Protecting farm land

The south-west Victorian dairy zone produces about a quarter of Australia's milk, but a land-use conflict that complicated the Conheady family’s plans for building worker houses on their land because of a neighbouring windfarm proposal has them worried about the future.

The dispute has prompted Joseph to call for the introduction of strategic agricultural zones to protect future farming land.

“These zones would identify Australia's most productive food growing land, as small as it is, and ensure farming remains the highest priority land use, and that businesses that want to produce food in those areas are supported with highest priority,” he said.

He says the pressure on prime farming land has never been bigger.

“All at once across Victoria we are seeing pressures on productive dairy land: water buybacks in northern Victoria, productive farmland around Simpson planted into trees, Melbourne’s growth and lifestyle blocks expanding into Gippsland, and increasing “right to farm” conflicts where new neighbours complain about farms that have always existed.

“In our own case now in the south west, our farm and neighbours are now being treated as a buffer zone for a next-door windfarm and can be objected to for trying to install worker housing on our own land.

“So, is there a plan for food?

“As Australia transitions to renewable energy and net-zero emissions, while also facing enormous pressure to deliver more housing, and such things as mining projects - we must think strategically about where things like new energy and housing infrastructure is developed.

“Above all, Australia must ensure that its most productive farmland continues to be used to grow food and support food businesses.”

Joseph and his wife Anna bought the family farm in 2021.

“We’re lucky to have very high-quality soil and high rainfall,” he told the conference.

“It is highly productive farmland, critical to Australia's economy and its future.”

Joseph said Victorian planning policy openly talks about protecting productive farm land from incompatible land uses, but there’s no clear identification of where that productive farmland that land is.

“That's what's missing from our planning policies,” he said.

Joseph said that strategic agricultural zones would provide certainty for all future agricultural investors. “Australia has some of the most carbon-efficient milk in the world but there's an enormous amount of climate policy coming down the pipeline, and farmers will be expected to deliver upon it.

“If governments want that to happen and Australian citizens want that to happen, we must ensure that farmers in the future have the best access to our highest quality land, not just today, but in 200 years time.

“Australia's farming landscapes are incredibly diverse but our planning systems don't seem to acknowledge that with specific mapping.”

Joseph said strategic agricultural zoning could be approached in the same way cities and towns have been zoned for decades.

“Our best land is our most cost-efficient and carbon-efficient way to feed our future population.

“I think it's really important that we apply ASAP, the very same principles we've been using for towns and cities for over a century to our wide variety of farmland.”

He added that land 15 minutes north of Garvoc wasn’t suitable for dairying.

Joseph and Anna have six staff but only one house on the property. They are lucky to find local housing but feel they are exposed and fear the lack of housing could inhibit their ability to attract staff.

“Three or four years ago, the government acknowledged our region and our dairy industry, in particular, was in dire need of worker housing to support the sustainability of the industry,” he said.

“We started building a house to make the most of the government permit waiver.

“Once we started building, we found overnight that a wind farm was proposed next door, which immediately meant that we could no longer use the permit waiver.”

There are two farms hosting the windfarm project and 13 neighbouring farms impacted with developmental setbacks for housing.

“We were trying to quickly install working housing but were unable to proceed because you can’t have housing with one kilometre of a turbine,” Joseph said.

“Unlike broad acre farms where one business might be on 7000 acres, in the dairy zone where one high output business is operating with many more staff on 600 acres, that one kilometre setback has enormous ramifications. That wasn't recognised as being different in our zone compared to a much larger farm.”

One of the houses they sought has recently been approved, but doubts linger and Joseph and Anna worry if it will be worth the investment.

Joseph told the conference that the conflict had made them question their futures.

“We could consider banging three or four turbines on our own farm, milk less cows or turn the dairy off so we don’t need staff and simply run beef underneath, and move to Port Fairy.

“Some of our neighbours might also consider this rather than selling to a younger generation who wants to dairy farm the land to its potential.

“Don’t let me do that on our most productive land. That is not good for Australia.”

He said governments seemed focused on building energy and housing where it’s quickest and cheapest and whatever land is leftover can grow the food.

“But any farmer will tell you: you don’t build a shed in your best paddock - we need to reverse that thinking.

“First, we need to identify and protect the absolutely outstanding areas where farming is at its utmost efficiency, and then plan other developments around that, not over it.

“Good planning should not be about short-term optics of a certain target or approving projects before the next election cycle; it should be about planning for the next 200 years.

“The way the current rules are written, we can wake up the next morning and had our pants pulled down and not be able to develop our own land with the infrastructure that we need.

“And that's a really scary prospect.”