Prioritising urban food production as part of urban city infrastructure on par with roads, sewers, retail and housing is essential for the local agriculture sector thrive, according to a leading researcher into food systems.
Executive director of non-for-profit sustainable food system charity Sustain Nick Rose said the work put into growing urban agriculture has had immense benefit overseas and needed to be fostered locally.
It comes as the Urban Agriculture Month holds events across the country ranging from local community garden tours, to the national Urban Agriculture Forum, to be held this upcoming weekend in Sydney.
"We've been talking to politicians from various parties about this and advocating changes to its planning frameworks, [like the] sort of things they've done in Britain, in North America and other places to facilitate easier access to land," Dr Rose said.
Last year Sustain released Growing Edible Cities and Towns: A Survey of the Victorian Urban Agriculture Sector which mapped a needs assessment of the urban agriculture sector in Melbourne, Ballarat, Bendigo, and Geelong.
The findings of the report showed a community sector (schools and non-for profits) and commercial sector (which included social enterprises) that were young and diverse.
Of the 150 respondents to surveys from the urban centres, 25 per cent of respondents aged 25 to 34 years old compared to 19pc in the commercial sector.
The Victorian policy roadmap put forward also included establishing "an urban agriculture advisory council comprised of cross-departmental representatives," and resourcing "a mentorship program matching new entrants to the sector with experienced urban and peri-urban farmers.
But local governments are already putting their front foot forward, with the City of Melbourne and Yarra City Council having established policies for most of the last decade.
Banyule City Council will also launch their urban food strategy this month.
Much more needs to be done however, according to Dr Rose.
"We are one of the most urbanised countries in the world and I think over the last couple of generations, a connection with with agriculture has really been severed," he said.
"One of the benefits of urban agriculture is to help to bring those connections back and educate city dwellers about some of the realities of farming, agriculture, where food comes from and what's involved in growing it, so they can really understand and value the work that our farmers do."
Dr Rose started researching urban food systems after working with farmers in Guatamala, Honduras and southern Mexico, which inspired him to continue his work locally.
"I came back to Australia to be on the mid-north Coast, New South Wales in 2006 and did my PhD on food sovereignty and the role of farmers and indigenous peoples in developing and charting a vision for a different food system, that transform food system," he said.
"So that was a research interest, but I gained insight by living in villages and the mid-north coast and getting involved in work with the local councils, with local community gardens and also with state government funded projects at the time."
Dr Rose's interest in urban agriculture was furthered in 2012 when he moved to Melbourne and interviewed peri-urban farmers, market gardeners and community garden organisers about their role in helping Australia meet its environmental challenges.
A Churchill Fellowship followed and the first Urban Agriculture Forum was held 2016, which expanded into a whole month of celebrating the practice of food growing in suburban areas, regional cities and towns.
His research over the years found many community gardens were thriving in areas like the inner suburbs of Melbourne and on the peri-urban fringes, with market gardens growing to a commercial scale .
"But there wasn't a whole lot that was more in a metro context that was really about meeting food security needs for those in low income populations," Dr Rose said.
"Nor was there much setting up of urban farms and providing business opportunities and employment, particularly for people who might experience barriers to employment for various reasons."
He said his travels and conversations sparked ideas in him to look at the "burgeoning" potential of the sector, and the benefits for lower socio-economic city region.
The Urban Agriculture Month has over 100 events nationwide throughout November with the majority of them in Victoria.
