The next RiAus debate event will investigate the increasingly fragile link between city dwellers and South Australia’s countryside, to explore the future of Australian agriculture.

The debate at Adelaide’s Science Exchange will be moderated by RiAus Director, Dr Paul Willis.

“Eighty nine per cent of Australia’s 23 million-strong population lives in urban areas. We are already one of the most urbanised countries in the world, and growing more so. As the link between city-dwellers and the countryside grows more tenuous, the understanding of the importance of farmers to everyday life in Australia is decreasing,” RiAus says.

“Our farmers produce some 93% of Australia’s domestic food supply, which is competitively priced and safe, yet surveys indicate many city people do not know (or care) where their food comes from.

“Is it conceivable that modern Australia no longer considers farmers important? Could large Australian cities survive without Australian farmers and sustain themselves with imported and urban community-grown food?”

This debate event is in association with Waite Research Institute, as part of the Australian Year of the Farmer.

Debate at The Waite: do Australian cities need Australian farmers? Is at the Science Exchange, Exchange Place, Adelaide, on Thursday 28 June from 6pm-8pm. Admission is free.

Updated 15 June 2012