The Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA) has submitted a response to the Victorian Government’s Planning for Sustainable Animal Industries Draft Planning Provisions. View the submission here.

The Victorian Government’s current proposals will do serious damage to the regenerative and small-scale livestock farmers of Victoria. See AFSA’s media release regarding the proposed changes here.

AFSA’s Response to Planning for Sustainable Animal Industries Draft Planning Provisions

Summary of AFSA’s recommendations:

• Recommendation 1: That the Government continue to allow low-risk, low impact grazing animals as an allowable use in the UGZ.
• Recommendation 2: That the trigger to judge a pastured pig farm a Section 2 use (streamlined process) be set at more than 25 SPU/Ha, subject to meeting minimum standards.
• Recommendation 3: That the trigger to judge a pastured poultry farm a Section 2 use (streamlined process) be set at more than 450 birds/Ha, subject to meeting minimum standards.
• Recommendation 4: Treat all pastured livestock systems with supplemental feeding the same in the land use definitions and graduated controls, subject to meeting minimum standards.
• Recommendation 5: That all pastured livestock are defined under ‘Grazing Animal Production’, but that the term be changed to ‘Pastured Animal Production’. We further recommend that where feeding infrastructure is mobile that the setback from waterways and environmentally sensitive areas be set at no more than 20m.
• Recommendation 6: Maintain the definition of ‘intensive’ as drafted in the new VPP, and include intensive pig and poultry farms in that nesting diagram.
• Recommendation 7: That the Government’s proposed Action 6 – to establish a panel of animal industries specialists to provide technical advice to local government – include representation from small-scale pastured pig and poultry
  farmers.
• Recommendation 8: Develop Codes of Practice in close consultation with small- scale pastured pig and poultry farmers. (See draft Code of Practice for Pastured Pig Production in Appendix C for what such codes might include.)
• Recommendation 9: That a regulatory impact statement be prepared urgently.