Region. Land set aside for farming

Swathes of land in the Sydney Basin could be set aside for farming and market gardens under a proposal the state government is considering to stem the loss of agriculture in outlying suburbs.Under the idea, likely to rile developers vying for greenfield space on the city fringes, new planning powers would be developed to establish the farming-only zones. A report from the NSW Department of Industry and Investment last October found that more than half the farms in the Sydney region will disappear in the next two decades because they are in areas earmarked by the government for suburban growth, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The Primary Industries Minister, Steve Whan, will reveal the proposal today at a conference on Sydney's food security and health hosted by the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC).