Coverage of the Institute's forthcoming conference on farmland management policies in Australia is highlighting the complex issues involved in making decisions about the future use of ares of prime agricultural land.

A piece in the Age Newspaper highlighted the complexities of policies associated with the future management of farm land. While national interest might dictate prime farm land should be preserved, the issue is made more complex by the implications such a policy has for current landholders. A second article in the Age discusses the changes that have occurred in landuse in Australia over the past half century.

Coverage in the Australian discusses the fact that Australia has no national policies (and only limited State policies) that consider the agricultural potential of land when it comes to making decisions about whether land should be converted to non-agricultural uses.

A piece in the Warrnambool Standard looks at the issue from a regional perspective, making the point that the alternative to ever-increasing urban sprawl is encouraging greater population growth in regional centres where land policies can be better managed.