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Virginia Brunton

PhD Candidate (Part-time)

Madsen Building (F09), Room 424
Phone: +61 2 43481913
Fax: +61 2 9036 6588
Email:

Supervisor
Prof. Phil Hirsch

Research

Virginia commenced a part-time PhD research on the environmental history and future of sustainable agriculture in the Sydney Basin in February 2008. Virginia works with the NSW Department of Primary Industries developing sustainable agricultural practice for farmers in both Australia and Vietnam. Programs in the Sydney Basin include developing safe chemical use, adoption of sustainable soil management and food safety programs. Vietnam activities include developing indigenous vegetables as crops by using participatory approaches with women farmers in the remote north west provinces.

Her PhD research investigates the environmental history of farming in Sydney with the purpose of providing a more holistic perspective on the nature of the landscape in the Sydney Basin, how it evolved and became the hub of intensive horticulture it is today. Food production close to large markets will increase in importance as the impact of climate change is felt in fuel and transport costs and production constraints. This research explores the environmental history of farming in the Sydney Basin to observe any lessons it has to offer the continued development of and planning for sustainable agriculture. Given that farming is likely to change further, that the farmers will continue to be recent immigrants and that regulations will increasingly be more restrictive, can the past provide insights and a wider more holistic perspective in planning for sustainable peri-urban agriculture in an expanding Sydney?

Drawing on evidence found in soil, this research will investigate the environmental impacts of agriculture from the soils’ perspective, from indigenous practices through to today’s intensive horticulture. The plan is to follow a series ‘typical’ patches of farming ground in Sydney back through its farming history through scientific analysis of soil cores as evidence, use historical records and interviews with current and recent past farmers, to develop a narrative that uses the evidence gained from the soil, to seek explanations from the historic evidence and case studies or oral histories.

The research will explore the environmental impacts in relation to the expansion and intensification of farming. All farmers after the aboriginal inhabitants were migrant farmers – what were/are the attitudes to farming and to the climate? How do farming practices and skills change from indigenous activities to intensive practices of today? How did the environment respond to farming activities, how did farmers respond to the environment? How did government policy and law interact with farming? What were the drivers and implications of policy. What is the nature of the interweaving between social, environmental and political threads that fashion the Sydney Basin landscape?

What lessons does this hold for the future of planning in the Sydney Basin? A narrative about the likely demands on Sydney Basin agriculture in the face of climate change will use the evidence of the past activities to provide insights into how sustainable agriculture might be supported in the future.

Publications

  • Brunton V.M. (2004) Sustainable Horticulture. Regional sustainability Seminars, Wyong, NSW March 2004
  • Brunton V.M. (2004)Evaluation Tools, in Horticultural Extension Workshop, Tocal 18-21 May 2004
  • Brunton V.M. (2005) Improving sustainability with Cambodian market gardeners – Beyond Kyoto -Environmental Education Conference, Manly NSW May 2005
  • Brunton V.M. (2006) Where is Sustainable Agriculture up to in Sydney? -Sustainable Agriculture in the Sydney Region Workshop. Mamre Homestead, June 22 2006
  • Brunton V.M. (2006) Asian Vegetable & NESB programs in the Sydney Basin. RIRDC Asian Vegetable Conference, Parramatta, NSW August 2006
  • Brunton V.M. (2006) Farming in Western Sydney. Developing collaborative strategies for improving chemical use in intensive horticulture. Sydney Markets, 13th September 2006
  • Brunton, V.M. and Hall, D.G. (2007). ‘Evaluating the benefits of bilingual officers in providing training and advice to non-English Background Farmers in the Sydney Basin.’ Proceedings Australasian Evaluation Society Conference, Melbourne, 3-7 September 2007. www.aes2007.com.au/papers.php
  • Brunton V. M. (2008) Final Report – Sustainable Chemical Management in the Sydney Basin. Project no. 2005/NESB/DPI
  • Brunton V.M. (2008) Final Report –Scoping Study into the safe production, promotion and utilisation of Indigenous vegetables in Vietnam ACIAR Project CP/2006/113
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