MELBOURNE'S urban sprawl is eating into valuable farm land at a rapid pace – and threatening Victoria's long-term food security.
That is according to a new research project released this week titled Know Your Foodbowl, which investigated the value of food produced within Melbourne's fringe areas.
The project, carried out by Food Alliance (which is funded by Vic Health), outlined the challenges farmers faced in these regions and proposed urgent action to protect what it dubbed "Melbourne's food bowl".
"We thought there was very little awareness of the food grown on Melbourne's urban fringe so we carried out this research to find out exactly how much was grown and how much value it had in terms of the economy and food production," head of the project at Deakin University, Dr Rachel Carey, said.
Dr Carey said an area such as Koo Wee Rup needed to be shielded against urban sprawl because it produced 90 per cent of Australia's asparagus, while 78pc of Victoria's berries were cultivated in the Yarra Valley.
The research also said 40-50pc of Victoria's vegetables were grown on Melbourne's fringe.
"I think a lot of people will be surprised at the findings," she said.
Several farmers involved in the project were concerned about increasing complaints from neighbours regarding agricultural practices and the "right to farm" as well as the rising cost of land and the uncertainty of urban-versus-rural zoning.
Included in that group was vegetable grower Wayne Shields, who farms at Baxter on the Mornington Peninsula with his wife Tash.
Their business, Peninsula Fresh Organics, is currently situated in a green wedge but Mr Shields said their destiny sat in the State Government's hands.
If the zoning was changed in his region, he said rates could potentially become unmanageable.
"I would much rather farm close by," Mr Shields said in the Food Alliance project video.
He said the benefits to farming on Melbourne's fringe included climate, access to labour and infrastructure, and proximity to markets and rail.
But an expanding city fringe threatened the future of these farms, Dr Carey said.
"If we lose these areas, we will need to source food from further away and it will be more expensive," she said.
"With issues such as climate change, we need to protect this fertile farming land because it is close to water supplies like Werribee, where recycled water can be used in a drought."
Food Alliance put in a submission to Plan Melbourne, which was released last week, addressing these issues.
Dr Carey said the Alliance proposed urgent action be undertaken, including creating a permanent urban growth boundary that was subject to biannual reviews, mapping fertile farmland around Melbourne so it could be protected and creating a high-value agricultural overlay.
Other suggestions were to give the highest levels of protection to the fertile farming land around the Eastern and Western Treatment Plants at Carrum Downs and Werribee.
While Plan Melbourne recognised urban sprawl was threatening farming land, Dr Carey said it did not go far enough in addressing the issues outlined.
"The plan does not propose any effective solutions," she said.
"We are calling on the State Government for the urban growth boundary to be permanently fixed.
"These findings should be a wake-up call to Melbourne on where there food is coming from.
"These fringe areas really represent Melbourne's food security future."
