HIGH irrigation costs, unreliable water supply and an inability to expand have forced some Werribee South growers to consider selling up and start farming elsewhere.
Stan Velisha is among those asking the state government to bring the irrigation district inside Melbourne’s urban growth boundary.
“Ninety per cent of farmers in Werribee South will say they can’t see farming there in 10-15 years,” he said.
“Some will be OK, the ones that supply the supermarkets. But most farmers I know want to get out of the area.”
With green wedge land restricted to agriculture, Mr Velisha said selling a small farm would not give the average grower enough equity to start afresh.
“A lot of good farmers who want to continue farming are looking to exit Werribee South, where it’s too restrictive. So they want to get the highest and best value so they can change from here and look somewhere like Gippsland, where there’s better water security.”
Wyndham Council chief executive Kerry Thompson said the Werribee South region was viable for continued farming if the government addressed basic irrigation infrastructure issues.
“Converting this area into residential development would require substantial state government infrastructure including establishing and maintaining roads, schools and public transport, which would vastly exceed the costs of fixing problems with irrigation.”
