Sometimes, when people want to start to grow food, it can be hard to find a site or know who to talk to for access or planning approval. We have noticed a lot of empty and underutilised land across Melbourne and beyond. We are helping to connect people who want to grow food, with land, with other people, and also with the right people in local government, to make sure everyone can work together.
Our website provides a map of actual and potential places to grow food. A team including representatives from local government review potential sites and help make suitable land easier to find.
We provide ways for people to get in touch and organise around their plot, as well as resources to help get started and make connections with land owners, local councils, and a whole range of resources.
Who we are3000acres is managed by our Executive Officer Hannah Schwartz with guidance from our Board of Directors (bios to follow) and support from Planisphere Planning & Design.
Our core team has years of experience in the design/built environment industries, having worked across disciplines such as Statutory Planning, Urban Design and Landscape Architecture. We wanted to use these disciplines to help connect our city with food, and to address social, environmental, and health issues that affect local residents.
With funding from VicHealth and support from The Australian Centre for Social Innovation, 3000acres is also supported by:
- Numerous local councils across the Melbourne area
- Website based on a concepts originally developed by 596 Acres
How to get involved
- Looking to start or join a food growing community? Use our site to find one near you and get involved. You might also like to subscribe to our newsletter or Facebook and keep an eye out for upcoming events.
- Got skills or connections? If you work in a related field, or for an organisation that wants to get involved with the project -- for instance if you manage vacant land or work in a relevant area of local government -- and would like to get involved, drop us a line at [email protected]
- Help build our software. 3000 Acres is open source, which means anyone can participate in developing the software that runs the site, or indeed make their own version of 3000acres in another city, for free. Check out our source code or join our project mailing list.
3000acres has featured in numerous magazines, radio shows and papers including The Weekly Review, Business Day, Dumbo feather, The Age, Time Out, MX, Milk Bar, The Urban List, Broadsheet, Three Thousand, Open Journal and numberous international websites and blogs
About 3000acresA short video by Ezra Larmour-Reid explaining what we are all about for the VicHealth SEED challenge update