"There are 31 approved projects in this round, with $9.9m in funding over three years coming from the Government and $8.7m from the project's co-funders.
"The one common factor is they will deliver real economic and environmental benefits to New Zealand's primary industries. They are driven from the grassroots and will make a real difference to regional communities.
"For example a project addressing water quality issues in the Opihi catchment aims to increase profitability and productivity while reducing the environmental impacts on catchment farms.
"The project will do this by working with dairy, sheep, beef, cropping and deer farmers to ensure they understand water quality issues and realistic land management solutions to improve the quality of the surface and ground water in the Opihi catchment.
"Another relevant project for farming communities needing to adapt to climate change is from the East Coast Beef + Lamb Farmer Council. The project builds on previous work, funded through SFF, looking into a range of new forages for dryland farmers, such as lucerne, plantain and annual clovers."
The SFF has now received $122.8 million in Government funding across 906 projects.
The 2015/16 funding round will be launched July 2014.
