The Alexandra grazier at the centre of debate around Victoria’s ‘right-to-farm’ legislation is one of 145 individuals and groups to provide submissions to a planning panel, examining at the issue.
David Blackmore’s Wagyu operation was the catalyst for the inquiry, into planning conflicts around for the state’s intensive animal industries.
“The right-to-farm needs to be protected, the rules and regulations they have put in place 30-40 years ago, are out of date and should renewed,” Mr Blackmore said.
He said one of the greatest concerns was around the amount of feed, allowed to be brought onto properties, under intensive agriculture permits.
“I like the rules in Europe and Holland, it’s not so much how much food is brought onto the farm, you test soils once a year and submit once every five years, so it averages out seasonal fluctuations,” he said.
He said the government needed to move to protect farming zones
“There is no more land, so we all have to intensify in a way that protects animal welfare, the environment, the soils and the waterways.”
Mr Blackmore said he now had only 300 cattle on the property, in the upper Goulburn Valley, with the rest moved into feedlots. He has said he eventually aims to move the Wagyu business interstate.
The committee’s terms of reference include looking at the “adequacy of the definition of 'intensive animal husbandry' in Clause 74 of the Victoria Planning Provisions.”
Public hearings will be held at Colac, Bendigo, Melbourne and Traralgon next week. Mr Blackmore is one of 145 submissions received by the committee, which is due to report its findings to Planning Minister Richard Wynne and Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford by the end of April.
Among those who have been called to give evidence is another Alexandra grazier, Stephen Handbury, Anvil Angus, who will be represented by lawyer, John Hannagan, Harwood Andrews.
Others called upon to speak include the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF), the founder of Animal Liberation Victoria Patty Marks, a representative of the RSPCA, and the Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
Food Sovereignty Alliance president Tammi Jonas, the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) and nine councils, many with peri-urban development, will also give evidence.
The committee, chaired by Lester Townsend, has been set up to look at how the planning system could support the establishment and expansion of productive, competitive and market-responsive animal industries in Victoria.
