Census of primary production about to get underway in Cardinia shire

Cardinia Shire, which takes in areas such as Pakenham, Bayles, Beaconsfield, Caldermeade, Garfield, Koo Wee Rup, Lang Lang and Longwarry, has employed a economic consultant to do the research, over the next six months.

Victorian Farmers Federation Cardinia branch president Tony Morgan, Bayles, said he hoped the the agricultural audit would develop recommendations for the council.

Mr Morgan said the consultant, Vinnie Jones, would look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to agriculture within the shire.

Mr Morgan grows certified organic blueberries and has a breeding herd of 40 beef cattle - "at any given time we will have a herd for 40-120 head on the place," he said.

"I have been agitating for it for five years - five years ago I don't think senior local government officials understood the value of agriculture in the area.

"I think we have moved that dial quite a long way and I think the council's economic development guys get it now - they are out to support something like this now."

The audit comes as state parliament is carrying out two separate inquiries into food security and agriculture on Melbourne's fringe.

He said agriculture in the shire was "going gangbusters".

The Port Phillip and Westernport regional catchment management strategy estimated the former Koo Wee Rup swamp is responsible for 85 per cent of all of Australia's asparagus production.

"Then there are all the high value vegetable crops and market gardens," Mr Morgan said.

He said he hoped the audit would also take in livestock production, sales through the Victorian Livestock Exchange, Pakenham, and meat processing by companies like O'Connors.

"What I want from the audit is state and local government focus, on things like drainage and water supply for the rural areas of Cardinia," Mr Morgan said.

The last audit, in 2004, estimated agriculture produced $300 million in revenue a year.

"We have moved on a lot in 20 years," he said.

Mr Morgan said there were numerous small holdings in Cardinia producing livestock.

"Beef production is not typically counted in the census, because it is off smallholdings - there's part time-farmers who make $50,000 from the farm and work off-farm as well," he said.

"Their contribution to agriculture, and feeding Melbourne, is not recognised."

That was particularly important in Cardinia, because of the smaller subdivisions than in other councils, around Melbourne, he said.

"Someone who has three horses for the kids on a 12 hectare block, puts on 15 steers and fattens them, over the year," Mr Morgan said.

"That's still producing 15 times 600 kilograms of beef, a year."

The area also had some of the most innovative and productive dairy farmers in the state, as well, he said.

"I think they (the planners) have actually been, quite legitimately, distracted by urban and industrial growth in the shire, over the last 15-20 years," he said.

"I think they have been distracted by the huge growth in population."

University of Melbourne Food Systems senior lecturer Rachel Carey welcomed the audit.

"An agricultural audit of food production and processing is a useful step for any farming region in assessing how much food is produced in the region and considering how producers can best be supported to contribute to a resilient food supply for the region and beyond," Dr Carey said.

"It is more important than ever to support food producers in peri-urban areas like Cardinia shire because of the importance of city foodbowls in strengthening the resilience of our food supplies to climate shocks from storms, floods and fire.

"It's well recognised that estimates of agricultural production in Australia can underestimate just how much food is produced in peri-urban regions like Cardinia, because they may overlook the contributions of smaller-scale producers in these areas."

She said a recent agricultural audit in nearby Mornington Peninsula shire estimated the value of food production and processing in the region at around $1.3 billion.

"Understanding the true scale and value of food production in peri-urban areas like Cardinia also highlights the need for urgent action from the Victorian government to strengthen protection for farmland in these areas," she said.