Page 365 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 17 February 2015
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In relation to urban land use, the roundtable explored rights and responsibilities that could be given to the community to help increase opportunities for local food production. These opportunities include exploring the increased use of urban unleased land for food production, such as setting aside land for more intensive production such as greenhouses, hydroponics and aquaponics, with participants noting that 700 hectares would be enough to produce enough food for around a third of the ACT population; better use of unleased land near creeks, cycle paths, road easements and power line easements; relaxing public-residential restrictions on the use of public unleased land and nature strips for home gardening, provided that residents take responsibility for controlling fruit tree pests; identifying more productive areas—one suggestion was that areas that need mowing more often would indicate higher water and nutrient levels and, where appropriate, dedicating these areas to community gardens or market gardens; increasing community gardens above the current 3.65 hectares across the ACT—ideally these sites should be on transport routes with access to water, electricity and toilets and land should be reserved at the outset of suburban planning; supporting the Canberra City Farm; using grass from TAMS mowing, as it could be baled and used as stock feed—this was apparently done in the past during the last drought; better water collection, including more use of swales and reed beds; better use of building walls and roofs for food production; honey bee security, which includes registration of beekeepers, reducing pesticide use, increasing bee-friendly plants, especially in new suburbs, reducing monocultures and bee biosecurity; inviting business cases for agricultural land; and investigating the creation of “agri-hoods” or neighbourhood agricultural production areas.
The roundtable also explored better capture and use of water and nutrients, including using organic matter from food and waste streams; composting solids; using liquids as fertilisers and removing organics from the waste stream, instead using it for worm food or soil conditioner—this could be through a project similar to the groundswell project across our borders, in regional councils, or by creating large-scale composting for use by community gardeners; using effluent for agriculture, recognising the potential health issues; providing water for agricultural purposes, incorporating an allocation of water for agriculture in the water policy; managing urban and stormwater run-off, including a revegetation strategy to retain water in situ before it becomes run-off; and reducing chemical use at a household or garden level and setting targets for this.
The roundtable looked at issues around regional food processing and market access, noting that the ACT cannot provide for all of our food needs; thus it is important to plan regionally. Potential opportunities identified included improved opportunities for regional production, perhaps by introducing local or regional food production or purchasing targets towards self-sufficiency; a local label to help distinguish between local and imported foods; improving paddock to market opportunities, including support for farmers markets, noting that 15 per cent of stallholders are from the ACT and the other 85 per cent are from the region; developing local food processing options, such as an abattoir for meat and poultry, as well as facilities for winemakers; and, finally, establishing more cooperative production and distribution.
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