New report: Food for thought
This report identifies the policy challenges that need to be addressed and the opportunities that could be leveraged to strengthen Melbourne’s foodbowl.
Our researchers have released a new report that identifies some of the policy challenges and opportunities needed to strengthen Melbourne’s foodbowl. Although Melbourne was once a world leader in protecting the farmland in its green wedges, Dr Rachel Carey says Victoria has adopted a ‘set and forget’ approach, putting city fringe farming at risk.
This report identifies the policy challenges that need to be addressed to strengthen Melbourne’s foodbowl and the opportunities that could be leveraged, focusing on three key policy issues:
- protecting farmland,
- strengthening the viability of farming, and
- increasing water access.
We investigated how state and local government policy influence these issues, and we interviewed a broad range of stakeholders to find out what they think the main challenges are to farming in Melbourne’s foodbowl and how these challenges should be addressed.
We also reviewed best practice in three international cities that are leaders in protecting city fringe areas of food production to find out how they address similar challenges.