About half of the new funding for the project will come from the sale of new water entitlements, with the remaining split up between state and federal commitments.

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For dairy farmer and Meander Valley mayor Wayne Johnston, the growing need for more substantial irrigation is clear.

"We need water. If we don't have water, we can't guarantee we finish off crops," he said.

With that in mind, the new funding will allow the scheme to extend pipelines, upgrade screens and pumps and install solar power plants.

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Through the improvements, the scheme ultimately hopes to increase the volume and reliability of water going to farmers, as well as lower the cost to irrigators.

According to Tasmanian Irrigation chief executive Andrew Kneebone, the government was approached by more than 60 farmers in the district who were hoping to secure an additional 14 megalitres of water, on top of the existing supplies.

"We've got more interest than water to sell, at this point" he added.

The planned improvements are expected to generate a further 11 megalitres of water, adding to the scheme's 28,800 megalitres.

Meanwhile, the state government's $2 million contribution will go towards upgrading the Meander mini-hydropower station, which Mr Kneebone said requires some attention.

"It's coming to the end of its life, and this will extend the life of the hydro plant for another 10 to 15 years," he said.

On top of the power station upgrade, the state government has also put a further $3.5 million towards solar power upgrades across a number of other schemes.

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Around $20 million was allocated to Tasmania as part of the federal government's national water infrastructure effort, $5 million of which has been put towards this scheme with the rest expected to be dished out to similar projects around the state.

By securing more water for farms, the state government hopes the move will push Tasmania's agricultural value closer to a targeted $10 billion by 2050.

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It isn't just existing farmers the scheme is looking to support.

Mr Johnston noted a growing influx of new farmers to the region, which calls for more irrigation infrastructure.

"A new generation of farmers are coming through. they're looking to use their water more efficiently and more productively," he said.

"And with more climate change refugees coming into Tasmania, we're going to see a diversity of crops coming in that we haven't seen before."

Perhaps ironically, however, Mr Johnston's dairy holdings are in fact too high to receive the newly bolstered irrigation supplies.

"I'm not like the hydro, I can't make the water run uphill," he said.

The work is expected to take two years to complete.

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