Region. Call to save urban agriculture

President of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils Ltd (WSROC), Clr Alison McLaren, has urged the federal government to work with councils and the people of Western Sydney to secure the future of urban agriculture in the Sydney Basin. "The federal government needs to realise that agriculture is not just the domain of rural areas. The failure to take seriously the need for long term agricultural land in the Sydney Basin will have disastrous consequences for our food supply,” Clr McLaren said. WSROC said there would be a significant impact on employment – currently there are over 6000 jobs in the sector in Western Sydney – and on the sustainability of ethnic communities which have coalesced around the market garden industries.

Penrith. Agriculture valued at $342 million

Agricultural production in the Penrith Local Government area is valued at $342 million annually, or 34.2 per cent of the Sydney basin’s $1 billion output. “Sydney’s agricultural basin is essential to the NSW economy,” said the Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald, at Sydney’s Agriculture Planning for the Future forum in Penrith. The basin employs 8000 directly and is the major production area for the supply of some perishable food lines in NSW, including more than 90 per cent of Asian vegetables grown in NSW. Production in outer western suburbs - poultry, vegetables, cut flowers; Hawkesbury - dairy, turf, mushrooms, vegetables, horses Blue Mountains - nursery, stone and pome fruit.