Inconsistent planning response failing agriculture

The Kilmore-based consultancy Plan-It Rural, run by Linda Martin-Chew and Annemaree Docking, aims to support agriculture and rural businesses to manage planning and regulatory frameworks.

Ms Docking said the state government was yet to release information about its Melbourne Green Wedge review.

"We are all sitting here, waiting to see what happens - in the mean time, inappropriate developments continue," she said.

Submissions on the the government's Green Wedge and agricultural land review - an area within a 100-kilometre radius from central Melbourne - closed more than a year ago.

Ms Docking said when it came to councils, failure to adequately protect agricultural land was increasing pressure on land zoned for farming, around Melbourne and regional centres.

"In a nutshell, you can farm in farming zone - and there is really nothing else you can do," Ms Docking said.

"You can build a house on smaller acreage, as long as the dwelling is ancillary to the farming use - but you need to show the dwelling is necessary for you to be on site, so you can farm and farm well."

To grant a building permit in a farming zone, councils required a farm management plan.

"The idea of having a farm management plan is a great one - the only problem is there is zero compliance by owners," she said.

Landowners wanting to build a house and use a small block for farming were supposed to report back to the council on the progress of their planned agricultural operation in years one, three, five and 10.

"But no-one does."

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Plan-It-Rural helped with permit applications, negotiation and advocacy with local government, and advocacy with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Ms Docking said due to coronavirus, there had been a huge increase in demand for housing in regional areas.

"People are trying to get a planning permit to build.

"The fact they have a permit - not even a house on the block - sees a dramatic increase in the value of those smaller acreages."

She said she and Ms Martin-Chew felt that could be overcome with a 'self-managed compliance portal' where landowners could upload photos of what development had occurred, at certain stages of the farm management plan.

"I am pretty ruthless

"If people ring me and say 'what do I have to say to council, to get it (a permit)', I say 'we're not the consultants for you."

Plan-It-Rural wanted to support people to live and work in the landscape and rejuvenate farming in peri-urban Melbourne.

But she said small landholders were not given enough advice and information as to how to run farming enterprises.

"There is a gap there were councils could step into agricultural extension programs to support people to do well.

"Tree-changers, particularly may have all the best intentions in the world of developing a farm, but farming ain't easy.

"They often have a very romantic view about what farming is."

It was a seven-day-a-week, 365-days a year commitment 'rain, hail and shine', and labour was hard to find,

"You are the one holding the baby, if stuff starts to go wrong - things can start to go wrong pretty quickly."

More extension, support and real landholder education about regenerative and sustainable land use was the answer.

"There are properties that five years in are suddenly on the market, because the dream didn't match the reality."

But she said there was no reason why landowners could not run an extremely profitable farm business on small acreages.

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