The challenges to urban agriculture in the Sydney basin and lower Blue Mountains region of Australia

Abstract

The western edge of the Sydney basin in Australia has been one of the major sources of fruit and vegetables for the Sydney markets. A rapid expansion of urban development in this region has caused a significant reduction in the number of small farms and market gardens. Urban and peri-urban agriculture in the region also provides an important buffer between urban development and the neighbouring Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. The decline in urban agriculture can be attributed to various causes including urban expansion and economies of scale. This paper presents an overview of a fouryear project that explored options for supporting these vulnerable farming communities both in terms of the regulatory factors and economic and environmental sustainability. The role of agri-industries as landscape buffers to the neighbouring World Heritage Area was investigated in relation to resilience, communities of practice, and ecosystem services. The study developed tools, in conjunction with targeted representative landholders, that can assist in enhancing the economic and environmental resilience of these agri-industries. These tools included an integrated biosystem approach to waste using organic waste conversion, and the use of landscape function analysis to monitor across farms to help address erosion, loss of nutrients and inefficient water management.

Application of poultry processing industry waste: A strategy for vegetation growth in degraded soil

“…In the first situation, waste use already represents an advantage just by the promotion of nutrient availability and reduction of mineral fertilizers dependence, allowing farmers to save money (Merson et al, 2010;De Bon et al, 2010). In the second situation, besides the advantage of nutrients availability with low costs, organic waste use may be an important strategy to improve soil attributes damaged by degradation.…”

Urban Governance of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

“…Second, at the local level in particular, there is a dearth of specialist ecological data and analysis needed to support legitimate regional planning and policy development (Peterson et al 2007 ;Mendiondo 2008 ;Boyer and Polasky 2004 ). Third, while there may be specialist studies available, there is a lack of scale-and context-appropriate scientifi c tools and methods to capture the complexity of interacting systems, the limits of ecosystems and the drivers of change (Merson et al 2010 ;Puppim de Oliveira et al 2011 ). Finally, even in contexts where decision makers have access to relevant knowledge, it may take time before this has an effect on policy, public awareness and political action (LieberherrGardiol 2008 ;Niemelä et al 2010 , p. 3238).…”

“…Even where there is suffi cient science it does not follow that this knowledge will inform action. Several of the published studies highlight the lack of awareness and narrow understanding of ecosystem functioning among decision makers, suggesting that it is not just residents who struggle to absorb the arguments of science at the local (Moll 2005 ;Li et al 2005b ), regional (Merson et al 2010 ) and global scale (Puppim de Oliveira et al 2011 ). It is clear then that advancing the urban biodiversity and ecosystem services agenda is only in part a question of proving the biological science; a dominant challenge seems to lie in the institutional capacity to govern biodiversity and ecosystem services as well as in shifting the way science is viewed and used in an urban setting characterized by confl icting views and interests among stakeholders.…”

A Framework for Integrating Agriculture in Urban Sustainability in Australia

“…Urban food production needs to be prioritised as part of the vital city infrastructure, in the same way as roads or sewers are regarded an integral part of the system within built environments [45,46]. Considering the importance of urban food production, a Policy Guide on Community and Regional Food Planning was adopted by the American Planning Association in 2007 [47].…”