2021 - 1:13pm

Please note: This content may be out of date and is currently under review.

The Digital Farm Grants program provides funding for last-mile solutions for agribusinesses in agricultural and pastoral regions that lie outside the current or planned NBN fixed wireless and fixed line footprint.

Through the Program, the State Government is committed to supporting the widespread adoption of digital farm technologies. The goal is to improve business and agricultural productivity by providing enterprise-grade digital connectivity for regional WA.

The program aims to advance telecommunications and technology in WA's regional areas by:

  • Expanding mobile coverage.
  • Providing fast, reliable, affordable and scalable broadband necessary to support digital farming practices.
  • Enabling farming businesses to access smart farming and productivity enhancing technologies to improve output, making businesses internationally competitive.

By the end of 2021, it is expected that extended services will be available to over 1400 farming enterprises across nearly 65,000 square kilometres through parts of the Kimberley, Gascoyne, Midwest, Wheatbelt, Peel, South West and Great Southern regions of Western Australia.

Grants have been awarded to across three rounds, with the successful recipients detailed below.

Inaugural round – awarded in 2018

Grant funding of $4.8 million has been awarded to five successful recipients under the Program’s inaugural round - which will extend services through 11 projects to provide coverage for at least 1240 farms, covering 41,000 square kilometres.

These projects are being delivered in areas including the North Midlands, South West and Great Southern, as well as in the districts of Chapman Valley, Mount Barker, Wickepin, Goodlands and Kununurra.

Recipient/Project

Funding Grant

CipherTel

Capel/Busselton

$500,000

CipherTel

Kununurra Central

$497,065

CipherTel

Kununurra North

$500,000

CipherTel

Wagerup/Boddington

$491,000

CipherTel

Williams

$500,000

Logic IT (NodeOne Internet)

Chapman Valley - Fixed Wireless Network

$500,000

Logic IT (NodeOne Internet)

North Midlands - Fixed Wireless Network

$500,000

Pivotel Group Pty Ltd

Mt Barker - Pivotel Ecosphere Network

$277 500

Pivotel Group Pty Ltd  

Wickepin - Pivotel Ecosphere Network

$277 500

Superloop (Australia) Pty Ltd

Great Southern

$500,000

Telstra/Shire of Dalwallinu

Goodlands

$260,000

Round 2 – awarded in July 2020

Three successful recipients were provided $2.1 million in grant funding to extend services through four projects delivering broadband connectivity to an estimated 245 farms, covering approximately 24,000 square kilometres.

The areas to be serviced by these projects include the Gascoyne River in Carnarvon, Mid-West and West Midlands and in the Wheatbelt Shires of Merredin, Bruce Rock and Narembeen.

Recipient/Project

Funding Grant

CipherTel

Carnarvon Horticultural District Project

$600,000

CRISP Wireless

Merredin, Bruce Rock and Narembeen Telecommunications Project

$500,000

Logic IT (NodeOne Internet)

Geraldton to Mullewa Fixed Wireless Network

$500,000

Logic IT (NodeOne Internet)

Dandaragan Fixed Wireless Network Project

$500,000

Round 3 – awarded in January 2021

The third round of the program provides $6.3 million towards the delivery of enterprise-grade broadband to 600 agribusinesses and residents across more than 43,600 square kilometres in the Great Southern, Central Wheatbelt and South Coast of Western Australia.

A total of 5 projects will be delivered by 4 recipients through this round, with up to $3 million for Esperance and surrounding districts and up to $3.3 million for the Central Wheatbelt and Great Southern.

The projects will deliver enterprise-grade broadband to the shires of Esperance, Kukerin, Koorda, Mount Marshall, Wyalkatchem, Tammin, Quairading, Beverley, Yilgarn, Kulin, Kent, Lake Grace, Dumbleyung, Goomalling and Cunderdin.

To deliver this service, we are partnering with:

  • Bunbury-based company CipherTel (using infrastructure in collaboration with Telstra).
  • Narrogin-based company CRISP Wireless for the Central and Far Eastern Wheatbelt Expansion Project.
  • Field Solutions Group for the Dumbleyung Digital Connectivity Project and the Wireless Wheatbelt – Avon East.
  • North Eastern Wheatbelt Regional Organisation of Councils (NEWROC) for the Expansion of the NEWROC Network – Central Wheatbelt Project.

The Esperance project is a community-driven grant, with the South East Premium Wheatgrowers Association collaborating with the project partners CipherTel in association with Telstra to enable the service to be provided to the Esperance district and surrounds.

Contact us

For more information, please contact the Agricultural Technology team members on +61 (08) 6552 2133 or +61 (08) 6552 2032 for assistance or email digital.farm@dpird.wa.gov.au