Brett Guthrie's leafy orchard has been a constant on Sydney's western fringe, growing fruit for generations.

As he drives out of the family farm, he's astounded by how rapidly the scenery has changed, from farmland and green pastures to housing developments.

"It's creeping and definitely coming toward us," he said.

He's part of the Western Sydney food bowl, a $600 million business, which makes up three quarters of Sydney's agricultural activity.

But the farmland is at risk,as Sydney's south-west and north-west undergoes a rapid transition.

An extra 833,000 more people are expected to call Western Sydney home in the coming two decades.

There are some difficulties in quantifying the changing landscape, with Australian Bureau of Statistics land-use definitions changing over time.

But a Western Sydney University (WSU) study estimatesup to 60 per centof farming land in Sydney's west and outer suburbshas already been lost in the last decade.

In the local government areas (LGAs) of The Hills Shire and Blacktown, around 40 per centof agricultural land has been lost in the last five years.

In Camden, south-westof Sydney, researchers found a quarter of agricultural land was lost in that period.

Mr Guthrie feels it's vital for agricultural land to remain in the Sydney basin.

"If we keep doing what we're doing now, we're going to find that creep keeps on coming in and we're going to find less and less productive agricultural land," he said.

"Once it's gone, it's gone forever."

WSU Associate Professor Awais Piracha said growers and farmers are incentivised to sell up or try and rezone their land, with the price difference between rural and residential use increasing to up to 200 per centin parts of the west.

"We have had a policy direction which encourages residential development at the fringe," Dr Piracha said.

"From 2010 onward, we have been much more liberal with land releases in Western Sydney ... because of that we have much more new development taking place."

Australian Farm Institute general manager, Katie McRobert, said the price discrepancy between farming and residential landmakes it more likely families will sell off their farms.

"It's almost inevitable that when you come to that decision, 'what do we do next with the farm? How do we how do we pass this on? And what do we do within our family?' It's going to be a sell decision," she said.

"That's what's going to benefit the children financially, so they don't feel that they have an option."

Oran Park, in the Camden LGA, is one such suburb experiencing a significant growth in new homes.

State government planning data predicts Camden's population will grow by 83 per centin the next 20 years.

Thousands of new homes are expected to be built in Oran Park, and neighbouring Catherine Fields and Leppington, over the next five years.

Tim Reid, general manager of Edgewater Homes NSW, has been at the coalface of significant demand for housing in the area.

"We're seeing massive amounts of mums and dads, first and second home buyers looking for properties in the area.

"That comes with the employment in the area ... this south-west corridor is a big driver of employment.

"People want to be close to where they work, they also want to be close to where their kids go to school, and where their families can interact with the community."

Ms McRobert feels the importance of the Sydney food bowl is often understated.

"People don't expect that a lot of food that they eat is coming from the Sydney bowl, the value of food that's produced around Sydney is really very important to the agricultural economy," she said.

"Most of the LGAs in Sydney, who host agriculture, they don't actually have a specific agricultural strategy in place.

"If you don't have that strategy, it's very easy to make ad hoc decisions and hand things over to developers very quickly."

Although there have been some moves to protect agricultural land in outer and rural suburbs, Dr Piracha feels much of Sydney's agricultural land could disappear in the coming decades.

"That's the direction we are going in, and it's quite likely to happen in my view, because we have been losing it very fast," he said.

A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Planning and Environmentsaid about 1,560 hectares of land had been set aside for "industrial-scale agriculture purposes" as part of the future Western Sydney Aerotropolis.

They said the agribusiness precinct would generate 10,000 jobs and "continue to provide food securityand supply to Sydney".

The government's new agritourism policy had also cut tape to allowingfarmers to diversify their income through ventures like farm stays and cafes, they said.

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Rising populations and development in Sydney's west threatens food bowl - ABC News