Sydney's agricultural lands

Urban Farm DB summary

This historical analysis examines the reliability of Sydney-region agricultural data by reviewing Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and non-ABS reports on the Sydney area, including the Gosford and Wyong local government areas, from 1992 to 2009. It finds that although the ABS is widely regarded as the most reliable source for Australia's agricultural data generally, this has not held true for Sydney, where non-ABS reports have repeatedly questioned undercounting of small-scale peri-urban farms, particularly underestimates of the value and number of farms in the fresh vegetable industry; this pushed for methodology changes in the 2005-06 agricultural census that led to substantial upward revisions in ABS estimates of the value, area and number of Sydney farms.