With climate change one of the main topics of conversation this week, it is timely to look at some of the ramifications of the warming climate for farmers and, indirectly, for townspeople. It is becoming increasingly evident that we are all in this boat together.

There was some thought-provoking commentary on The Conversation website this week as three Melbourne researchers, in their Foodprint Melbourne project, appraised the importance of what they called Australia’s “city foodbowls”. These are areas where food is grown typically in market garden or small farm operations on the boundaries of town and country, often referred to as the peri-urban fringe.

From European settlement, these green areas on the edges of our cities have been a reliable source of food because they have tended to have reliable water supplies, whether from natural watercourses, or from recycled water from treatment plants, etc.

The academics concluded:

“As the impacts of climate change are felt in Australia’s regional foodbowls, urban and urban fringe areas of food production around Australian capital cities could become more important sources of fresh foods.

“Cities have access to resources that are in increasingly short supply, such as water, fertile land and organic waste streams that can be composted to provide fertilisers.”

The researchers calculate that Sydney’s foodbowl produces about 20 per cent of total vegetable production in NSW, including the majority of the state’s total production of cabbage, spring onions, shallots and mushrooms. Melbourne’s foodbowl, meanwhile, has the capacity to meet up to 41 per cent of the food needs of city’s population.

They are, therefore, an important source of food and nutrition for their immediate cities. The threat these foodbowls face is the encroachment of suburbia on this fertile and productive land, particularly in an era of ballooning land prices.

At the same time, farmers face challenging times. Conventional farming in Tasmania is constantly tested by a lack of water. The irrigation rollout is certainly addressing the problem, but, contrary to what many people think, it is not a robotic, flick-of-the-switch exercise, enabling the farmer to sit back on the couch in the evening, watching telly.

Many of us, and I speak from long experience, have to be constantly vigilant about our use of water, where we are applying and how much. Quite often, too often, we have to move irrigation pipes to the next paddocks to be irrigated and that is a time-consuming exercise and not a 9-5 one.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, we have just had the driest spring on record, with rainfall 59 per cent below average and we have had the second warmest spring.

These are not easy times. Many people on the land are already feeling the strain. They must look after themselves and we must also keep an eye out for them.

When we come to the task of feeding Australia, we all have to work together — farmers, city folk and peri-urban dwellers.

THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN THE TAS COUNTRY ON 4TH DECEMBER 2015.
TFGA president Wayne Johnston