AUSTRALIA risks losing some of its best farmland to urban sprawl, mining and conservation reserves because it has no national policy to protect and prioritise agricultural production.
The amount of land lost to agricultural production is still small on a national level but sometimes significant at a local level, according to research released today by the Australian Farm Institute.
But, without any Australia-wide system to classify or map farmland according to its agricultural potential, or any national political will to give food production a long-term value or specific protection, the institute fears these losses will hasten and worsen.
Institute executive director Mick Keogh said the two-year research project by scientists and planners from La Trobe and RMIT universities, led by land-use expert Trevor Budge, questioned if Australia risked being profligate in wasting or taking out of production its best farmland.
The Australian
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