We are committed to supporting our community to grow and share food locally.

Urban Agriculture is important in our community because it gives people access to fresh, healthy food, reduces food miles and food waste and helps bring the community together.

Last year we asked you to share your ideas to help us update our Urban Agriculture Strategy for 2019-2023.

From your feedback, we have developed a draft of the new strategy and we want to know if we got it right.

You can find out more and share your feedback by filling in a short survey on the Your Say Yarra website. 

About the new strategy

Our previous Urban Agriculture strategy was developed at a time when urban agriculture was a new concept to many and as a result had a strong focus on raising the profile of urban agriculture and removing barriers. 

This strategy has a strong focus on increasing the knowledge base, building on our work and moving towards a food systems approach.

What is a food system?

A food system is how our food is grown, processed, distributed, consumed and recycled. In practice, this means where we get our food from, how we use it and what we do with any waste.

Key objectives of the new strategy

• Facilitate access to space for people to grow food – Provide access to growing spaces for residents, as well as facilitating land share, working with developers and supporting community groups to find long and short-term urban agriculture opportunities.

• Increase food skills and knowledge through education and training – Develop and annual program of events to promote urban agriculture, engage with community to understand expectations and needs and promote urban agriculture through Yarra Council’s channels and by partnering with educational institutions.

• Build partnerships with other organisations and groups – Work with community organisations to optimise funding opportunities, work with other local government organisations and facilitate relationships between organisations working in urban agriculture.

• Advocate within and beyond council to work towards a sustainable local food systems approach – Gather evidence to better understand urban agriculture, develop methods to embed projects within council practices, create and protect opportunities for food growing and recycling and build understanding of food systems and their application in local government.

Tell us what you think by Monday 11 March 2019.