Coal Industry Eating up Hunter Food Bowl

CONCERN: Cameron Archer warns the destruction of farming land comes at a price. – Picture by Anita Jones

PRICELESS agricultural land in the Hunter has been lost over the past three decades at a rate more than triple the state average.

The grim toll is revealed in a Newcastle Herald analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics data between 1980 and 2010.

The statistics show 1,006,345hectares, or 35 per cent, of land in the Hunter Statistical Division is presently used for agriculture.

Since 1980, 744,755 hectares, or 42.5 per cent, of land used for food production has been lost.By comparison, 10 per cent of agricultural land was lost in NSW during the same period.

The continuing growth of regional centres like Maitland and Singleton, combined with the coalmining industry’s rapid expansion, have been cited as key factors in the loss of agricultural land. Coal seam gas exploration and mining poses a new threat in coming years.

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Newcastle Herald