Growing Food in a Residential Landscape

Presentation to Beyond the Edge: Australia's First Peri-Urban

Conference Melbourne

1 October 2013

Ian Sinclair

PhD Candidate University of Sydney &

Principal Consultant

Rural and Environmental Planning Consultants

© Edge Land Planning. All photos and text are Copyright

Food is Important!

Necessity of life

Planning for food security has not been high on the agenda of planners or Governments

Priority has been given to water, housing, environmental awareness and social issues

Planning for the land that grows the food has been mostly ignored

Food producing land has not been a high constraint when expanding urban areas

Need to grow food on the fringe as well as in the city

Australian Food Systems & Location

Organic & non-organic

Intensive

Perishable vegetables,

lot fed animals (chicken, pork, beef & lamb)

Aquaculture

Extensive

Cereal crops & fodder crops,

Grazing animals

Sea caught fish

Different land, water & nutrient needs

A lot of intensive agriculture is grown on fringe metro and high growth areas

Australia’s Food Production

Inland areas – Murray Darling Basin, South Australia & Western Australia Grain, Fibre, Vegetables, Vineyards, Orchards,

etc

Sheep, Cattle, Pigs & some Poultry

Metropolitan Fringe Perishable Vegetables, Vineyards, Poultry,

specialised niche agriculture

Murray Darling Basin is one of the food bowls, not the food bowl of Australia

The fringe is a significant food producing area

Perishable Vegetables State Production Grown on Fringe

Darwin & NT are not high in Perishable vegetable production

Source: ABS Agricultural Commodities 2008-09

Trend is the same with the 2005-06 & 2010 – 11 Agricultural Census

71%

78.4%

100.0%

77.7%

44.1%

26.5%

77.4%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

Sydney

Melbourne

Brisbane & Coastal Queensland

Adelaide

Perth

Hobart

Australia

% of State Total

ABS S

tastical D

ivis

ion

Agriculture on the Fringe Sydney Fringe

$749.2m

6.4% of NSW’s Value of Production from 0.2% of land

Melbourne Fringe $1,195.8m

12.6% of Victoria’s value of production from 2% of land

Brisbane Fringe $1,206.3m

13% of Queensland value of Production from 1.3% of land

Intensive Plants

Market Gardening

Hydroponics

Nurseries

Flowers

Turf

Vineyards

Intensive Animals

Poultry

Aquaculture

Niche animals

Extensive Agriculture

Part time grazing

Source: ABS Agricultural Census 2011

Queensland, NSW & Victoria have 78.7% of Australia’s Population and growing at 1.6% p.a.

Western Sydney Land Use 2003

Extensive

Agriculture

2.9%

Extractive

Industry

0.9%Intensive

Animals

0.8%

Commercial

1.8%Vacant Cleared

4.9%

Intensive Plants

6.8%

Public Uses

3.6%

Rural Residential

78.3%

Western Sydney Fragmentation

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

< 0.8 ha 0.81 to 3 3.01 to 8 8.01 to

18

18.01 to

38

38.01 to

42

42.01 +

Lot Size Range

% o

f Tota

l

Fringe Demography

Initial research for PhD

Looking at Rural Residential development and its impact

ABS Census 2011

Community Profiles

Urban Areas and LGA Files

Will do it at the SA1 / CD level

Sydney Fringe Demography

Hawkesbury

Wollondilly

Hawkesbury and Wollondilly Vegetables

Vegetables production

Hawkesbury 42.4% of Sydney and 6% of NSW

Wollondilly 16.4% of Sydney 2.3% of NSW

Perishable Vegetables

Hawkesbury 42.5% of Sydney and 19.4% of NSW

Wollondilly 16.4% of Sydney 2.3% of NSW

Rural residential Development

Residential use of rural land where the person does not gain the main source of income from the productive capacity of the land

Two types

Rural Fringe

Rural Living

Sydney Fringe Demography

LGA % of Population

Urban

% of Population

Rural

Hawkesbury 55.7 44.3

Wollondilly 59.0 41.0

LGA % Urban Worked

from Home

% Rural Worked

from Home

Hawkesbury 2.8 8.0

Wollondilly 3.2 7.7

Age Structure

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0%

0-4 years

5-14 years

15-19 years

20-24 years

25-34 years

35-44 years

45-54 years

55-64 years

65-74 years

75-84 years

85 years and over

Urban Rural Shire

Hawkesbury Wollondilly

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0%

0-4 years

5-14 years

15-19 years

20-24 years

25-34 years

35-44 years

45-54 years

55-64 years

65-74 years

75-84 years

85 years and over

Urban Rural LGA

Age Structure

0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%

0-14

15-64

65+

Urban Rural LGA

0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%

0-14

15-64

65+

Urban Rural Shire

Hawkesbury Wollondilly

Occupation

0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%40.0%50.0%60.0%

Postgraduate Degree Level

Graduate Diploma and

Graduate Certificate Level

Bachelor Degree Level

Advanced Diploma and

Diploma Level

Certificate Level

Rural Urban

0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%

Postgraduate Degree Level

Graduate Diploma and

Graduate Certificate Level

Bachelor Degree Level

Advanced Diploma and

Diploma Level

Certificate Level

Rural Urban

Hawkesbury Wollondilly

Industry Sector Wollondilly

0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% 12.0% 14.0% 16.0%

Agriculture, forestry & fishing

Mining

Manufacturing

Electricity, gas, water & waste services

Construction

Wholesale trade

Retail trade

Accommodation & food services

Transport, postal & warehousing

Information media & telecommunications

Financial & insurance services

Rental, hiring & real estate services

Professional, scientific & technical services

Administrative & support services

Public administration & safety

Education & training

Health care & social assistance

Arts & recreation services

Other services

Inadequately described/Not stated

Wollondilly Shire Urban Rural

Industry Sector Hawkesbury

0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% 12.0% 14.0% 16.0%

Agriculture, forestry & fishing

Mining

Manufacturing

Electricity, gas, water & waste services

Construction

Wholesale trade

Retail trade

Accommodation & food services

Transport, postal & warehousing

Information media & telecommunications

Financial & insurance services

Rental, hiring & real estate services

Professional, scientific & technical services

Administrative & support services

Public administration & safety

Education & training

Health care & social assistance

Arts & recreation services

Other services

Inadequately described/Not stated

Hawkesbury LGA Urban Rural

Top 5 Industry Sectors

Industry Sector Rural Urban Hawkesbury

LGA Sydney NSW

Construction 14.9% 10.7% 12.6% 7.1% 7.3%

Manufacturing 10.5% 11.0% 10.8% 8.5% 8.4%

Retail trade 9.9% 10.9% 10.4% 9.8% 10.3%

Education & training 8.7% 7.7% 8.2% 7.6% 7.9%

Health care & social assistance 8.4% 9.9% 9.2% 10.9% 11.6%

Industry Sector Rural Urban Wollondilly

Shire Sydney NSW

Construction 13.4% 11.0% 12.0% 7.1% 7.3%

Manufacturing 11.0% 13.6% 12.5% 8.5% 8.4%

Health care & social assistance 9.4% 10.3% 9.9% 10.9% 11.6%

Retail trade 8.6% 10.7% 9.8% 9.8% 10.3%

Education & training 8.1% 8.4% 8.3% 7.6% 7.9%

Hawkesbury

Wollondilly

Rural Land Use Conflict

Noise

Odour

Farm Chemicals

Night Time Activities

Visual Amenity

Urban Uses

Natural Environment

Stock Damage

Weed Infestation

Lack of Understanding

Communication

Contested Landscape

Pollution Laws written to help the complainant not food and fibre production

Legal position that all pollution can and should be kept on the property

Agriculture has smells and noise that goes beyond the boundary

In rural areas have rural residential development nearby which causes contestation in the landscape

Conclusion

Rural fringe is a key agricultural producer particularly vegetables

Rural Residential Development is a major component of the land use mix

Causing rural land use conflict and threatening the sustainability of food production

Need to recognise this and prepare strategies to address it

ian.sinclair@sydney.edu.au