THE Redlands is ideally placed to seize newly identified agricultural food production trends like vertical garden horticulture and low-impact, high value production, such as fly farming.
This is according to the five-year Rural Enterprises Industry Sector Action Plan endorsed by council on Wednesday.
Mayor Karen Williams said there was enormous potential to grow the sector as important rural industry trends were emerging.
"Redlands Coast has an exciting opportunity to respond to consumer demand for organic and sustainable food production, reduced food miles and carbon footprints and reduced natural resource demand," she said.
"From glamping in wineries to bed and breakfast farm stays, these opportunities extend to new, high value rural products and support for growth in agritourism here.
"We already have diverse, local industry activity on Redlands Coast, such as food production and bespoke bio products to large scale food processing and manufacturing and agricultural research."
Cr Williams said rural enterprises were one of the city's eight key industries, contributing $80 million, or one per cent, of the city's economic output per year.
The industry sector plan is the fourth to be endorsed by council, with tourism, health care and social assistance, and education and training plans already having been endorsed.
The plan states that rural enterprises were considered a traditional industry within the city, with a strong presence of poultry farming.
"However, in recent years the industry has faced continued pressure as a result of a number of emerging challenges such as competing land use and higher productivity farming in competing regions," the report said.
Cr Williams said the plan acknowledged the need for land use certainty, water and energy costs and market accessibility issues and identified the opportunity for new and sustainable industry growth supported by local research and development investment.
"Significantly, Redlands Coast is already home to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries' crop research facility, which undertakes research into areas such as high value, cut flower horticulture and turf farming as well as improved crop yields through application of robotic and drone technology," she said.
"The industry sector plan endorsed today rightly acknowledges the potential value of this local research asset for attracting and leveraging new, collaborative industry research and investment with particular opportunity for high value growth in emerging sectors like biotechnology and bio products, including biofuels.
"The key to success is working collaboratively across the sector to attract new investment and opportunities and I am convinced Redlands Coast is well suited to do this and to take advantage of new technology, scale and production trends to attract and build new local industry investments."
