Urban Agriculture Forum

Sustain is working with Melbourne University’s Burnley Campus, the City of Yarra, Moreland Food Gardens Network, 3000 acres, Cultivating Community, and Port Phillip EcoCentre in the coordination and hosting of a special 2-day forum to celebrate, connect and further empower Melbourne’s expanding urban agriculture community.

Forum Dates: 20 & 21 November 2016

Forum Venue: Burnley Campus, University of Melbourne

BOOK TICKETS HERE.

EVENT WEBSITE: www.uaf.org.au

Context
Melbourne has a flourishing diversity of urban agriculture projects and organisations, from large and well-established groups like CERES in Brunswick and Cultivating Community in Richmond and Collingwood, to smaller community gardens and local food networks throughout the city; and of course a very large number of backyard, front yard and verge plantings. Urban agriculture is hardly confined to the metropolitan area, with regional centres like Bendigo, Geelong and Wangaratta having their own community gardens and food networks and alliances, with a strong interest in urban agriculture projects and initiatives. With the continued expansion of this sector over the past decade, the support for community-driven urban agriculture as reflected in local government policies and strategies, and the growing recognition of the need for cities and towns to increase their resilience as regards vulnerability to climate change, resource constraints and other external pressures, we believe that 2016 is an appropriate time to celebrate and reflect on accumulated experience and lessons over many years, and to discuss and plan next steps to strengthen and expand the urban agriculture movement in Melbourne, Victoria and the country as a whole.

This Forum will be supported and enhanced by the research currently being undertaken by Sustain to map and document the development of urban agriculture policies and strategies at the local government level; and will foreground best practice examples of leading urban agriculture practice and methodologies.

The goals of the Forum

To acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of the urban agriculture movement over the past decade (and in some cases before), both at the community and local government levels
To share the results of the research undertaken by Sustain and others and reflect on the lessons for future practice and policy development
To identify and discuss the legislative, regulatory and resourcing barriers to the further expansion of urban agriculture in Melbourne and beyond
To develop a common platform and set of proposals to the State government to address the identified barriers