Funding is the most critical challenge facing the Clutha Agricultural Development Board and will be high on the agenda at the organisation's annual meeting in Balclutha tonight.
In his annual report, chairman Dave Inder said the board had battled to make up for the 40% drop in income following the loss of a contract with the Clutha District Council to provide agricultural services.
The board had held a contract with the council since 1999, but that ended last June.
''Historically, that money enabled us to leverage the rest and provide benefits back to the rural community.''
However, Mr Inder said the board had many ''irons in the fire'' through contacts made over many years and it would be unfortunate for the district to lose those advantages and the activities that the board had achieved.
''It has become very evident that, not only has funding become much more difficult and competitive, but that we are standing in line with much larger groups with more national interests [to compete] for smaller amounts of money.''
The board was ''confidently but anxiously'' waiting to hear back from funding applications due this month.
Projects manager Malcolm Deverson said staff, the executive and supportive farmers kept coming up with ideas for further interesting work but that the board needed to achieve some major funding soon if it was to continue in its current form.
''We're 21 years old this year, and it would be nice to get the keys to a magic funding door, and we are pushing at all the options ... The reality is that we have lost more funding streams in the last couple of years than we have been able to gain.''
Mr Deverson said members of the executive were keen to continue their volunteer activities for the district, but in the short term would be relying on individual farmer support.
The board plans to launch a website later this month.
Mr Deverson stressed that the creation of the Clutha Development Trust at the end of 2012 did not spell the end for the agricultural board.
Last April, members decided not to wind up the board's operations, Mr Inder saying at the time the board had been forced to re-evaluate its position in the wake of the Clutha District Council's restructuring that included the contracts and funding for it, Enterprise Clutha and the District Development Board.
The agricultural board is a farmer-owned and farmer-controlled body which promotes good practice and opportunities in farming as the lifeblood of the Clutha district.
• The annual meeting will be held at the South Otago Town and Country Club at 6pm tonight. The guest speaker is Akatore sheep farmer Michael Hurley.
• The board is an independent non-profit organisation which has a paid membership of about 180 farmers and farming professionals.
It aims to build capability and knowledge among farmers in Clutha through projects (including trials), demonstrations, and seminars.
The board recently ran several trials, including whether probiotics can boost calf health, and trialling industrial hemp for the health product market.
