Sydney's next urban farm coming to Camperdown Bowling Club

It's one big patch of dirt at the moment. But one organisation has grand plans to transform it into an urban farm in the heart of Sydney's inner west.

Non-for-profit urban farming organisation Pocket City Farms is in the midst of converting a large portion of the recently closed Camperdown Bowling Club into a community space.

"We essentially started Pocket City Farms with the aim to grow food closer to where the majority of people live – in cities," a co-founder of the organisation, Emma Bowen, says.

"The purpose being for both local food production and to provide education around how food is grown."

The project, which is expected to open this coming summer, will be a productive hub that grows a range of chemical-free produce for the local community to buy as well as a place where you can get your hands dirty.

"Locals can come and get involved in the growing process, workshops, tours and recreation," Bowen says.

But the Camperdown mini-farm won't be the first urban farm to blossom. Urban farming is on the rise in Sydney as communities and local councils switch to permaculture or sustainable agriculture.

The City of Sydney has endorsed a new working urban farm in Sydney Park. It will include an orchard, education, volunteering and sustainability programs as well as small animals. Construction is set to begin before the end of the year.

The Horsley Park Precinct Urban Farming Masterplan at the at Western Sydney Parklands will offer more than 11 farming lots, provide glasshouses, poly/greenhouses, market gardens, orchards and grove farming enterprises when it's given the green light.

Pocket City Farms board director Adrian Baida runs My Square Metre, a Sydney-based urban farming and environmental education business that combines his experience and passion for real food.

"It's easy to forget that we're at the whim of nature when we're surrounded by apartments," he says. "Organic food growing is constantly working with the environment by helping to nourish it and us, so it's a win-win situation."

Community farming networks are on the rise across the country, with initiatives such as Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network, and Grow It Local, which has 1384 registered gardens. They aim to support local food producers and bring people together.

Bowen says one of the aims of urban farming is to forge new connections between urban and rural, and food production and consumption.

"The majority of us are too far removed from the incredible effort and hard work that goes into getting food to the table," she says. "Urban farms, while small-scale in their productivity, create spaces for the community to gather, learn about the process of food growing and gain a better respect for it."

Celebrity chef Kylie Kwong is among many to convert to the sustainable food movement by sourcing produce from ventures started on city rooftops in her restaurant Billy Kwong.

"The Potts Point/Elizabeth Bay/Woolloomooloo community that Billy Kwong is a part of is a vibrant hub of urban farming," she says. "I source Vietnamese mint and greens from the Woolloomooloo Community Garden and herbs from St. Canice's Parish rooftop refugee garden."

Kwong acknowledges the knock-on effect of utilising neglected urban spaces and the potential for urban farming.

"When we grow food where we live in cities we know exactly where our food is coming from," she says.

"There is so much wasted urban space - on rooftops, between office blocks [and] along footpaths that can be converted into organic food gardens.

"We will see more city farms spring up as more people realise the benefits to their health and to the health of the planet."

As for the old Camperdown Bowling Club site, Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL Club has successfully tendered to revitalise the areas that won't become part of the farm.

The RSL club hopes to create a "Camperdown Project", which will include a food and beverage facility with a mix of indoor and covered al-fresco spaces, meeting spaces for community groups and a combined lawn and childrens' playground.