Life on a farm holds no secrets for Annemaree Docking, Whittlesea council’s first agri-business officer.
She left her Doncaster home for rural Victoria when she was 17 and worked on orchards, vineyards and dairy farms for more than 10 years. The knowledge she gained qualifies her for her new role, focusing on the economic opportunities and viability of agriculture and farming in an ‘interface growth corridor’, where city and country meet.
More than 60 per cent of Whittlesea is zoned rural and Ms Docking’s new agribusiness role arises from the council’s green wedge management plan aimed at farming non-urban areas sustainably.
She will provide economic development support to local producers and is now collating the results of a survey aimed at providing a snapshot of farming activities in Whittlesea. The results will help the council develop programs to support commercial farmers.
“We also want to support landowners who are new to agriculture and attract new farmers into the area,” Ms Docking says.
With Melbourne’s wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market due to move from Footscray to Epping in the next year, she is hoping for a competitive advantage for local growers and producers. She says an expanding population in Whittlesea and two farming campuses provided by NMIT at Epping and Eden Park offer the agribusiness sector a bright future.
And she hopes that through education programs, tours of local farms and promoting producers in newsletters, the council will encourage Whittlesea residents to buy local.
“We need to reconnect the urban community with farmers,” Ms Docking said. “We don’t want to be importing food into this area. [Ours is] cleaner and more sustainable.”
Landholders can contact Ms Docking at annemaree.docking@whittlesea.vic.gov.au
