MPs suggest less broadacre and more small producers could secure food supply

A visit by the Legislative Assembly Environment and Planning Committee to a small horticulture farm on the outskirts of Geelong showed members how local people in peri-urban areas can grow some of the food they need themselves.

The committee, chaired by Juliana Addison MP, is conducting an inquiry into the effect of urban sprawl on the state's farm sector.

Stock & Land travelled to Geelong this week to shadow the committee's visit to the Common Ground Project, a fruit and vegetable community farm on the city's edge.

Farm chief executive Felicity Jacob and her team hosted MPs Addison, Martin Cameron, Martha Haylett, David Hodgett, Jordan Crugnale and Nicole Werner, for a tour and discussion on the opportunities and challenges the farm faces.

Ms Addison said it was "really interesting" to compare the 1.6 hectare farm to the traditional larger operations in place from Australia's colonial past.

"We haven't got this post colonial history of small acreage and small farming," she said.

"I think the more that we learn about it in terms of what can be produced and looking at what community gardens can do for sustainable living in built up areas as well as alternative ways of food cubes and stuff like that."

She said the inquiry was showing members that innovation and different approaches to farming than Australia has been known for were leaving "plenty of other options to really look at guaranteeing our food supply".

Mr Cameron said such smaller farms could also have a climate benefit.

"It's not just about market gardening and farming," he said.

"It's about the environment and the impacts it has on our native land."

He said farms such as the Common Ground Project were demonstrating how food could be produced without affecting the environment, and that they could also be used to educate the public.

He said small peri-urban farms showed how food producers could "just diversify from our massive farms where we have kilometre after kilometre of food being put into the ground".

"These smaller ones are working really hard so local people reap the reward of local produce," he said.

Ms Jacob told the MPs about how the farm sold its own produce, but also held on-farm markets to sell the produce of other nearby farmers.

Food produced was sold to local restaurants or used in the farm's on-site cafe.

The committee's inquiry into securing the Victorian food supply will develop a series of recommendations to be shared with the state government.

Ministers for agriculture, environment and planning will then have six months to formulate a response and from there, a state strategy will be developed.

Committee members also visited farms near Ballarat and Bendigo this week.

Based on this investigatory work, Ms Addison suggested that more urban infill was going to be needed in Victoria.

She said while there was land around her native Ballarat, there needed to be less sprawl and more investment in housing for the city's centre.

"What we've seen is our population growth has continued so rapidly that we really need to start having a look at that," she said.

"What we actually need is regional infill.

"We don't need to keep creating suburbs that go on and on.

"We want to make sure that we get regional density in our regional cities like Ballarat, rather than an endless sprawl."

Ms Haylett highlighted that more data is needed on the exact effects urban sprawl was having on farming areas.

"We've also heard a lot from government departments about how there hasn't been enough data captured about the loss of agricultural land through this sprawl," she said.

"I think that's a really key point that we need to address as a committee and that we need to recommend to the Victorian government.

"We need to work on our zoning so we can actually retain more of our really prime agricultural land."

The committee will continue its work on the issue over the coming months with its recommendations expected by the end of this year.