The inquiry will focus on food production in the face of environmental pressures on farm land and the affordability of food.

NSW Liberal Senator, Bill Heffernan, will chair the new food security inquiry and said carbon markets, climate change's impact on agriculture, farming inputs, commodity trading, land availability and population growth forecasts will all go under the microscope.

He said for too long the Australian public has taken for granted where its food comes from and their easy access to clean and green food.

He said a new value and priority needs to be given to food production in Australia, to feed the domestic appetite and that of the growing global community.

"There's been an assumption that we have a lot of food in Australia because Australia is a net exporter of produce but with climate change the rule book's about to be rewritten," Senator Heffernan said.

"Scientific predictions for the next 50 years say the population will grow to nine billion people from 6.2b now but most of the focus has been on future energy requirements.

"The modelling for food production has been a secondary issue to the point where globally agriculture is in decline."

Senator Heffernan said Australia's capacity to "punch above its weight" and provide for a forecast doubling of the food task globally would require "a lot of configuring of rural and regional Australia and the way we do business".

He said the inquiry needs to burrow down and try to understand how and where to produce enough food that is sustainable and still going to be affordable.