The water industry is one of the big winners in last night’s budget announcement, with subsidies and loans to boost drought resilience and fund new projects.

Treasurer Joe Hockey unveiled a range of measures to help farmers face the drought conditions that plague much of the agricultural industry in northern Australia.

These measures include full and instant tax deductions for any spending on fencing and water facilities from 2016.

It means special tax breaks will be used to help agriculturalists pay for dams, tanks, bores, irrigation channels, pumps, water towers and windmills.

The Government also announced accelerated depreciation for investment in silos and tanks used to store grain and other animal feed.

The tax breaks will not be available until July 2016, coming at a cost to the Federal Government of $70 million.

The cost is not expected to be incurred until 2017 and beyond.

The Government has also committed to working with state governments on the South Australian River Murray Sustainability Programme – Irrigation industry assistance component.

But there could be much more money for new waterworks in the new $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.

The new plan will see the Federal Government work with the private sector and the governments of Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory to set up a concessional loan facility for infrastructure.

The loan office will “open our northern frontier for business”, the Treasurer said.

“Large” concessional loans will be handed out for new ports, pipelines, water and power projects in northern Australia.

The facility will start taking applications from July 1, though expert advice from Treasury is still required.

The Treasury will spend $8.5 million hiring expert advisers to draw up eligibility criteria for the development loans and financial, commercial and legal advice, before the Government can enter loan contracts.

By 2018-19, analysts say the infrastructure facility could cost up to $800 million, but the government expects to get interest payments from 2021-22.

These farm help measures are the sort of thing that is expected to be included in the upcoming agricultural White Paper, which still has not been released several months after its due date.

“Work is well advanced to deliver significant investment in this crucial sector through the forthcoming Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper, Northern Australia White Paper and the Water Infrastructure Taskforce,” Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said in a statement overnight.

The new spending is detailed in the Agriculture and Environment budget papers.