Agriculture Victoria's focus is turning from immediate bushfire relief activities to short, medium and long-term recovery for farmers affected by fires in Gippsland.
Over the past 42 days, Agriculture Victoria has been in contact with 907 property owners across the fire affected areas in East Gippsland, delivering information about support services, providing land and livestock management advice and gathering loss and damage information.
Agriculture Victoria has also met with fire affected producers at community bushfire information sessions and has heard first-hand about the challenges farmers are facing. This has assisted in identifying the information and advice producers will need to recover.
Gippsland Agriculture Recovery Manager Keren Walker said the information received from farmers is being used to develop a suite of recovery services that are relevant, timely and targeted towards meeting their immediate, medium and long-term needs.
"Relevant technical information that addresses issues such as feeding livestock, looking after farm dam water and pasture recovery will help producers to make sound decisions as the recovery work commences," she said.
"Recovery services will also include pasture walks, feed budgeting and water planning workshops. Information about these activities and other resources will be promoted on social media and the Agriculture Victoria website."
Farmers can contact the Gippsland Agriculture Recovery Manager on 03 5159 5118 during business hours or speak to an Agriculture Victoria staff member at one of the East Gippsland Shire Council's Bushfire Mobile Recovery Service community information sessions.
Bushfire Mobile Recovery Service community information sessions
| Location | Date/time |
|---|---|
Wairewa Community Hall |
Tues 11 Feb 11am – 2pm |
Ensay Community Hall |
Wed 12 Feb 10am – 12pm |
Swifts Creek Community Hall |
Wed 12 Feb 1pm – 3pm |
Wulgulmerang Recreation Reserve |
Thur 13 Feb 11am – 2pm |
Benambra Community Hall |
Fri 14 Feb 10.30am – 1pm |
Clifton Creek Community Hall |
Fri 14 Feb 6pm – 7.30pm |
Gippsland producers can also request one-on-one consultations with Agriculture Victoria at agriculture.vic.gov.au/bushfires.
For support with animal welfare assistance or the latest emergency information, please call the Vic Emergency Hotline on 1800 226 226.
To stay informed about upcoming recovery events, follow Agriculture Victoria on Twitter and Facebook.
