Exploration for minerals, coal and petroleum rose sharply in the past year with the Queensland Government reporting a 45 percent increase of total land under either application permits or granted tenements for resource development, according to AgForce.
The farm lobby group believes agricultural land is being consumed by the resources sector at an alarming rate and threatens a permanent reduction in Queensland’s food and fibre production capacity.
AgForce vice president Ian Burnett says more than 80pc of the state is now under exploration permits and there is growing conflict between the agricultural and resource sector.
The ABC TV’s Four Corners program last night focused on how this issue is reverberating in New South Wales’ food bowl and the high stakes battle between government, farmers and mining companies for the control of some of Australia's most fertile agricultural land in the Liverpool Plains.
Mr Burnett said the same story could be told in Queensland's Central Highlands and Darling Downs regions where many farmers face an uncertain future because of inadequate State Government planning policies to provide for the preservation of agricultural land for future food production.
He cited as an example the Haystack Road farmers who face a situation where prime land – that does not rely on irrigation and has been recognised with multiple national Landcare awards for sustainable food production – is under threat.
Haystack Road farmer Jeff Bidstrup said the area planned for expansion of the Tarong coal mine annually produces enough wheat to make 68 million loaves of bread, enough grains to grow 14 million chickens or make sausages that would stretch one and a half times around Australia as well as pulses, barley and birdseeds.
"We have been secure, stable food producers since European settlement 130 years ago, and have systems in place that will allow us to sustainably grow food for the next 100 or 1000 years – providing the land remains available for food production," Mr Bidstrup said.
Mr Burnett said food is essential to survival but most modern-day consumers have passed responsibility for food production to the 28,000 professional farming families in Queensland, including those on Haystack Road and the Felton area of the Darling Downs.
"It is not well understood by consumers that land for food production in Queensland is steadily shrinking because it is being taken up for alternative uses such as mining, urban development, forestry, national parks, biodiversity and conservation values," Mr Burnett said.
"Insidious policies that by themselves may not seem to have an impact on primary production but collectively make it increasingly difficult for farmers to continue farming."
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