THE message from a long campaign by Darling Downs farmers has finally got through, with the State Government releasing a plan to protect the most valuable food producing land for future generations.
Under the Protecting Queensland’s strategic cropping land policy framework, mineral resources in the state’s best agricultural areas will not be developed where they permanently alienate the land.
Strategic cropping land will be defined as land on which soil quality, topography and seasonal rainfall combined enable more than one quality crop to be grown on a commercial agricultural basis.
One area currently involved in resource activity that will be among the first to be assessed for strategic cropping land is Tarong Energy’s Haystack Road coal tenure, about 40km south-east of Chinchilla.
Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson said new legislation would be introduced and Trigger Maps have been published that identified exactly where the state’s quality farming land was located.
"We have taken the decision to protect Queensland’s precious food producing land and provide food security for future generations," Mr Robertson said.
"This policy recognises the importance of finding a balance between our agricultural industries, the resource industry, emerging industries like coal seam gas to liquid natural gas, and urban development.
"Where a development is proposed in an area that is mapped as Strategic Cropping Land, it will not be permitted to proceed if it permanently prevents the land being used for cropping in the future."
There will be a provision for a ‘demonstrated exceptional circumstance’ where there was a unique resource found nowhere else in Queensland – but these will be few and far between, the Minister said.
"Based on current technology at least, it would be difficult to see how an open cut coal mine could proceed on Strategic Cropping Land, whereas well-designed coal seam gas operations may be able to be accommodated under this policy without alienating the land," he said.
"Coal mining and the petroleum and gas industries are vital to our economy. But our best cropping land is a finite resource that must be conserved."
Mr Robertson released draft maps which identify around four per cent of Queensland’s land mass as having potential for strategic cropping.
The maps show land from the Darling Downs, through Central Queensland and into the Far North being eligible for protection as strategic cropping lands.
The maps are not final but simply identify areas where strategic cropping land is expected to exist.
"These maps will be further fine-tuned using the best available science and through further consultation with stakeholders before the legislation is introduced next year," Mr Robertson said.
Even where a farmer’s land is not shown as Strategic Cropping Land on the Trigger Map, they will be able to apply to have their landholding assessed as strategic cropping land on the basis of the scientific criteria.
If an on-ground assessment demonstrates that land marked as Strategic Cropping Land doesn’t meet the criteria, then landholders or resource companies can also apply to have land declassified.
AgForce policy director Drew Wagner said farmers whose livelihoods were impacted by coal seam gas and mineral exploration had every right to celebrate.
"Queensland has some of Australia’s best and most productive farm land, but it is a finite resource which must be conserved and managed for long-term sustainability," Mr Wagner said.
"The loss of Queensland’s highest value agricultural land has the potential to reduce the state’s future capacity to grow crops with associated economic, environmental and social implications.
"The identification of areas as strategic cropping land is a significant step forward for the government in recognising the true value of the agricultural industry which contributes over $13 billion per annum to the Queensland economy."
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