Region. Decline in vegetable farms

There are just 1050 vegetable farms left in the Sydney basin and these are set to disappear because they are in the southern and north-western growth areas that the NSW Government has earmarked for suburban development over the next two decades, according the NSW Department of Industry and Investment report, which recommended a review of the Sydney vegetable industry to consider whether it should be encouraged to expand so that the metropolis becomes more self-sufficient in produce. The 603 hectares devoted to vegetables in the south-west and north-west growth areas, about 52 per cent of Sydney's farms, are likely to disappear and the area devoted to greenhouse vegetables could decline by as much as 60 per cent when these areas are developed, according to a story in The Sydney Morning Herald