Farmers in the Majura Valley fear a draft planning strategy for East Canberra does not recognise the importance of local agricultural land

Public comment on the Draft East Canberra District Strategy has been extended until March 3. It is just one of nine draft planning documents now up for discussion covering the whole of Canberra.

East Canberra district comprises the Majura Valley, Jerrabomberra Valley, Oaks Estate, Pialligo, Symonston, Hume, Beard, the Canberra Airport and the area generally known as Eastern Broadacre - the farms between the Majura Parkway and the airport.

The draft strategy says options should be considered "for parts of the Eastern Broadacre to be developed for industrial and related uses, given proximity to national freight routes, Canberra Airport and existing industrial areas at Fyshwick, Symonston and Hume".

Some farmers fear it's just another in a long line of documents that suggests the ACT government wants to do away with most of the rural land use in the Majura Valley, and replace it with light industrial use, creating an avenue of warehouses, freight hubs and bulky goods retail into Canberra.

Ann McGrath, who has run an egg and lamb farm on Majura Road since 1999, says the prospect of more industrial development in the valley would mean potential problems for pollution runoff into important waterways such as Woolshed Creek and a change to the area's entire ambience.

"Do people want to be driving into the bush capital through light industrial pre-cast concrete buildings?" she said.

Mrs McGrath also fears the draft planning strategy does not stress the importance of agriculture in the Majura Valley for food security and for potential new areas of jobs growth.

She said people might laugh that the valley could produce food for Canberra but "something is better nothing".

"We may not be able to feed the city, but we can contribute," she said.

The draft strategy does refer to an aim to "retain capacity within the district for agriculture and food production in the district", but only in relation to Pialligo.

The future of Majura Valley rural holdings has been tenuous for decades. Since 2005, leases on farms have expired and not been renewed.

Added to the uncertainty is that some land is split blocks, partly owned by the Commonwealth and partly by the ACT. Farmers have been unable to get a clear direction on their future from either jurisdiction.

Majura Valley Landcare Group president Paul Keir, whose family has been farming the area for five generations, was more hopeful about the draft strategy for East Canberra.

"We had a meeting about it and I think everybody is on board that they put their submission in to the government, so the government is informed quite well," he said.

"They've given us an understanding the farmers will be dealt with in a respectful manner."

Mr Keir also believed a resolution was close that would give some farmers in the valley 25-year leases.

"Definitely that's been on the table," he said.

"Of course we would like longer security, but we also realise Canberra is a growing capital city and they've got to plan, as well as us.

"My family has been in the valley for five generations, we've seen unbelievable change, even in my lifetime, but it's still a great agricultural base."

Mr Keir said he hoped a 25-year lease would just be a starting point.

"For me that would be a chance to build on my business plan and 10 to 15 years into that lease, show the government what a great place it could be for agri-tourism and we go from there," he said.

East Canberra is also subject to a join strategic assessment between the ACT and Commonwealth governments, which has been underway for almost a decade.

ACT Independent Senator David Pocock, who recently visited the McGrath farm in the Majura Valley, said the farmers deserved certainty.

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"Across the country we need to value our farmers, who provide us all with the food and fibre we need," he said.

"Farmers who are operating in the ACT's Eastern Broadacre area are in limbo while the Eastern Broadacre strategic assessment is completed.

"During recent Senate Estimates, I put a question on notice to seek an update on the status of the assessment.

"Regardless of the outcome of the assessment, our farmers need certainty about their futures so they can invest in infrastructure and build their farming enterprises."

Mrs McGrath said the draft East Canberra strategy, meanwhile, did not emphasise the long history of agriculture in the area - the first Majura Valley settler was Robert Campbell, who arrived in 1825.

It also failed to adequately highlight that there were still farms operating in the Eastern Broadacre area and that there was potential jobs to be developed in agriculture and agri-tourism.

Last year, the McGrath farm started a pick-your-own sunflower field that was a hit and became a destination in its own right. A photograph of the field was @VisitCanberra's second most-liked Instagram post for 2022.

She said the farmers regarded themselves stewards of the last remnants of agricultural land in the ACT.

"We don't make lots of money but we're basically here for the future of Canberra and to preserve the past, the land, the stories," she said.

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