Introduction
Foodprint Melbourne is a collaborative project which is being carried out between the Deakin University, Victorian Eco-innovation Lab and Sustain: The Australian Food Network. The Victorian Eco Innovation Lab of the University of Melbourne has held Deloitte Access Economics with the responsibility to perform an economic analysis which in turn will help to support the part three of the project. This research project aims at investigating the foodbowl of Melbourne which is the food growing regions situated in the outer fringe of Melbourne (Economics, 2016). There are mainly three relevant sections of the project while this particular essay will take into account only part three of the project in which an economic analysis of the Melbourne Foodbowl is performed that stated the economic benefits of the region and the future benefits that can be accrued through this foodbowl.
Discussion
The Melbourne Foodbowl comprises of the Local Government Areas which is outlined in the figures below,
In order to depict the different activities undertaken by the per-urban, urban and rural areas the foodbowl has been divided into three different sections.
Inner Melbourne: It incorporates the well-populated LGAs which predominantly lies within the urban boundary of Melbourne.
Interface Melbourne: This area mainly incorporates those LGAs which lies within the edges of the greater Melbourne and share the boundary with the urban fringe.
Outer Foodbowl: Takes into account the predominantly inner rural areas.
The pie diagram below represents the land distribution of the foodbowl that is how much is land is amalgamated within each of the three regions of Melbourne Foodbowl. It has been observed that the Melbourne Foodbowl accounts for more than 1.7 million hectares of land which amounts up to nearly 12% of the total agricultural land of Victoria (Economics, 2016). Out of this land approximately 3/4th of it is located in the Outer Foodbowl which is beyond the boundaries of the urban areas. On the other hand, the total agricultural land within the Greater Melbourne is entirely located across the interface areas while the inner Melbourne only accounts up to 0.1% of the total agricultural land of Victoria.
After getting an overview of the region wise distribution of the LGAs it became quintessential for the researchers to obtain a clear overview of the production of agricultural products according to the regions. Hence the bar diagram above represents the production of the agricultural products according to the different LGAs and it is also indicated that to which segment the LGA belong to by assigning different colors to the LGAs of different sections (Economics, 2016). It is quite evident that Baw Baw produces the maximum amount which belongs to the Outer Foodbowl while Knox produces the lowest volume which belongs to the Inner Melbourne. It can also be stated that from the diagram that the lion’s share of the total agricultural output of Melbourne Foodbowl is produced by the Outer foodbowl.
The gross value of the agricultural production of the Melbourne Foodbowl is represented with the help of the diagram above and it can easily be observed that outer food bowl is responsible for producing mainly meat cattle, dairy while it cannot produce vegetables or poultry products like the interface Melbourne.
Agriculture also contributes towards creating job opportunities and naturally the Melbourne foodbowl also recruits a number of people. Most of the people are employed in the beef and sheep farming sector and outer foodbowl recruits the largest share of the total employees (Economics, 2016). Vegetables sector on the other hand also employs large proportion of the total people employed in the foodbowl.
The average daily food intake represents the demand for food products in Australia. It has been observed that the mostly demanded food in the country is Dairy and the demand for fruits is also high. Therefore it can be stated that on a daily basis most of the Australian population consumes dairy and fruits. However the demand for meat and other non-veg foods is low which signifies the fact that most of the people in the country are inclined towards the vegetable foods.
The current population growth trend of the country signifies that the number of people in the country is increasing and will keep on increasing in the upcoming years. The projected population will reach its highest during the year 2051. With the ever increasing trend in the population signifies that the demand for the food products will increase significantly in recent future.
The economic aspects of the agriculture in Melbourne Foodbowl depicts that it has created enough employment opportunities for the people of that region. On the other hand, it has also contributed towards the economic growth through providing the significant value added. The agricultural value added is 959 million while the value added through food manufacturing is 756 million. On an added notion the indirect value added is 742 (Economics, 2016). This depicts that the agriculture is in a perfect shape and health in Melbourne.
Conclusion
On a concluding note it can be stated that the essay has successfully discussed the economic factors of the country and their impact over the economy as well. However, it is quite evident that the Melbourne Foodbowl is contributing towards the overall economic growth of Australia and creation of sufficient employment opportunities as well.
Reference List
Economics, D.A., 2016. The economic contribution of Melbourne’s Foodbowl, A report for the Foodprint Melbourne project, University of Melbourne. Melbourne: Deloitte Access Economics.
