Gippsland Farmer, January 2025

All agricultural land in Victoria should be mapped and strategic land use planning established to protect farmland in major areas such as Gippsland, according to a landmark report by a Victorian parliamentary committee.

This was one of 33 recommendations and 29 findings in a report ‘Securing Victoria’s Food Supply’ by the Legislative Assembly Environment and Planning Committee. Deputy chair was The Nationals Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron; the Labor Member for Bass, Jordan Crugnale, was also on the committee.

The committee urged the state government to develop a Victorian food system strategy to secure the state’s long-term food supply. A Victorian Food System Council consisting of a wide range of representatives should be set up to guide and implement the strategy.

The committee chair, Juliana Addison, said a cohesive policy was needed to secure the state’s food supply as Victoria’s population was forecast to top 10 million by 2051. “The challenge of feeding and housing our expanding community is placing agriculture under pressure,” she said.

Mr Cameron told Gippsland Farmer that the recommendation to protect farmland was crucial for Gippsland, one of the prime food-growing areas of the state. This included per-urban areas such as Cardinia, where development was forging ahead and could sprawl into Gippsland, he said. 

The committee report said the strategy must address the whole food system – agriculture, processing, manufacturing, supply and consumption. “Map major food producing regions and protect all agricultural land from inappropriate development,” the report said.

Hand-in-hand with this would be the establishment of a Minister for Food who would co-ordinate the food system strategy.

Agriculture Victoria should update the analysis of agricultural land use trends using the latest Victorian Land Use Information System data, with a particular focus on peri-urban areas.

“This analysis should be provided to the new Minister for Food, the Minister for Planning, the Department of Transport and Planning and made publicly available,” the report said.

Agriculture Victoria should expand its service to provide local governments with mapping and analysis of agricultural land uses and trends in their municipality, upon request. It should also deliver biennial reports on agricultural land use trends.

Residential or farmland: finding the balance

The report said it was now difficult to assess whether an appropriate balance was being struck between maintaining adequate farmland and providing land for residential development.

“Data describing the extent and loss of farmland, and the impact that this is having on the agricultural sector, is needed to tally these objectives,” the committee said. 

The report pointed out that when the sales value of farmland becomes higher than its value under agricultural production, this can drive its conversion to residential uses.

“This is because the income farmers derive from cultivating the land is insufficient to recoup the cost of the land or cover mortgage repayments. Typically, farmland converted to residential uses is permanently lost,” the report said.

The report quoted Andrew Holman, a dairy farmer based in South Gippsland, who shared a recent experience to illustrate this point at a public hearing in Morwell: “Just 900 metres down the road, there was a farm that came up for sale and then we tried to buy it – 163 acres. It went for $2.13 million ”¦ And it is capable of producing about, say, 50 bullocks a year on it, and on a bullock you will make about $700. So, you can do the numbers and go, ‘Well, there’s $35,000 worth of income’. By the time you take the interest bill out of it and then the rates and all the rest of it, it is not a viable option to buy”¦

“This particular place has been bought by somebody who has a business in Melbourne, and they have been able to say, ‘Well, this is my little country property’.”

A key committee demand was for the Victorian government to consider working with the ag sector to design and trial a shared equity fund to support farmers to by farmland – a scheme modelled on the Victorian Homebuyers Fund.

“The fund should support experienced farmers to establish a new farm or extend an existing farm business. It should be available in rural, regional and peri-urban areas. This should not include ‘hobby’ or ‘lifestyle’ farmers,” the report said.

The Victorian government should promote long-term leasing arrangements for farmland, including farm-shares and lese-to-buy arrangements.

“This should include the development of template lease arrangements, consideration of financial incentives to promote uptake, and exploration of mechanism to promote leasing opportunities. This should be informed by international approaches to farmland leasing.”

The report’s other recommendations included:

• Financial incentives to adapt new technologies that expand food production or enhance climate resilience.
• Ag Victoria should monitor the distribution of livestock exchanges across the state and guard against consolidation of the sector, and work with the Victorian Farmers Federation, Prime Safe and commercial abattoirs to negotiate small producers’ ongoing access to kill facilities in the short-to-medium term. Mr Cameron said farmers had raised this issue with him, as it cost more to send animals to distant abattoirs and the travelling put more strain on the animals.
• The Victorian government work with Trust for Nature and the ag sector to develop and implement an agricultural pilot program to cover a variety of farms. The covenants should be practical, not overly prescriptive and flexible enough to accommodate changing farming practices.
• Ag Victoria in its programs to acknowledge the importance of small-to-medium farms to food supply.
• The government should encourage local governments to apply differential rates to farmland, taking into account the impact of inappropriately high rates on ag businesses.
• The government should work with the Municipal Association of Victoria to enhance the professional development available to all peri-urban, rural and regional local governments.
• The government should amend the planning framework to require local government to require local government planning approval to build a small second dwelling on a residential property within a farming zone, rural activity zone, rural conservation zone, green wedge zone and green wedge A zone.

The VFF said several of its key recommendations were endorsed by the inquiry. These included a whole-of-government risk assessment and co-ordinated food security plan, agricultural land mapping and strategic planning, fit-for-purpose planning to support the ongoing use of farmland, and training and guidance for planners.

The VFF president, Emma Germano, said the inquiry sent the Victorian Parliament a clear message that agriculture and food security were priorities for the state. “From just 1.5 per cent of Australia’s landmass, Victorian farmers contribute more than a quarter of the nation’s food and fibre exports. That’s an enormous economic and employment driver and it must be protected,” she said.

“Once you lose prime agricultural land, it’s gone forever. We’ll be working to ensure these recommendations become a reality.”