Update from the Acting RAA CEO
Happy New Year to all our valued customers!
I am pleased to bring you the first edition of the NSW Rural Assistance Authority (RAA) newsletter for 2025, which includes updates on RAA programs, information and advice.
Across the state, we continue to see variability in weather conditions, with widespread areas receiving higher than average rainfall for this time of year, while others, particularly in the south, continue to experience persistent drought conditions. Thankfully, the agricultural production outlooks remain strong for most of NSW and inflation continues to moderate.
If we’ve learnt anything from the past few years of volatile conditions, it’s that preparation is the key to surviving variability. Farm businesses must not only ensure that infrastructure can withstand extreme weather, they must also be able to adapt operations in response to climate variability, to remain viable, productive and sustainable.
If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to consider the Drought Ready and Resilient Fund, which provides low interest loans for projects that will help the farm business be better prepared for drought and other adverse seasonal conditions. Further information on the Drought Ready and Resilient Fund Loan is provided below.
You are welcome to reach out to our team directly to discuss what assistance may be applicable to you, or you may wish to engage your local Rural Financial Counselling Service for information and advice.
We look forward to partnering with you in 2025 – may the year be filled with growth, prosperity, and new achievements for you and your business.
Kind regards,
Carlie Darling
Acting Chief Executive Officer
NSW Rural Assistance Authority
$1 billion delivered by the RAA for drought infrastructure
The NSW Government’s $1 billion Drought Infrastructure Fund has now been fully exhausted.
Loan products offered under the fund have included the Drought Infrastructure Fund Loan and the Seafood Innovation Fund Loan, as well as the Farm Innovation Fund Loan which closed in November 2023 and the Drought Assistance Fund Loan which closed in June 2021.
As of 8 January 2025, all of the $1 billion available under the fund had been allocated to approved applicants. Subsequently, the Drought Infrastructure Fund Loan and the Seafood Innovation Fund Loan programs have now closed to applications.
If you have been approved for either a Drought Infrastructure Fund Loan or a Seafood Innovation Fund Loan, you can continue to claim for eligible expenses, per the agreed timeframe in your loan contract.
If you submitted an application for one of the loans prior to the closure on 8 January 2025, your application will still be assessed, and you will be advised of an outcome as soon as possible.
For more information about loan products currently available, visit our Loans webpage.
$250,000 Drought Ready and Resilient Loans
Through the Drought Ready and Resilient Fund, eligible farm businesses in NSW can access a concessional loan of up to $250,000 to fund a broad range of purchases, activities and services that will improve resilience to climate variability.
- Animal welfare: Purchase and transportation of fodder, water, feed storage and mixing equipment, transportation of stock, professional services, genetic banking.
- Farm preparedness: Water, grain and fodder infrastructure, livestock feeding equipment, repairs and maintenance.
- Income diversification: Funding to promote and finance diversified and alternative income streams within the farm gate.
- Environmental improvements: Pest and weed control, solar power conversions, soil conservation and earthworks, soil biology.
- Training and business development: Professional consulting services and training to improve business resilience to drought.
Follow the link to learn more.
Loan assessment process explained
Recently, we’ve updated our website to provide additional information on how we assess loan applications, to improve transparency.
It’s important to understand that the RAA applies responsible lending standards, which ensures that the business applying for the loan has the capacity to repay borrowings and is not placed under hardship, if financial circumstances change.
If you are considering applying for one of our loans, and you’d like to learn more about the assessment process and requirements for eligibility, visit our Assessment Process webpage.
Keeping you informed of payments processed
We’re constantly working on improving our processes to help our customers keep track of applications and claims submitted, and payments received.
Throughout the application and claim process, you can expect the following standard communications from us:
- Confirmation that your application has been received, including a copy of the information submitted as part of your application
- Confirmation of the outcome of your application
- Confirmation that your claim has been received, including a copy of the information submitted as part of your claim request
- Confirmation of the outcome of your claim request, including details of payments processed (this is a new communication, that you may not have received prior to this year).
Please retain these emails for record keeping and future reference.
Contact our team
If you require assistance or advice regarding any programs available through the RAA please get in contact with our team:
Phone: 1800 678 593
Email: rural.assist@raa.nsw.gov.au
Rural Financial Counselling Service
Free confidential assistance is available from your local Rural Financial Counselling Service (RFCS). For more information, visit the relevant RFCS website or call:
Northern region: 1800 344 090
Southern and Central region: 1800 319 458
Your feedback matters
If you’ve applied for one of our programs, you may have noticed a feedback form at the end of the application process. Your responses here are enabling us to track how helpful the guidelines and website information are and overall satisfaction rates with the application process.
We use this information to develop and improve our systems and online functions, to ensure we provide you with a positive experience when applying for assistance through the programs we administer.
When you provide negative feedback through this form, we reach out to you so we can understand the challenges you’ve experienced then endeavour to resolve any issues that have arisen. All responses remain confidential.
The feedback we are collecting is vital to helping us improve the delivery of our programs and we ask you to continue to take two minutes to complete the form after the submission of your applications.