URBAN sprawl into the Hawkesbury is doing more than simply taking away ripe agricultural land, it also potentially has long-term ramifications for the Sydney basin’s food supply.
Food in Sydney could become much more expensive if urban sprawl from the city continues to erode farmland on the outskirts of the city, according to the University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures.
The institute’s Laura Wynne, a senior research consultant, told the Gazette planners needed to seriously consider the long-term future of Sydney when deciding where to place housing in the Hawkesbury.
She is part of a team that has been examining future food production on farmland surrounding Sydney, and how that production would be affected under various scenarios, namely if: we implement current metropolitan plans; if we commit not to expand onto agricultural land; or, if we protect only the ‘highest quality’ agricultural land.
Ms Wynne said in 2011, roughly a fifth of Sydney’s food came from farms on its outskirts, including the Hawkesbury, however, for a number of reasons that was likely to decrease in the future.
“If we implement existing urban plans, this capacity to meet demand for food could drop to less than six per cent, meaning that Sydney would need to import more than 90 per cent of its food from elsewhere in NSW, Australia and overseas,” she said.
“Because of growing population, our capacity to meet demand locally is likely to fall regardless of the loss of production, however this only makes the imperative to protect existing agriculture even greater.”
Ms Wynne said Sydney faced a number of challenges to supply food to a swelling population, spread out across a large area.
“Sydney is increasingly vulnerable to its long supply chains. With extreme weather events becoming more likely under a changing climate, we risk shortages and price hikes following extreme events such as cyclones in north Queensland,” she said.
“Sydney’s climate is likely to be stable comparative to the rest of NSW under a changing climate, meaning we could shore up our supply by retaining a larger proportion of supply locally.
“Further, the environmental cost of transporting food long distances is potentially enormous—the costs of transport, storage and refrigeration, not to mention the impacts of chemical preservatives and food waste that tend to be associated with long food supply chains.”
Ms Wynne said there were a number of benefits to liveability and sustainability to having farmland on the outskirts of the city, and protecting it from further urban erosion.
“Not only do we maintain a supply of fresh food, but we enjoy benefits such as urban cooling effects and the ecosystem services such as clean air and water that agricultural land uses can provide,” she said.
“Sydney has very low densities across the metropolitan area, and we should be seeking to increase density across the existing parts of the city, rather than continue with low-density development on the fringe.”
Ms Wynne said Sydney needed to grow up, not out.
“While we are seeing a densification of inner city areas, we are still continuing this pattern of outward growth to accommodate our increasing population,” she said.
“Not only does sprawl affect food production, it creates a city that is more difficult to live in: Sydney’s sprawling suburbs are associated with higher temperatures, longer commutes, higher energy consumption, and greater distances between homes and the services and workplaces that households need to access on a daily basis.”
