Page 3 - National Poultry Newspaper

© Kemin Industries, Inc. and its group of companies 2018. All rights reserved. ® TM Trademarks of Kemin Industries, Inc., U.S.A. Certain statements may not be applicable in all geographic regions. Product labeling and associated claims may differ based upon regulatory requirements.
www.kemin.com/asia-pacific
PHA engaging with poultry science students
☛ from P1
ing more from these en- ergetic students over the coming years as they complete their research projects and hopefully stay in our industry.
This month we suc- cessfully completed our 12-week incubation for the youth innovation challenge grant.
We were invited to pitch our final product to industry, government and other relevant stake- holders at an evening in Sydney hosted by Fusion Labs.
The four-minute pitch detailed our plan for building capacity in the poultry industry and was filled with many relevant chicken puns generating a great deal of laughter and talking points over canapes.
We look forward to the
next stage of this pro- cess and rolling out the training and engagement package to the Tamworth region soon.
If you have any specific ideas around training and engagement that would help on your farm, or you want to get involved, feel free to contact us at poul tryhub@une.edu.au
Later this month we will hold our annual con- ference, Ideas Exchange 2018.
This year we will focus on building capacity in our industry as well as showcasing the research we are funding.
While registrations for this year’s conference are closed, if you would like to hear about future events, please contact us via poultryhub@une.edu. au or twitter (@Poultry_ Hub).
Tamsyn and Natalie from Poultry Hub Australia presented their final pitch for the Youth Innovation Challenge.
Changes to Farm
Household Allowance
through Parliament
THE Government recent- ly passed legislation to amend the Farm House- hold Allowance to help farmers in drought.
Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud said the changes will deliver the $12,000 FHA supplement from September 1 for cou- ples and $7200 for singles.
This brings the total pay- ment for a couple to about $37,000 and to around $22,000 for a single.
The changes will also lift the FHA net asset thresh- old cap from $2.6 million to $5 million from Sep- tember 1.
“We’re working full tilt to get this support out the door as soon as possible,” Mr Littleproud said.
“The increase to the net asset threshold potentially means about 8000 extra farmers will soon be eligi- ble for the FHA.
“The Department of Ag- riculture estimates 27,000 farmers are potentially eli- gible for FHA and have not applied.”
Mr Littleproud said farmers should not guess at whether they’re eligible for FHA.
“They should see a Rural Financial Counsellor,” he said.
“We recently announced
an extra $5 million for the Rural Financial Counsel- ling Service to support in- creased demand, so please get advice from the free service.
“Farmers already on FHA will not have to apply for the extra payments – it will be paid automatically.
“The threshold changes will stay in place to June 30, 2019, with the review of FHA due in early 2019.
“Importantly, if you qualify under these new arrangements and your cir- cumstances do not change, you can stay on payment after June 30, even if the asset limit decreases.
“I ask that farmers bear with us while the Depart- ment of Human Services implements the necessary changes to give effect to the threshold changes, which I expect to be com- pleted by October 1 this year.”
For eligibility, please seek advice from the free Rural Financial Counsel- ling Service on 1800 686 175 or the Department of Human Services Farmer Assistance Hotline on 13 23 16.
For more information, visit agriculture.gov.au/ ag-farm-food/drought/as sistance
www.poultrynews.com.au
National Poultry Newspaper, September 2018 – Page 3