Recently I heard a radio program which said the speed at which our climate is changing is forcing us to transform rapidly rather than evolve slowly.

To me this transformational change is clearly evident in city dwellers’ sudden realisation of the importance of agriculture and food production in their lives.

Over the past few years I have given several presentations to non-rural audiences about the huge impact of their food choices on rural economies and the natural environment.

People are quite shocked to think their individual preferences for cheap, blemish-free produce are collectively having such a devastating effect on the rural sector and landscape, but while food was cheap, there was not a lot of incentive for them to change their food habits.

But now, with the long-running drought forcing up food prices, I notice that concern about food availability and cost is a common topic of conversation among many of my city friends.

Suddenly, agriculture is on the urban agenda, admittedly driven by the hip-pocket nerve, but city people are transforming the way they interact with food production. Not only is there more concern for farmers and their plight, there is renewed and growing interest in school and home food gardening, food preserving, and supporting local food producers.

In Sydney, NSW Department of Primary Industries’ (DPI) David Mason is one of the pioneers of promoting food growing in urban and per-urban areas, and putting city people in contact with nearby farmers.

Hawkesbury Harvest (www.hawkesburyharvest.com.au) and Hunter Harvest (www.hunterharvest.com) are two groups helping city people connect with local farmers.

At the Cities Feeding People conference in Melbourne in March (www.communitygarden.org.au) almost 500 people attended sessions on seed saving, food security and city farms.

In Victoria the Edible Classrooms program is working with several organisations, including the Gould League, Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation (www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au) and DPI to teach students about the natural sciences, healthy eating and environmental sustainability.

The long-running Seed Savers Network has produced a free online manual for schools on food growing and seed saving, which can be downloaded at www.seedsavers.net

Public-minded individuals are also running informative websites such as the Urban Food Garden (http://users.ncable.net.au/~urbanfoodgarden/) to help people regain food gardening skills.

So if there can be said to be anything positive coming out of the current severe drought, it is that many city people are beginning to realise the crucial importance of farmers and agriculture in their lives, and are starting to take more responsibility for their food choices.