MLA Design Thesis Edition 1 - September 2011 by Justin Walsh

FARM//EVENT JUSTIN WALSH LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MAJOR PROJECT RMIT 2011

Acknowledgements

At this point in my research, I would like to acknowledge the continuing support of my fellow candidates and my supervisors; Craig Douglas, Charles Anderson, Bridget Keane and Marieluise Jonas. I would also like to acknowledge the feedback and guidance of Cr. Sebastien Klein, Rose Monacella, Jock Gilbert, Judy Rogers, Fiona Harrison, Michael Howard, David Hay and Bill Henderson. Finally, I thank my pillar of strength, Christine, for supporting me through my most challenging moments.

Declaration

I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of this document is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; and, any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged.

Justin Walsh September 2011

Outline of Contents

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DECLARATION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.Introduction

1.1. OF FOOD

1.2. OF COMMUNITY AND LOCALITY

1.3. OF THE EVENT

2. The Town

2.1. _LIVESTOCK

2.2. _CROPPING

2.3. _RECREATION

2.4. _ENTERPRISE

3. The District

3.1. _LIVESTOCK

3.2. _CROPPING

3.3. _RECREATION

3.4. _ENTERPRISE

4. Projection

4.1. IMPLEMENTATION

4.1. EXPANSION + INTEGRATION

5. Bibliography

31 iv

FARM//EVENT Regeneration of rural production systems in response to socioeconomic change. Justin Walsh, September 2011

ABSTRACT. How can landscape architecture, approached through the event, develop food sovereignty in rural communities? Farm//Event explores the regeneration of diverse local food production systems in Central Victoria by approaching agriculture as a series of ‘processes’. The research distributes agricultural processes throughout the public realm and intertwines them with recreational processes, in order to generate a multiplicity of latent events. The intention of my research is to create a framework for smallholding and to integrate community with agricultural production. Central Victoria is a region in the midst of profound social and economic change. The change is driven in part by decreasing viability of farming enterprise, subdivision of farming land and increasing amenity migration otherwise known as ‘tree change’. My research engages with this current paradigm and considers landscape design, co-operative small hold farming, tourism and off-farm income as essential to viable food production at a local scale. Events are actualised on the precise point of encounter between a person and a process. The properties of an event are defined by the embodied ideas of the process, the preconception of the person and the conditions of site. At the scale of node, town and district, the design process distributes necessary agriculture and community infrastructure that is currently lacking. As an integral driver of the design process, the act of distribution and juxtaposition challenges land use preconceptions, generating a series of hybrid relationships and a crossflow of activity. The traverse of a person at each scale generates a time, site and communityspecific narrative that engages them with local food production.

A number of factors have influenced the number and size of farms in Central Victoria over the past 150 years.

1. INTRODUCTION While food security has long been a challenge

for third world countries, this concern is now gathering a lot of momentum in developed nations. With predictions of an increase in global population of 2 billion people within the next 40 years (PMSEIC 2010), governments are increasingly concerned about how they will keep their food systems viable and resilient, and of course how they will keep supply ahead of demand. The foundation of international food production is no longer sovereignty and community resilience, but corporate profit and global competition. The number of companies in control of key global commodities is growing smaller by the year. Four processing companies have controlled over 80% of American beef production since 2005 and five companies control a staggering 90% of the global grain supply (Steel 2008). Locally it is well known that Coles and Woolworths represent a duopoly in Australian food distribution, with up to 80% market share, up from 30% in 1975 (White 2008). Economy of scale allows large companies to control the base price of products they produce, forcing smaller operators to fall in line. The recent ‘price wars’ between Australia’s two major supermarkets raised the interest of the Australian senate and drew media attention to the impacts of competitive pricing on farmers and independent retailers. Through the media and senate inquiry, it has become evident to the general public that many farmers run at a loss or very marginal profit (Australia, Senate 2010). Within 50 years, Trentham’s economy shifted from small scale, locally-driven agriculture and forestry to large scale globally-driven agriculture, and now to tourism and hospitality. This shift is part of a trend in Australia whereby a substantial portion of the next generation of farmers have left the agriculture industry in favour of more secure options, resulting in an ageing farming population (Hugo, 2001).

“Trentham is big enough not to be totally dependent on larger surrounding towns although not big enough to claim that we’ve got all we need. Trentham does, nonetheless, have a strong sense of selfreliance borne of its climate, location and heritage as a timber and potato growing community. The qualities of resilience, belief in a fair go and a strong sense of community; together with its wonderful natural attributes: water, rich soil and proximity to the Wombat Forest; have been the basis of Trentham’s past vitality, survival and are the basis for its future potential... Residents are concerned to have some influence over the future development of the town and community so that the character and environmental values of Trentham and districts are retained. Overdevelopment is identified as the major threat. This is a difficult issue in a market economy where the responsible regulatory agencies are constrained by legislation that limits the influence of citizens. Nevertheless the community should seek to work with these agencies to ensure that such controls that are available are used to protect the community and environmental qualities that everyone, presumably also including developers, recognise as valuable. Although receiving almost no direct mention in the survey responses, the issue of protecting productive agricultural land has subsequently emerged as a concern per se and in relation to population growth and the continuing sprawl of Melbourne. This issue is subject to current State inquiries and should be kept under review. Trentham and districts’ attractiveness for future development is obvious but the value of productive land so close to >5 million people in an uncertain future is an asset society generally should seek to protect.”

Both large scale agriculture and tourism lack the long-term resilience necessary to support small communities, although they both generate valuable services and infrastructure. The current combination of farming infrastructure and expertise, along with greater social diversity and a renewed interest in local food provides an opportunity to regenerate small-hold, low input farming. In 2008, the residents of Trentham initiated a community plan, which is now in its final draft. Many other small communities in Victoria are working towards community plans, illustrating a desire for a greater level of autonomy with regard to policy decisions and strategies concerning them. The community plan, especially in the case of Trentham, is a useful tool for both the community and local government, as it lays out the concerns and desires of local residents in a structured, itemised fashion. It is also constructed and largely enacted by the residents, building a culture of initiative and empowerment, and reducing the need for lengthy and expensive consultation. Aside from its importance as a stimulator for rural initiative and development, the community plan is an invaluable tool for gaining a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;bottom upâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; understanding of small communities. My project is strongly based on the Trentham community plan, I have used it as a reference throughout my design process and, through the continuation of my research in Project B, I intend to develop a refined methodology for approaching and interpreting community plans as part of my further practice. The Trentham community plan clearly identifies the district as a growth area, and future development features heavily.

The majority of potatoes grown in Central Victoria are contract-grown for the McCains processing plant in Ballarat or the Simplot plant in Echuca. In most cases, the potatoes are harvested, sorted and packed on the farm, transported and sold to the company, processed and packaged as various products, transported and sold again to supermarket chains, distributed to supermarkets then sold a third time to the consumer.

An intention of this research is to establish an alternative to the current resource-intensive corporate food chain. By establishing small scale secondary production infrastructure and farming co-operatives in small communities, a portion of the harvest can be directed through the community. This reduces fossil fuel inputs, develops industry at a local scale and gives people greater control of what theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re eating.

1.1 OF FOOD It is now widely recognised that the world

is potentially facing a food crisis as a result of unprecedented population growth and the pitfalls of industrialised global farming. Concerns of food security are commanding the focus of governments at all levels and becoming prolific in mainstream media; In October 2010 the Australian Government released the report, Australia and Food Security in a Changing World, recommending a national food security agency, improvement of low input farming, incentives to recruit future generations of farmers and “Better engagement of the community and partner organisations to elevate the status of food in Australia and build cooperative commitment to an improved food value chain” (PMSEIC 2010). Purely discussing food system challenges in terms of security misses the greater challenge of the sovereignty of food. Since the green revolution of the mid-twentieth century, agricultural food production has been an economy of scale, increasingly dependent on global forces far from the control of the everyday farmer and consumer (Food Inc. 2008). In 2001, Australia had ‘the highest concentration of supermarket retailing of any OECD country’ (Witherby 2001). The proliferation of supermarkets from 1960 onwards has led to an overwhelming array of choice for the consumer, with only the cheapest and most consistently available products making it to the kitchen table. At the same time supermarkets, and the enormous supply and logistics systems that support them, have systematically scaled-up the western food system and reduced the ability of small hold operators to play a role in it (Steel 2008)

1.2 OF COMMUNITY AND LOCALITY We are all part of a community of some

description, although people contribute to their communities to varying degrees. Community is most commonly referred to as a group of people living in close proximity to one another and sharing common interests, values or beliefs. The concept of community features heavily in my design process and I believe that active participation in one or several communities is hugely beneficial to personal and collective development. There is, however, a distinction to be made between community and local. The act of residing in a particular town of suburb renders a person part of that community to a degree, but without active social engagement with others in the same locality they are a latent community member. Conversely, a person can become a strong part of a community without living anywhere near others in the community, for example as part of an online community. As a landscape architect I argue that it is beneficial to engage with others in the public realm. While virtual and global communities achieve amazing things, face-to-face collaboration in the public realm is ideal. I have the intention of developing community participation of locals by strategically generating a mesh collaborative enterprise and recreation opportunities using shared infrastructure that encourages a range of demographics to interact with one another. In order to extend and diversify participation in rural communities, the entrepreneurial and recreational programs incorporate a schedule of gatherings (such as markets, competitions and performances) that engage locals and visitors alike. The act of weaving a broad range of entrepreneurial and recreational programs, demographics and farming processes is focused on promoting social cohesion and quality of life in rural communities.

<http://www.tschumi.com/projects/3/>

<http://www.tschumi.com/projects/50/>

Bernard Tschumiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theoretical project, screenplays, explored the relationship between events and spaces. Through this project he also developed a system for notating transition and sequence which he developed further in Parc de la Villette. I have adapted Tschumis design techniques of dispersal, sequence, disjunction and justaposition, whilst attempting to develop a suitable graphic system that explores these concepts in productive landscapes. Graphically, I also draw on the work of 21Bis and Brett Milligan.

1.3 OF THE EVENT Every occurrence in the world is an event. Those which we have not encountered are latent events, which are â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;actualisedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, or become real upon our encounter with them. The composition of an event is contingent on space, time and movement, as well as the embodied ideas in the embodied ideas in what is happening, and the ideas which the subject brings to the encounter (Whitehead 1967, Deleuze 1992).

As we encounter one event after another, sequences are generated that describe our experience of the world. Each event that we encounter is also part of its own sequence or process, and our movement through space and time determines the point at which we engage with a process and therefore the resulting event (Livesey 2007). All events project to future events (Frichot 2005), with the effect of cumulative experience. Our memory function allows us to recall elements of previous events that then contribute to future actions and decisions. Viewing agriculture through the lens of process and event makes it very interesting, especially from a design perspective. This view provides a way for landscape architects to approach rural design that enriches day-today life by intimately engaging people with the drama and wonder of food production. Introducing a multiplicity of farming events into the public realm has the potential to change attitudes towards food production and consumption, and may contribute to the development of new local food systems.

LIVESTOCK -Abattoir -Smallgoods

CROPPING -Flour Mill -Cold Storage

LIVESTOCK -Wool Mill

RECREATION -Mens Shed -Exhibitions

LI -S -S

ENTERPRISE -Studios -Markets

RECREAT -Indoor S -Market

RECREATION -Social Venue -Arts Space ENTERPRISE -Community food exchange

CROPPING -Chip Makin -Communit Gardens

2. THE TOWN Once again the paradigm shift of tree change and

online business activity twists the traditional view of country towns as inherently ‘local’, and raises new questions about the locale of rural towns. An influx of residents from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds and increased mobility of the non-metropolitan population has extended the locale of rural towns, in the process transforming the ‘character’ of the town (Hugo 2001). It is with this interpretation that I intervene as a designer in a rural town. My approach meshes long term demographics with emerging ones and consolidates town character by drawing on the spatial history of the place whilst hybridising new land uses with old, on a foundation of social enterprise and recreation.

VESTOCK Shearing Shed Sale Yards

The Farm//Event design process establishes four layers of focus: Livestock, Cropping, Recreation and Enterprise. These layers are distributed across the town in a way that emphasises ‘relationship’, ‘efficiency’ and potential for ‘encounter’. Relationship refers to both the suitability of a use for a given site and also the relevance of that use to other uses in the town context. There is a disjunction between efficiency and potential for encounter as the most efficient route between two sites is not necessarily the one that presents the greatest potential for encounter. Thus a trade-off occurs and the design intervention occupies the edge of efficiency and encounter.

TION Sports space

ng y

ENTERPRISE

CROPPING -Community Gardens

ENTERPRISE -Studios

The distribution of agricultural processes throughout the public realm blurs land use classification and generates a new set of spatial adjacencies between the existing conditions and the inserted infrastructure. New adjacencies also occur between the demographics that utilise or service the various programs and facilities. For instance, a shearer or rouse-about may socially engage with a textile artisan because they are operating in the same locale and part of the same production stream. The interaction between demographics is even more acute when seemingly unrelated programs are overlaid on the same site, such as a livestock sale yards and a BMX track. Essentially this cross-programming tactic is intended to eliminate segregation between programs and demographics, and draw new relationships between seemingly unrelated events. 12

2.1 LIVESTOCK

2.2 CROPPING

Prior to the green revolution, many farmers in Trentham were semi-subsistent. This meant that farms would raise a product to sell such as wool, grain or potatoes, but also raise pigs, chickens and cows for family consumption. As a result, the agricultural landscape was dotted with dairies, chicken coops, pigsties and slaughter houses. Some of these infrastructures still remain as relics.

Cropping, especially grain and potatoes, forms a large part of agricultural production around Trentham due to a high rainfall and fertile volcanic soil. Currently there are limited facilities in Trentham that value-add to crops grown in the area. This means that not only are employment opportunities lost, but locally grown crops need to be transported elsewhere so they can be processed then sold in the local supermarket, leading to reduced food sovereignty. My research reacts to this by seeking opportunities to introduce secondary food production into the town, integrated with public space, transit arteries and retail. An old foundry shed situated next to the central artery becomes a flour mill to supply local bakeries, with silos added for grain storage. Disused sheds become cold storage for local crop harvests and food produced from a network of community gardens.

Today, the huge industrial scale of the meat packing industry renders it generally unsavoury and quite disturbing if one delves into the finer details (Food Inc. 2008). Paul McCartney once said that â&#x20AC;&#x153;if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarianâ&#x20AC;?. The consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s distaste for livestock transport, slaughter and processing means that these things are as far removed from the public eye as possible. For the purpose of this document I will discuss my approach to the lamb and wool process, as a sample livestock process. Lambing occurs from mid winter to late spring. Lambs are driven into town for sale at fortnightly markets with the highest concentration of spring lamb sales occurring in October. A large percentage of lambs are purchased by the abattoir, while ewes and rams are sold primarily between farmers for the purpose of husbandry or wool production.

Facilities such as these will begin to support diverse horticultural production at a local scale, and translate into more local produce in hotels and on kitchen tables. The flurry of activity during a harvest has an undeniable drama and the introduction of secondary production into the town injects that drama and excitement right into the heart of the community.

Sheep are shorn primarily in February, March, September and October, when other farming processes are less intense. For example, a farmer that runs sheep and grows potato crops will usually have their sheep shorn in February, before harvest and lambing seasons. Farmers on the fringe of Trentham drive their sheep into the Trentham shearing shed where they are shorn by contract shearers from the area hired by the farm co-operative. During particularly busy shearing times sheep are held in pasture near the sale yards for a day or two until they are shorn. Wool is transported from the shearing shed to the wool mill nearby. At the mill, the wool is refined and sold to artisans, then made into all kinds of products and offered for purchase.

2.3 RECREATION I firmly believe that recreation is intrinsic to maintaining a healthy, fulfilling and productive life. This is especially the case in country towns where people are at risk of isolation and low self esteem. Programmed recreation provides newcomers with an opportunity for social contact with others in their community. Further it allows those with busy lives to revitalise and encourages young people to find activities that they enjoy and are good at. The Trentham community plan mentions diverse sport, arts and passive recreation as key considerations in the future planning of the town (Trentham Community Plan 2009). The desire of the community to recreate provides a brilliant opportunity for me as a landscape architect to introduce them to the intricacies of the local food system. The design process meshes recreational land use with enterprise and light industrial farming use, with three major benefits: The inherent dormancy of farming and recreational infrastructure is reduced, spatial separation of food production and recreation is removed and a collaborative environment is fostered. For example, the large shearing shed that services farms closest to the town is used intensively for shearing for the warmest months of the year, then becomes an indoor sports and market facility during the cooler months. The dual recreational uses integrated with the livestock use distort the typology of a shearing shed and make one building useful to young families, craftspeople, tourists, farmers and shearing contractors. The disjuncture between a standard shearing shed and a standard indoor sports facility also generates a hybrid building typology that at once displays spatial and functional qualities of shearing and indoor sport. Currently many people, especially children, are unaware of the seasonality of key farming processes, such as shearing. The scheduling of indoor sports around the shearing season makes all those that participate in sport aware of the time of year when shearing season occurs. Perhaps most importantly, rethinking the design of infrastructure and incorporating multiple uses in the one facility substantially reduces the funding that would be required from government or the community if each use was to be given its own stand-alone facility. In local government areas with low budgets, this allows more facilities to be provided much faster and in a more community-specific fashion.

<http://www.brunswickincubator.com.au/>

Business Incubators, such as the Brunswick Business Incubator, Provide business services to fledgeling enterprises and offer training programs to help businesses become viable. With an increasing number of professionals making the move to Central Victoria, there is an opportunity to establish similar facilities in the region. In order to close the gap between the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;haves and the have-notsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, it is essential to develop and retain enterprises and young entrepreneurs.

<http://kreisler.com.au/2010/05/hope-ststudios-brunswick-artist-project/>

A lack of adequate public facilities stifles creative endeavours in many country towns, and yet there is often a significant volume of remnant industrial-scale buildings. Artists studios, such as Hope Street Studios, are a brilliant way to inject vitality into old industrial spaces and a low-cost way of establishing and consolidating rural arts communities. The community of Trentham and district have expressed a desire for a multi-function arts space through the community plan.

2.4 ENTERPRISE Growing up in Central Victoria, I experienced reluctance towards enterprise. This research has led me to hypothesise that the reluctance I felt (both from others and within myself) was a result of several key factors. From the end of World War 2 until the 1970s, manufacturing was a big employer in rural Victoria and the decline of this industry over the last 40 years has generated palpable disadvantage in those from low to medium socioeconomic backgrounds. For parents who left school early to work in a factory, then were retrenched and have drifted in and out of unemployment, their children are likely to have low self esteem and low ambition. Similarly, in my experience, people in this position are inclined to feel animosity towards entrepreneurial types, or anyone displaying ambition. On a foundation of agriculture, I intend to proliferate opportunities for enterprise in rural Australian communities. This may seem like a big aim, but once a spirit of collaboration and support is generated, enterprise flourishes. By applying the principles behind business incubators, such as resource sharing, joint venturing, professional support and networking (Lyons 2001) to local food systems, barriers of entry are removed and small scale farming can become viable as an income stream. Applying the same principles to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;value-addâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; enterprises based on agricultural products or services generates for a diversity of employment opportunities. Connection between entrepreneurs and community groups, such as churches or service clubs, promotes social enterprise and develops social capital.

Little Hampton

A shared hared transit artery links Little Hampton, pton, Trentham and Fern Hill. The section on between Little Hampton and Trentham tham utilises the road reserves of the Trentham-Daylesford Road and the section on between Trentham and Fern Hill utilises ses a disused railway line. Threads ads of permissive access paths connect ect with the artery and extend into adjacent farm land. Infrastructural nodes are established at intersections with major roads and recreational nodes at intersections with waterways and permissive access paths. Three of these nodes are shown in more detail on the following spread.

Trentham

Fern Hill

rur 3. THE DISTRICT The area of settlement surrounding rural

towns is known as a district. This is mostly for f administrative purposes because very small sm communities of less than 500 people often rely on facilities in towns nearby. Also, the classification cati of district allows settlement to disperse among amo farms outside the boundaries of a town and still play a role in the administration of that town. Thus, a landscape architect or planner should not intervene in rural towns without also considering the surrounding district. For the purposes of this research, I am investigating the communities of Little Hampton and Fern Hill. Little Hampton is 5km north-west of Trentham and Fern Hill is 6km north-east. Both of these communities have a high concentration of small hold farm properties and both present opportunities to engage with current and future tourism traffic. Intervention at the district scale is formed by 3 key components: Hubs within production areas, transit arteries that link the hubs to Trentham and each other, and nodes that occur along the arteries. The hubs are located on an existing block of public space or on land adjacent to 20

Blighs Road Infrastructural Node

Gunyah Bend Recreational Node

Trentham-Daylesford Road Infrastructural Node

existing retail, hospitality or civic facilities. Rather than open up a Greenfield site, I prefer to re-purpose land that has a history of public use in order to harness intrigue and nostalgia with the aim of engaging people with the space. With these considerations in mind, the Little Hampton hub is situated in an old primary school facility and the Fern Hill hub in a railway station reserve. The purpose of the hub is dual. The hub is a civic space designed in such a way that encourages recreational activity at a range of scales and also an agribusiness facility that hosts shared infrastructure and encourages agricultural extension. Hubs are facilitated and maintained by a co-operative of farmers and a committee of non-farming residents. The arteries are paths shared between walking, cycling and slow moving agricultural traffic. Two paths run side-by-side with the first 1.5m wide and finely graded to allow for ease of cycling and walking. The second path is graded roughly at points to discourage cars from using it and potentially causing a safety hazard. There are two types of nodes that occur along the transit arteries. The first is infrastructural and occurs at intersections between an artery and a major road. This type of node is at once a cautionary marker and a marker of agricultural activity. The second is recreational and occurs at intersections between an artery and creeks or farm tracks. This type of node is essentially a pocket park that breaks up a walk or ride along an artery and promotes a more intimate engagement between people and the productive landscape. Four layers of focus are once again applied to the project at the district scale, although the approach is altered slightly due to lower population density and primary rather than secondary production. The layers of focus at district scale are: Livestock, Cropping, Recreation and Extension.

3.1 LIVESTOCK

3.2 CROPPING

Moving livestock long distances by vehicle transport is inhumane and moving them for more than a kilometre on foot can be very time consuming. Thus, hubs in production areas integrate facilities for livestock management, reducing the need for smallholders to invest in a lot of infrastructure and subsequent maintenance. Operations such as shearing, marking, drenching and milking should happen on farms or as close to farms as possible. Integration of shearing sheds, stockyards and milking sheds allow these to occur in a co-operative environment close to farms, minimising undue stress on animals.

A major deterrent from growing crops at a small scale is investment in the purchase and maintenance of machinery. New tractors are very expensive and often require financing which then has to be managed, while second hand machinery is cheaper outright but often has higher and more frequent maintenance expenses. The agribusiness facilities incorporate a resource sharing component that allows farmers to hire out machinery to other farmers, enabling them to repay loans on the machinery faster and generate a small income from machinery that would otherwise be sitting around. Sharing of machinery also allows new farms to establish before taking the risk of purchasing expensive equipment, fosters a co-operative environment and reduces the resource expenditure of producing new farm machinery.

From the perspective of a civic park, the shared occupancy of public space between people and livestock is a very interesting experience that leads to an acute awareness of where our lamb come from and makes us more conscious of the humane treatment of animals. It also adds another layer of scheduled program to public space, for example along with a monthly acoustic concert on the green or an annual fair, one may come across 100 freshly shorn sheep or 50 cattle being drenched. Initially, this generates an air of discovery and unpredictability but in time leads to occupants of public space becoming attuned to farming processes, associating them with times of the day, week or year.

Packing sheds situated in the hubs become a base for consolidation of small harvests by farmers undertaking joint cropping ventures, and also the segmentation of harvests for farmers sending their produce to different markets. For example, a farmer in Fern Hill with an exceptionally large harvest of broad beans may send a third of his produce to Trentham and two thirds to Woodend. Once again, the act of integrating these facilities into the public realm encourages co-operation and reduces the need for extra personal investment from novice farmers.

3.3 RECREATION

3.4 EXTENSION

Hubs in production areas are designed in such a way that they support encourage recreation at a range of scales from individual passive recreation to community-wide gatherings. There is a schedule of recreation programmed into the spaces, such as festivals and markets, but passive and un-programmed recreation is also encouraged by breaking the hubs down into an array of milieus with varying functionality and privacy. The hubs contain indoor meeting spaces and indoor agricultural facilities can be re-purposed as recreational facilities during periods of dormancy, for example a packing shed can become an indoor basketball court or exhibition space.

Extension is an agricultural term for professional development. It occurs in many forms, such as field days, local workshops, DPI Agnotes released online and conversations over the farm gate (Williams 2004). Extension is a critical tool in the establishment of a new production system, especially when it crosses disciplines and demographics.

The arteries that connect hubs and towns are sequences of small parks, picnic areas and rest stops that are connected by a shared path in a similar way to beach-side parks along a foreshore.

By establishing farming co-operatives and a culture of collaboration rather than competition, my research capitalises on informal extension that already occurs in production areas. Once hubs are established, they provide a central base for field days and work shops, generating opportunities for formal extension to take place. Once again, the hubs are structured to provide a broad range of spatial opportunities for conversation and interaction between farmers. The integration of machinery sharing means that a farmer may borrow a disc plough from another farmer and, through using it, discover a tactic that makes the use of the plough easier or more efficient. They can then return the implement to the hub along with new knowledge that will assist future users.

4. PROJECTION I hope that my work this year will provide me with a

solid foundation on which to build a lifetime of research and practice in the juncture of landscape architecture, agriculture and rural development. Rural communities are filled with challenges and opportunities that are exciting and fulfilling to engage with. The current and future population mix in many rural communities marks a turning point in attitudes towards food, sustainability and design. If these changing attitudes are augmented by a zealous community focused on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;doingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and focused individuals that are able to consolidate an approach, swift and intelligent progress can take place. I will continue this research at an academic level, whilst collaborating with local government, land holders and community groups in order to translate the research into practice. It is my intention to break new ground for the practice of landscape architecture in rural communities; a public practice that is grounded in community development and food sovereignty. This may not be an entirely lucrative practice but it is entirely necessary, challenging and rewarding.

4.1 IMPLEMENTATION Many country towns have a substantial inventory of underutilised open space. The first stage in the implementation of this research is the formation of a Community Land Trust (CLT) and a Committee of Management (CoM) for public space. Concurrently, co-operatives of practicing and emerging farmers are established in order to consolidate a plan for required primary and secondary production infrastructure. Once these structures are formed with a view to establishing a fabric of mixed-use public space, suitable sites can be defined and local government approached with a plan of action for their under-utilised space. The community land trust establishes a program of fundraising based on community gatherings in public space. In situations where there is no available public space for a hub, or a privately-owned site is more suitable, the CLT may approach the land owner with an offer to lease or purchase the site. The CoM undertakes maintenance and landscape works in conjunction with DSE and Landcare, funded through the CLT and state grants. At the same time, the farming co-ops undertake joint funding efforts, through subscription fees of members, state grants and community fundraising activities, in order to invest in primary infrastructure.

4.2 EXPANSION No modern community can or should be completely self-sustaining. It is not viable, or perhaps even possible, for a community the size of Trentham to produce everything they need for a comfortable existence. Furthermore, the establishment of strong relationships between small communities builds regional stability and flexibility. Expansion through networking is a key part of the ultimate research outcome because it mainains a fine-grain intervention scale while spreading a fabric of local production infrastructure and events across multiple regions. Because each intervention harnesses the character of each specific site and community, subtle vernacular changes occur in program and spatiality throughout various districts and regions. Hubs and arteries become linking devices between towns and the major farming typology changes from one town to the next relative to mictoclimate and geomorphology. As many hubs are mid-way between towns, co-ops may contribute produce to multiple towns depending on what secondary infrastructure is available.

BIBLIOGRAPHY PMSEIC, 2010, ‘Australia and Food Security in a Changing World’, The Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, Canberra, Australia.

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