Portfolio: Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
http://frdc.com.au
$51M
2026-27 Budget (Budget Paper No. 4)$100M
2024-25 Total Revenue30
Headcount (2024-25)Material downward shift in 2026-27 funding (-13.3%, $8M change). 2025-26 estimated actual $59M → 2026-27 budget $51M. Source: Budget Paper No. 4, Agency Resourcing tables.
Digital Services to Take Farmers to Markets (TFTM)
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Total Budget
$322.9M
Digital Budget
$322.9M
October 2020 — June 2026
The TFTM program is transforming Australia’s agricultural export systems with the delivery of contemporary digital products and services for trade and exporter engagement. Tranche 1 established the foundations for the digital reforms by uplifting existing systems onto modern and reliable platforms and developing new digital services. Tranche 2 builds on the capabilities delivered in Tranche 1 by delivering a dynamic program of work that enables the department to be a risk-based, data-enabled regulator.
Capital Security, Technology, and Asset Refresh (CapSTAR)
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Total Budget
$287.9M
Digital Budget
$201.2M
July 2024 — June 2028
The CapSTAR program aims to refresh and maintain essential property and ICT assets, reduce risk in service delivery and ensure critical business systems are supported, patched and resilient. The outcome will be a sustainable and efficient technology and physical infrastructure portfolio, through reduced technical debt and increased physical and cyber maturity.
Simplified Targeting and Enhanced Processing Systems (STEPS)
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Total Budget
$144.9M
Digital Budget
$144.9M
July 2023 — June 2026
The STEPS program will transform the border process for cargo importers who depend on the department to mitigate and regulate biosecurity risk in a challenging global marketplace. At the time of preparing this report, this project is subject to the escalation protocols set out in the Assurance Framework for Digital and ICT Investments. These protocols are designed to support agencies in the timely resolution of delivery challenges.
Supporting a Stronger and More Sustainable Agriculture Sector
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Total Budget
$9.5M
Digital Budget
$9.5M
July 2023 — June 2026
This project aims to uplift the ICT, data and statistical systems’ capabilities to meet the department’s needs. This will improve the accessibility of agricultural data and information, improve and remediate survey processing systems, rebuild geospatial infrastructure, and gather requirements on future capabilities necessary to transform and enable agricultural data and information products to suit changing needs.
Climate Services for Agriculture (CSA) Program
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Total Budget
$22M
Digital Budget
$11.5M
July 2025 — July 2028
The CSA Program aims to build drought resilience by enabling users to anticipate future climate conditions, compare those conditions with historical climate records, and consider potential impacts on the food and fibre products they produce. CSA provides climate projections for specific commodities at a local scale via a free online platform, ‘My Climate View’.
Knowledge Management (Dorper2)
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Total Budget
$7.6M
Digital Budget
$7.6M
April 2025 — June 2028
This project aims to make the knowledge generated by the Future Drought Fund (FDF) more accessible, and promote wider adoption through a systematic and strategic approach. It will develop a knowledge management system (Dorper2) to collect and store FDF knowledge, such as program outputs and outcomes, project data and information, and contract management information.
12 tagged
Reform proposals on YourGov that name this department as a delivery partner — drawn from citizen voice, government strategy, research, international examples and gap analysis.
STRATEGY SUMMARY
To plan, invest in and manage research and development for fishing and aquaculture, and the wider community, and ensure that the resulting knowledge and innovation is adopted for impact. [CP p.19]
VISION
“To act as a national thought leader, facilitating knowledge creation, collaboration and innovation to shape the future of fishing and aquaculture in Australia for the benefit of the Australian people. [CP p.19]”
PURPOSE
To plan, invest in and manage research and development for fishing and aquaculture, and the wider community, and ensure that the resulting knowledge and innovation is adopted for impact. [CP p.19]
Strategic priorities
· 4
Champion of climate resilience to increase the productivity, profitability and sustainability of the agricultural sector
Mature adopter, developer and exporter of digital agriculture
Trusted exporter of premium food and agricultural products
World leader in preventing and rapidly responding to significant pests and diseases through future-proofing our biosecur
World leader in preventing and rapidly responding to significant pests and diseases through future-proofing our biosecurity system
Outcomes
· 5
Outcome 1: Growth for enduring prosperity
Enduring and balanced ecological, social and economic growth for the community benefit.
KEY ACTIVITIES
Outcome 2: Best practices and production systems
Diverse benefits from aquatic resources to be consistent with shared principles.
KEY ACTIVITIES
Outcome 3: A culture that is inclusive and forward thinking
A fishing and aquaculture community that is cooperative, diverse and well equipped to enable growth and adaptability in a complex and uncertain world.
KEY ACTIVITIES
Outcome 4: Fair and secure access to aquatic resources
Integrated management of Australia’s aquatic resources, providing certainty and confidence.
KEY ACTIVITIES
Outcome 5: Community trust, respect and value
People feel good about using the products, services and experiences provided by fishing and aquaculture.
KEY ACTIVITIES
Values
· 5
Innovation
Collaboration
Sustainability
Inclusivity
Responsibility
Performance measures
· 4
| Code | Measure | Target 2025-26 | Latest result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
CCE01 | Sustainable use and management of natural resources | Achieve sustainable use and management | Achieved Annual Report 2025 · p.39 | Achieved |
CCE02 | Economic growth and productivity | Increase productivity and profitability | On track Annual Report 2025 · p.39 | On track |
CCE03 | Biosecurity | Prevent and respond to pests and diseases | Future-proofed Annual Report 2025 · p.39 | Future-proofed |
CCE04 | Digital agriculture | Advance digital agriculture | Advanced Annual Report 2025 · p.39 | Advanced |
Source documents
· 5
2025
annual-reports/2025.pdf
Open
2021
annual-reports/2021.pdf
Open
2020-21
annual-reports/2020-21.pdf
Open
2024
strategies/FRDC002-AOP-A4-Design-S3V1-Digital.pdf
Open
strategies/FRDC004-RDE-Plan-A4-Design-S3V5-DIGITAL-20-281-29.pdf
Open
Ideas distilled from this entity's strategy & evidence
· 12
KPI evidence register with named owners
Create a simple register mapping each KPI to source data, owner, frequency, target, and last result.
FRDC%20Annual%20Report%202023-24%20-%20Web.pdf)
Outcome dashboard linking budget, delivery, and public impact
Build a public-facing outcome dashboard showing spend, outputs, outcomes, and delivery confidence.
FRDC%20Annual%20Report%202023-24%20-%20Web.pdf)
Procurement lessons library for repeat purchases
Capture reusable procurement clauses, market lessons, supplier performance notes, and common evaluation criteria.
FRDC_AR_2022-23.pdf)
Portfolio delivery office for major investments
Stand up a portfolio delivery office that tracks benefits, risks, dependencies, procurement, and delivery confidence.
FRDC_AR_2022-23.pdf)
Consultation feedback summaries with response tracking
Summarise consultation submissions by theme and publish what changed in response.
FRDC006-Annual-Report-25-S3V4-Digital%20low-res%2020250926%20%281%29_1.pdf)
Always-on policy participation platform
Create a standing participation platform where citizens and stakeholders can propose, vote, and track ideas.
FRDC006-Annual-Report-25-S3V4-Digital%20low-res%2020250926%20%281%29_1.pdf)
Recommendation tracker for audits, reviews, and inquiries
Publish a single internal tracker for audit/review recommendations, owners, due dates, and implementation evidence.
Annual-report-2020-21.pdf)
Integrated assurance and lessons-learned system
Create an assurance system that connects audit findings, risk registers, delivery reviews, and investment decisions.
Annual-report-2020-21.pdf)
Plain-language service pages and proactive status updates
Rewrite high-volume pages and letters into plain language, add status notifications, and measure contact reduction.
FRDC_AR_2017-18_minimum_res_0.pdf)
Single front door for life-event based services
Bundle services around life events so citizens can complete related steps across agencies in one journey.
FRDC_AR_2017-18_minimum_res_0.pdf)
Reusable briefing and summary assistant for internal documents
Create controlled templates for summarising reports, submissions, minutes, and ministerial briefs.
FRDC-AR-2021-22.pdf)
Department-wide knowledge and briefing platform
Build a secure knowledge platform that lets staff search, summarise, and cite approved departmental material.
FRDC-AR-2021-22.pdf)
KPI evidence register with named owners
Create a simple register mapping each KPI to source data, owner, frequency, target, and last result.
FRDC%20Annual%20Report%202023-24%20-%20Web.pdf)
Outcome dashboard linking budget, delivery, and public impact
Build a public-facing outcome dashboard showing spend, outputs, outcomes, and delivery confidence.
FRDC%20Annual%20Report%202023-24%20-%20Web.pdf)
Procurement lessons library for repeat purchases
Capture reusable procurement clauses, market lessons, supplier performance notes, and common evaluation criteria.
FRDC_AR_2022-23.pdf)
Portfolio delivery office for major investments
Stand up a portfolio delivery office that tracks benefits, risks, dependencies, procurement, and delivery confidence.
FRDC_AR_2022-23.pdf)
Consultation feedback summaries with response tracking
Summarise consultation submissions by theme and publish what changed in response.
FRDC006-Annual-Report-25-S3V4-Digital%20low-res%2020250926%20%281%29_1.pdf)
Always-on policy participation platform
Create a standing participation platform where citizens and stakeholders can propose, vote, and track ideas.
FRDC006-Annual-Report-25-S3V4-Digital%20low-res%2020250926%20%281%29_1.pdf)
Recommendation tracker for audits, reviews, and inquiries
Publish a single internal tracker for audit/review recommendations, owners, due dates, and implementation evidence.
Annual-report-2020-21.pdf)
Integrated assurance and lessons-learned system
Create an assurance system that connects audit findings, risk registers, delivery reviews, and investment decisions.
Annual-report-2020-21.pdf)
Plain-language service pages and proactive status updates
Rewrite high-volume pages and letters into plain language, add status notifications, and measure contact reduction.
FRDC_AR_2017-18_minimum_res_0.pdf)
Single front door for life-event based services
Bundle services around life events so citizens can complete related steps across agencies in one journey.
FRDC_AR_2017-18_minimum_res_0.pdf)
Reusable briefing and summary assistant for internal documents
Create controlled templates for summarising reports, submissions, minutes, and ministerial briefs.
FRDC-AR-2021-22.pdf)
Department-wide knowledge and briefing platform
Build a secure knowledge platform that lets staff search, summarise, and cite approved departmental material.
FRDC-AR-2021-22.pdf)
Source library
· 11
7.8MB
2025.pdf
16.9MB
2021.pdf
10.9MB
2020-21.pdf
16.2MB
FRDC-20Annual-20Report-202023-24-20--20Web.pdf
9.0MB
FRDC_AR_2022-23.pdf
7.9MB
FRDC-AR-2021-22.pdf
8.6MB
FRDC-AR-2020.pdf
7.5MB
FRDC_AR_2017-18_minimum_res_0.pdf
1.8MB
Independent-20performance-20review-20final-20report-205-20July-202024.pdf
10.8MB
FRDC002-AOP-A4-Design-S3V1-Digital.pdf
12.5MB
FRDC004-RDE-Plan-A4-Design-S3V5-DIGITAL-20-281-29.pdf
Bodies within the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry portfolio
Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (trading as AgriFutures Australia)
Corporate Commonwealth Entity
Grains Research and Development Corporation
Corporate Commonwealth Entity
Cotton Research and Development Corporation
Corporate Commonwealth Entity
Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority
Corporate Commonwealth Entity
Wine Australia
Corporate Commonwealth Entity
Australian Fisheries Management Authority
Non-corporate Commonwealth Entity
Regional Investment Corporation
Corporate Commonwealth Entity
Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Selection Committee
Statutory Body
Grains Research and Development Corporation Selection Committee
Statutory Body
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation Selection Committee
Statutory Body
Cotton Research and Development Corporation Selection Committee
Statutory Body
Wine Australia Selection Committee
Statutory Body