With a passion for sustainable regional agriculture and regional communities, Stephen Lee works across South Australia’s regions as the director of the SA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub.

The hub, which has a team of 15 at the University of Adelaide, helps farmers develop resilience to drought and climate change.

Working with more than 60 partners, the hub develops projects to improve farming resilience and productivity whilst creating connections and sharing opportunities across South Australia’s regional communities.

Lee, 39, moved into this role in mid-2021 with experience in leading programs in productivity and profitability following his position as the inaugural SA Sheep Industry Blueprint Manager.

“The hub’s success hinges on effective collaboration and organisations being willing to contribute knowing that they will reap the benefits of participation,” Lee said.

“This can be through skill development, improved business resilience and also improved environmental outcomes.”

Naomi Scholz, executive officer, Agricultural Innovation & Research Eyre Peninsula (AIR EP) said that the Hub also provides new networks and collaborative opportunities for regionally based organisations that may otherwise be less connected to opportunities.

“The SA Drought Hub has significantly increased the number of organisations we are collaborating with, and this is happening across more regions and projects,” Scholz said.

“AIR EP has always been a collaborative organisation, but the Hub has taken it to the next level and this allows us to give value back to growers.”

Lee said that last year South Australian farm gate value exceeded $10B and the hub spans industries that collectively accounted for more than 90 per cent of this revenue, namely grains, livestock (including wool), horticulture and viticulture.

“The SA Drought Hub affords significant opportunity and responsibility to equip South Australian primary producers and regional communities with the knowledge, skills and ability to enhance drought resilience.,” he said.

“This is of critical importance given the predicted impacts that will occur because of reduced rainfall and increased extreme events.”

Lee said the hub is also committed to empowering the next generation of regional leaders.

“I have expanded the intern program five-fold with the hub now supporting several interns embedded with not-for-profit community-based farming systems groups in South Australia,” he said.

He also hopes to contribute to national and international knowledge generation and adoption on optimising the productivity of livestock in dryland grazing systems.

“As recognised by United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and The World Bank, livestock is a pillar of the global food system and a contributor to poverty reduction and food security,” Lee said.

“However, there is an urgent need to improve livestock sector practices so that they are more sustainable.

“This can include designing livestock production systems to contribute to the preservation of biodiversity, and carbon sequestration in soils and biomass. I believe my training in Australia’s dryland grazing systems equips me to contribute to this global need.”