The livelihood of farms owned by families with long-established roots across country Queensland increasingly is being threatened by the advent of open-cut mines that will play a part in impacting on Australia's food production capacity.

Landowners in the Felton Valley, near Toowoomba, were first alerted to being eyed-up as a potential mine site by Ambre Energy earlier this year, sparking an immediate outcry.

Now, with Haystack Plain near Jimbour also in the frame, this time by Tarong Energy, and for a similar purpose, there's growing bush anger at the amount of coal, petroleum and gas, or mineral exploration permits and leases currently cascading over prime agricultural land.

And it's not just a Queensland issue with action groups forming just over the State's southern border in the Liverpool Plains district of NSW.

Lobby group Friends of Felton was formed to stop Ambre Energy's proposal to establish a sizeable open-cut coal mine and petro-chemical plant for converting coal to liquid fuel.

Ever since it got wind of the project in February, spokesman Rob McCreath, plus other committed supporters, have staged a series of community meetings, written to newspapers, lobbied politicians, also taking a deputation to Queensland’s Minister for Mines and Energy.

"There's now a big move to protect prime farmland from mining operations and the message is out and getting stronger," Mr McCreath said.

"Mining companies are only interested in money."

Mr McCreath said that with precious little legislation to rein in mining companies, the State Government has to exercise more control.

Should it eventuate, the facility plans to mine 800,000 tonnes of coal annually, rising to a possible 12m tonnes later down the track.

Highlighting how toxic coal is to human and environmental health saw guest speaker Dr Pauline Roberts, from the Caroona Coal Action Group, Liverpool Plains, NSW, voiced her concerns.