GREEN WEDGE SUMMIT
A vital ingredient to city’s food bowl THE Mornington Peninsula was set to play a greater role in feeding Greater Melbourne’s growing population, a speaker at the Green Wedge Summit at Main Ridge Community Hall, Friday 22 June, said. Melbourne University’s Dr Rachel Carey, who heads the Foodprint Melbourne project, said the increasing urbanisation of large areas of formerly productive farmland around Melbourne highlighted the importance of maintaining agricultural production on the peninsula. “The resilience of city food systems
is facing growing challenges from population growth, urban sprawl, climate change and from declining supplies of natural resources, such as land, water and fossil fuels,” Dr Carey said. “Agricultural production across the Mornington Peninsula remains rich in diversity, scale, production capacity and, importantly, is close to local markets. It has a combined value of primary agricultural production and significant processing businesses valued at $1 billion annually.” Dr Carey said favourable climatic
conditions, underpinned by fertile soils, contributed to a unique natural landscape that supported a variety of high quality food and fibre production systems. Significant agricultural industries included poultry farms, horticultural (fruit, vegetable, salad mix) systems, vineyards, livestock and fibre enterprises, and an expanding diversity of artisan and value-added businesses. “One of the most important issues for the long-term resilience of the peninsula’s agricultural activities is to ensure their financial viability,” Dr
Carey said. The area of agricultural land qualifying for the shire’s farmland (2013/14) rate is about 40 per cent – or 290 square kilometres – of the Mornington Peninsula’s 720 square kilometres. Dr Carey said the region’s seasonal production diversity was part of an important risk management strategy that provided full-time employment and ensured secondary and tertiary industries benefited from consistent business, including transport, distribution, processing and sales.
Professor Michael Buxton
Parties urged to reveal all on planning Continued from Page 1 “This is a repeat of the same current planning ministry height strategy in suburban Melbourne that has led to a major surge in oversized housing taking up all of a site and dwarfing the neighbours. “This ultimately sees the disappearance of trees in urban areas and loss of neighbourhood environment and amenity. “In Mornington Peninsula Shire, the imposition of three-storey homes in traditionally small scale residential areas could lead to major urbanisation on the boundaries of the green wedge throughout the peninsula’s historic coastal villages and townships.” Prof Buxton said all councils with green wedge areas should be prepared for extra development pressure in the future. He said strong local community support was vital in maintaining environmental integrity for future generations.
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors and speakers at the green wedge summit show signs of solidarity. Picture: Yanni
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26 June 2018
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