Food not sand!
Globally agriculture has to feed 8.2 million people, a figure predicted to rise to 10 billion by 2050. Australian agriculture feeds our nation and provides 14 per cent of the country’s export revenue. Victorian farmers punch well above their weight by producing one quarter of Australia’s agricultural produce, on a tiny 1.5 percent of the country’s land mass.
The Wimmera Region, in Western Victoria, is home to some of Australia’s most productive agricultural land. Over 77 percent of the land is used for medium to low rainfall primary production. It is unique country with alkaline, self-mulching, grey clay soil ideal for producing pulse crops. The region is well known as Australia’s largest red lentil producer. Farms in the Wimmera generate an estimated output of $1,337 million – and account for one third of Victoria’s grain crop, a fifth of its sheep, lamb, wool and pigs, and almost 10 percent of its eggs.
The Dunmunkle Land Protection Group values barley, canola, pulses, sheep and wheat over a sand pit! We want to ensure that in Victoria, like other states, farmers have the right to reject mining company claims on their land so they can continue to farm their land for generations to come and produce food products for our country.
Is Australia’s Food Bowl About To Be Destroyed?
Wimmera food bowl under threat - See the feature courtesy of The Project
