Farming on the Fringe: Peri-Urban Agriculture, Cultural Diversity and Sustainability in Sydney

203 Pages·2016·4.85 MB·English

by  Sarah James (auth.)

Urban Agriculture
Sarah James
Farming on
the Fringe
Peri-Urban Agriculture,
Cultural Diversity
and Sustainability in Sydney
Urban Agriculture
Series editors
Christine Aubry , AgroParisTech , INRA UMR SADAPT , Paris , France
Éric Duchemin , Université du Québec à Montréal Institut des Science de
Environment , Montreal , Québec , Canada
Joe Nasr , Centre for Studies in Food Security , Ryerson University ,
Toronto , Ontario , Canada
This new Urban Agriculture Book Series at Springer is for researchers, profession-
als, policy-makers and practitioners working on agriculture in and near urban areas.
Urban agriculture (UA) can serve as a multifunctional resource for resilient food
systems and socio-culturally, economically and ecologically sustainable cities.
For the Book Series Editors, the main objective of this series is to mobilize and
enhance capacities to share UA experiences and research results, compare method-
ologies and tools, identify technological obstacles, and adapt solutions. By diffus-
ing this knowledge, the aim is to contribute to building the capacity of policy-makers,
professionals and practitioners in governments, international agencies, civil society,
the private sector as well as academia, to effectively incorporate UA in their fi eld of
interests. It is also to constitute a global research community to debate the lessons
from UA initiatives, to compare approaches, and to supply tools for aiding in the
conception and evaluation of various strategies of UA development.
The concerned scientifi c fi eld of this series is large because UA combines agricul-
tural issues with those related to city management and development. Thus, we pro-
pose an interdisciplinary Book Series where environmental sciences, agronomy,
urban and regional planning, architecture, landscape design, economics, social sci-
ences, soil sciences, public health and nutrition come together, recognizing UA’s
contribution to meeting society’s basic needs, feeding people, structuring the cities
while shaping their development. All these scientifi c fi elds are of interest for this
Book Series. Books in this Series will analyze UA research and actions; program
implementation, urban policies, technological innovations, social and economic
development, management of resources (soil/land, water, wastes …) for or by urban
agriculture, are all pertinent here.
This Book Series will include a mix of edited, coauthored, and single-authored
books. These books could be based on research programs, conference papers, or
other collective efforts, as well as completed theses or entirely new manuscripts.
More information about this series at h ttp://www.springer.com/series/11815
Sarah James
Farming on the Fringe
Peri-Urban Agriculture, Cultural Diversity
and Sustainability in Sydney
Sarah James
RegNet School of Regulation and Global
Governance, College of Asia
and the Pacifi c
The Australian National University
Canberra , ACT , Australia
ISSN 2197-1730 ISSN 2197-1749 (electronic)
Urban Agriculture
ISBN 978-3-319-32233-9 ISBN 978-3-319-32235-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32235-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016943189
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the many people that have made this book possible. First and
foremost, I would like to thank Professor Kay Anderson who patiently steered me
along my research journey and was so generous with her time and intellectual guid-
ance in the development of this research. Without her it would not have been pos-
sible. Also a very big thank you to all the participants in my research; in particular
the CALD farmers who made time in their very demanding schedules to speak
about their farms. I gratefully acknowledge the extensive experience and expertise
of Dr Frances Parker in facilitating and guiding my engagement with Sydney’s
CALD growers. I would also like to acknowledge Professor Ien Ang and Dr Fiona
Allon for their valued contributions to the creation of this manuscript; Dr Ruth
Nicholls and Dr Therese Kenna for the invaluable editing assistance and encourage-
ment at critical points in the life of the manuscript; Dr Jayde Cahir, Dr Jioji Ravulo,
Dr Farid Farid, Dr Joanna Winchester, Dr Bryn Evans, Dr Takeshi Hamano and all
from CCR for sharing the journey with me; Phillip O’Neill and Professor Sharon
Friel for their support and encouragement in the fi nal stages of this project; and the
Institute for Cultural and Social Research at the University of Western Sydney for
the fi nancial and institutional support that enabled this research to be undertaken. I
would also like to say a very big thank you to Springer and the editorial team for the
urban agriculture series. In particular to Dr Christine Aubry for her dedication, faith
and encouragement, and also to Dr Joe Nasr and Dr Éric Duchemin for their contri-
butions to the development of the manuscript. Last, but certainly not least, I would
like to thank my family who inspire me everyday.
v

Contents
1 Sydney’s ‘Invisible’ Farmers .................................................................... 1
1.1 Sydney’s Market Gardens: A Cultural Economy of Farming
on the Fringe ...................................................................................... 5
1.2 Protecting Sydney’s Market Gardens ................................................ 7
1.2.1 The History of CALD Market Gardeners in Sydney ............. 11
1.3 Re-Visioning the City from the Edge: Cultural Complexity
and Urban Agriculture ....................................................................... 14
1.3.1 Speaking from the Fringe ...................................................... 16
1.3.2 Recognition: Determining the Effi cacy and Relevance
of Prevailing Preservation Discourses ................................... 18
1.4 Into the Field … ................................................................................ 20
1.5 Chapter Outlines ................................................................................ 21
References ................................................................................................... 23
2 Growing Sydney ........................................................................................ 27
2.1 A Vision for a Global City ................................................................. 29
2.2 Growth as Development .................................................................... 32
2.2.1 Agriculture and Cultural Complexity .................................... 33
2.2.2 From Colonial to Global City ................................................ 37
2.2.3 Environmental and Cultural Limits to Growth ...................... 38
2.2.4 Sprawl: The Messiness of the West ....................................... 40
2.3 History of ‘Growth’ in Sydney’s Plans .............................................. 42
2.3.1 The 2005 Metropolitan Strategy ............................................ 49
2.3.2 Responses to the 2005 Strategy ............................................. 51
2.3.3 Green Zones ........................................................................... 53
2.3.4 A Plan for Growing Sydney (2015) ....................................... 56
2.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 56
References ................................................................................................... 59
vii
viii Contents
3 Local Food, Urban Sustainability and Cultural Diversity .................... 63
3.1 Vortex Cities ...................................................................................... 65
3.1.1 The Turn to Local Food ......................................................... 67
3.1.2 Planning for PUA ................................................................... 68
3.2 Protecting Peri-Urban Agriculture ..................................................... 70
3.2.1 Farmland Preservation ........................................................... 71
3.2.2 Countryside Preservation ....................................................... 73
3.2.3 Voices from the Field: The View of the Grower .................... 75
3.3 Urban Agriculture and Cultural Diversity.......................................... 76
3.3.1 Sydney’s CALD Growers ...................................................... 78
3.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 80
References ................................................................................................... 80
4 Diversity-Blind Planning .......................................................................... 87
4.1 Diversity and Planning ....................................................................... 88
4.1.1 Participation in Decision-Making .......................................... 89
4.2 Consultation for the 2005 Metropolitan Strategy .............................. 90
4.2.1 Public Consultations .............................................................. 90
4.2.2 Perspectives of CALD Growers ............................................. 92
4.2.3 Perspective of Government Planners ..................................... 95
4.3 Towards an Intercultural Perspective ................................................. 96
4.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 97
References ................................................................................................... 98
5 The Things We Want to Keep: Migrant Market Gardens
as Sydney’s History and Heritage ............................................................ 101
5.1 Protecting Farms as Heritage? ........................................................... 102
5.1.1 A Historic Farming Landscape .............................................. 103
5.1.2 Bringelly Exhibition .............................................................. 104
5.1.3 Other Exhibitions on Sydney’s Agriculture Heritage ............ 105
5.2 Migrant Heritage in Australia ............................................................ 107
5.2.1 Migrant Gardens as Heritage ................................................. 111
5.2.2 Heritage Listed Market Gardens in Sydney ........................... 112
5.2.3 Comparison to Other Heritages ............................................. 116
5.3 Growers’ Perspectives ........................................................................ 117
5.4 A Translocated Tradition ................................................................... 118
5.4.1 A Practice to Protect? ............................................................ 119
5.4.2 Type of Crops Grown ............................................................. 121
5.4.3 Family Tradition .................................................................... 123
5.4.4 Connection to Land ................................................................ 124
5.4.5 Knowledge ............................................................................. 124
5.5 Migration and Settlement .................................................................. 126
5.5.1 Farming as Migrant Employment .......................................... 129
5.5.2 Providing for the Next Generation ......................................... 131
5.5.3 A Means of Support ............................................................... 135
Contents ix
5.6 A Question of Value ........................................................................... 135
5.7 Migrant Market Gardens as Heritage? ............................................... 137
5.8 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 139
References ................................................................................................... 140
6 Sustaining Sydney ..................................................................................... 145
6.1 Can We Feed Sydney? ....................................................................... 147
6.1.1 Sustainability in Sydney Metropolitan Planning ................... 150
6.2 Sydney’s Forgotten Farmers .............................................................. 152
6.3 Valuing Sydney’s Agriculture: Environmentally,
Socially and Economically ................................................................ 153
6.4 Moving Out ........................................................................................ 156
6.4.1 Owners and Lessees ............................................................... 158
6.4.2 Communities .......................................................................... 161
6.5 Part of a Sustainable Sydney ............................................................. 163
6.6 The Future of Sydney Farming .......................................................... 164
6.6.1 Rooftop and Vertical Farming: Alternative
and High- Tech Options for Production .................................. 164
6.6.2 Green Zones or Green Belts .................................................. 166
6.6.3 Purchase or Transfer of Development Rights ........................ 168
6.6.4 Agri-Business Park ................................................................ 169
6.6.5 Economic Viability: A Whole
of Food System Perspective ................................................... 171
6.6.6 Help Wanted ........................................................................... 173
6.7 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 174
References ................................................................................................... 176
7 Multiple Urbanisms .................................................................................. 183
7.1 Growth as Development .................................................................... 184
7.2 Land as Livelihood ............................................................................ 185
7.3 Heritage and Sustainability ................................................................ 186
7.4 Productive Diversity .......................................................................... 188
7.5 Key Findings of the Book .................................................................. 189
7.6 Final Word … .................................................................................... 192
References ................................................................................................... 193
Index ................................................................................................................. 195