Functional Change and the Peri-Urban Region: Food Systems and Agricultural Vulnerability Andrew Butt 1 The formation of extensive peri-urban regions around Australia’s cities as sites of population growth and land use change has resulted in a critical divergence in agricultural production patterns over several decades. Unlike more distant agricultural regions where farm numbers have typically declined, peri-urban areas have experienced a proliferation of small and sub- commercial farm businesses and the continued presence of fewer large oper- ations. Despite this, agricultural production has not collapsed in these regions. This article reviews changes in farm output and structure occurring in some example peri-urban regions with a view to exploring the nature of viability and vulnerability of the agricultural systems in these areas. It con- cludes that farming in these regions is changing in significantly different ways to other agricultural regions. The key components of peri-urban farm- ing productivity centre on a few high value activities, and some, such as intensive poultry, face significant constraints to growth through population and landscape pressures in an effectively post-productive environment. This presents consequent risks to ongoing food production in the regions closest to our largest cities. The majority of peri-urban farming has the potential to provide important landscape services functions, but is unable to adjust to changing productivity regimes creating vulnerabilities for peri-urban farming systems. Keywords: peri-urbanisation, agricultural change, farm viability. 1. Introduction Significant socio-economic and physical change continues to occur across the landscapes surrounding Australian cities. These areas are commonly referred to as “peri-urban” and exist beyond the formal fringe of urban areas, yet share many urban characteristics, including the increasing prevalence of non-agricultural and urban-related land uses and activities. Most significantly, these places are often the location of inward population movement and consequent land use change that is decreasing the prominence of farming and related agricultural activities. Population and housing growth in the peri- urban regions of Australian cities has been rapid in recent decades (McKenzie, 1996; Buxton et al., 2009) occurring in both towns and surrounding rural landscapes. 1 Planning and Community Development Program, La Trobe University Bendigo, Australia. JEL classifications: Q15, R14 Correspondence: Andrew Butt, Planning and Community Development Program, La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia. Email: a.butt@latrobe.edu.au ECONOMIC PAPERS, VOL. 32, NO. 3, SEPTEMBER 2013, 308–316 308 Ó 2013 The Economic Society of Australia doi: 10.1111/1759-3441.12045