2012 Agricultural land Conference

 Monday 28 May, Tuesday 29 May and Wednesday 30 May 2012
 The Radisson Hotel, 27 O'Connell Street, Sydney. 
 

Managing the future of Australian farm land

 NEW: To see the preliminary program, click here.

There is growing competition for access to Australian farm land, as urban, mining, overseas investment, energy and environmental uses shoulder aside traditional plant and animal production. This escalating competition for farm land is creating conflict within communities and generating heated debate about what policies are needed to enable farm lands to be sustainably managed over the long term.

Is Australia in danger of allowing much of its most productive farm land to be permanently removed from productive farm use? Will the expansion of cities, the ever-growing demand for environmental outcomes and the diversion of farm land to carbon offset production threaten the future ability of Australia to feed its population and export food to the world? Should productive farm land be permanently protected from mining and urban encroachment in order to guarantee future food supplies?

These are just some of the difficult questions that are currently challenging policymakers, planning agencies and landholders, and forcing governments to seriously re-evaluate existing policies governing the current and future use of farm land in Australia.

The Australian Farm Institute is convening a field trip and two-day conference, to bring together policymakers, industry representatives and landholders to consider the most up-to-date information on these issues, and to engage in discussions about what future Australian farm land policy should aim to achieve.