Promoting Victorian produce: Port Phillip and Gippsland, including the Yarra Valley

Home to award-winning winegrowers and restaurateurs, the Port Phillip and Gippsland region has a booming viticulture industry supported by a food lover’s delight of tasty gourmet produce. The Port Phillip region stretches from the intensive vegetable farming of Werribee, across dryland grazing land north of the city, through the wine, fruit and nursery industries in the Yarra Valley to the rapidly expanding wine grape areas of the Mornington Peninsula. Traditional farming and open fields feature, too, with Gippsland remaining one of Australia’s leading dairy regions. Both provincial areas boast thriving horticultural and vegetable industries, and more than half the land used for horticultural production in Port Phillip grows vegetables. Port Phillip and Gippsland: industry facts Agriculture in Port Phillip contributes more than $840 million to the economy each year Gippsland’s vegetable production is valued at $83 million each year Port Phillip has more than 2,500 agricultural producers Of the 5,500 Gippsland farms, almost 2,000 are dairy farms Of Australia’s dairy production, 20 per cent comes from ‘Gippy’ cows Gippsland wool production is worth more than $26 million each year More than 6,000 hectares of farmland in Port Phillip is dedicated to fruit production, including grapes.

DPI-sponsored programs that promote Port Phillip and Gippsland include:

• Mercurio’s Menu: A weekly food and travel series which showcases the quality, abundance and diversity of food and wine from some of Victoria’s most passionate producers

• The Food Trail: A six part TV series hosted by Paul Mercurio, with recipes using some of Victoria’s finest quality produce

• Promoting Victorian produce: explore the state by regions
• For more information on Victorian food and DPI services and products, visit the Agriculture and Food section of this website.