The inability of the current, overly complicated planning framework to properly protect the state’s small amount of truly prime agricultural land (about 3 per cent) has been raised by the Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) countless times. Solutions have been put forward and well received. However, despite verbal commitments from ministers and senior bureaucrats to do something about it, we are yet to see any action. Why?
By 2050, the global population is set to grow to 9 billion, 2 billion more than today. To feed, clothe and grow amenity for this increased population, the planet will have to produce more in the next four decades than all farmers in history have harvested over the past 8000 years. Farmers in Australia are among the world’s best at growing produce for our nation and many more, feeding about 60 million people every year. Surely, it is accepted by all that we have a fundamental national and global obligation to continue doing this and meet the growing produce deficits in other countries.
To achieve this, it is critical that we preserve and sustainably intensify production on the nation’s limited prime agricultural land. In Queensland, we continue to see the permanent loss of the best farm land in the state from manufacturing, industrial uses, urban sprawl, services, utilities, and mining. Further, the pressures on prime agricultural land continue to mount and the current application of the ‘contestability of land’ by urban-focused planners is misguided.
Consider Queensland’s recently released 2018 exploration program. This year, an additional 44,300sq km has been made available for mineral, petroleum and gas, and coal resource exploration – more than double the 19,140sq km of land that was opened up in 2017. Cane and fruit and vegetable farmers in the Bundaberg region have recently been dealing with the impacts of this encroachment, with 3000 hectares of gas exploration licenses accessed by a gas exploration company. And they are rightfully concerned about the potential impacts of unconventional gas development on agricultural production and the environment.
We know that this uncoordinated approach to planning has already resulted in at least 113,690ha of the best agricultural land in Queensland being lost to alternative uses. The rush to large-scale solar energy generation has seen thousands more hectares of prime agricultural land lost. QFF has been working with the state government to attempt to deliver better planning outcomes during this period of unprecedented growth in applications and development approvals, with a solar guideline due to be released soon. However, the proposed large-scale solar development in Warwick entirely on both ALC Class A agricultural land and Strategic Cropping Land (SCL) reaffirms the need for a State Code for solar and the need to revise the current planning framework and process.
Long-term planning for agriculture is necessary to ensure the best agricultural land remains available for food, fibre, foliage and increasingly fuel production. This land is rare and irreplaceable, and we must stop taking it for granted.
Helen Keller once said, “The only thing worse that being blind is having sight but no vision.” When it comes to protecting prime agricultural land, Australia desperately needs more vision and must start to adopt longer term thinking. QFF is serious about developing a state-based approach to properly addressing planning for and the protection of prime agricultural land. We are calling the Queensland government to get on board.
