1. The impact of continued expansion of
Melbourne’s Urban Growth Boundary
on future food security.
Shelley Bennett (133623)

2. Thesis statement:
Urban sprawl, enabled
by the expansion of the
urban growth boundary
(UGB) is resulting in a
loss of agricultural land,
impacting on future food
security in Melbourne,
Australia.
Background Info:
– Links between land use
planning and food security
– Food related economic
activity in Victoria
– Food security
– Melbourne’s UGB

3. Rural Impacts
– Reduces certainty for farmers
to re-invest in their land and
plan for the future (Buxton, 2006)
– Encourages land speculation
– Increased land rates and
values (Egan, 2009)
What can Planning do?
– Enforce permanent UGB’s to
ensure certainty and reinstate
shorter supply chains
Eg. Oregon, USA (Burke, 2008)

4. Urban Impacts
– Increased food prices (Larsen, 2008)
– Loss of local industry,
employment and access to
locally produced food (Burns, 2009)
– Casey-Cardinia growth area
What can Planning do?
– Protect prime agricultural land
from urban development to
maintain a local supply (Burns, 2009)

5. The other side:
State Government and
affordable housing (Dowling, 2010)
– Short-sighted approach
– Does not consider vulnerability
to changes in utility, fuel and
food costs (Burns, 2009)
– Increasing density along
transport corridors would
save society $300 million
per 1,000 housing units
(City of Melbourne, 2009)

6. Conclusions
– Challenge: next doubling of
food production to come
from increased productivity
on the same land base
– Research and technology
development is essential
– Productive agricultrual land
should be treated as a
strategic resource, and not
converted into housing.
– Food is now a core agenda
item, and Melbourne needs
to stop increasing the UGB
in order to achieve future
food security.