Old planning rules and new farming realities do not match
During the last rewrite of Kiama Council’s Local Environmental Plan, I sat on the Economic Development Committee as the rural advisory representative. A local lawyer who regularly worked with farmers joined me. Our task was to examine how the LEP treated agriculture and to ensure the rules reflected the reality of farming in this region.
What we found was simple and concerning.
Most farming land had been zoned RU2 Rural Landscape, a zone intended for grazing and low intensity agriculture. Modern dairy farming across NSW sits in RU1 Primary Production, where planning frameworks recognise the infrastructure, inputs and animal welfare systems that contemporary operations require.
Modern agriculture cannot thrive under a planning system designed in 2011
On paper, existing dairy farmers in Kiama were protected by existing use rights. They could continue operating at their current scale. That protection ended the moment they wanted to expand, modernise or introduce infrastructure that improves environmental outcomes. Any new feed pad, shade structure or covered system was treated as a shift from extensive to intensive agriculture, triggering a development application process that can take years.
This is where planning rules collide with reality.
Kiama’s rural zoning was written for yesterday’s agriculture and we are living with the consequences
Ten years ago, setting up a modern dairy farm cost around ten thousand dollars per cow, and this figure did not include land purchase. I am aware of a local farmer who has since been offered twenty eight million dollars for their property, which shows how dramatically the landscape has changed and how high the stakes have become. No farmer can commit to this scale of investment while facing delays, conditions and uncertainty created by a council that does not understand modern agriculture. The risk is too great, the cost too high and the process too unreliable.
Recent discussions about local farming ventures show how easily these patterns repeat. My previous story highlighted one example, where a simple diversification effort took more than one hundred days to process and ultimately came back with conditions that made the project unviable. It was a textbook case of how agricultural misunderstanding inside councils translates into poor outcomes on the ground.
The real issue is not the zoning alone.
The issue is the people interpreting and applying the zoning, without real agricultural competence.
Modern agriculture depends on a planning system that understands the industry it regulates. Kiama has reached the point where the gap between intention and reality is harming farms, blocking innovation and pushing families away from the land. As the next LEP review approaches, this needs to be acknowledged and fixed. The region’s farming future depends on it.
There is a deeper problem sitting underneath all of this. We have non experts inside council making decisions that directly affect other people’s livelihoods. Modern agriculture is a technical field. It relies on science, engineering, animal welfare knowledge and environmental management. When the people applying the rules do not understand the industry they are regulating, the result is predictable. Projects stall, costs blow out and families are pushed into impossible positions. Planning should not be guesswork. It should not come down to personal preference or a fear of getting something wrong. Rural communities deserve decisions grounded in competence, not caution.
#KiamaCouncil #KiamaLEP #ModernAgriculture #NSWPlanning #RuralZoning #FarmInvestment #AgriculturalCompetence #RegionalPolicy #DairyFarming #CommunityImpact #PlanningReform #LocalGovernmentAccountability
