QLD:Qld acts to protect best farmlands

AAP General News (Australia)
04-14-2011
QLD:Qld acts to protect best farmlands

By Tracey Ferrier and Kym Agius

BRISBANE, April 14 AAP - The Queensland government has released draft criteria it will
use to identify and protect the state's most important farmlands from mining and other
threats.

The criteria will be used to draft strategic cropping land (SCL) legislation, to be
introduced to parliament later this year.

The intention is to boost food security by protecting Queensland's food-bowl areas.

Environment and Resource Management Minister Kate Jones says the criteria has been
developed by government scientists, agronomists and soil experts using 128 samples from
five strategic cropping land zones.

"The scientists have undertaken on-ground assessments to ensure we could clearly define
what strategic cropping land is under this framework," she said in a statement on Thursday.

The eight key criteria that define strategic cropping land are slope, rockiness, soil
depth, drainage, soil pH, salinity, soil water storage and gilgai microrelief (small depressions
in the land caused by wet weather).

An independent reviewer, Queensland soil science expert Dr Roger Shaw, has signed off
on the process used to develop the criteria, Ms Jones said.

The Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation is finalising guidelines
to help landholders and developers identify whether their land is strategic cropping land
under the criteria.

Those guidelines will be released in May and will be the "how to" guide for the actual
assessment process.

The release of a regulatory assessment statement and draft state planning policy would
be the next step.

That would be released for public consultation as soon as possible, followed by the
introduction of the new legislation.

The government has already said some mining operations will be banned on the most fertile
agricultural land.

Draft government maps have shown about four per cent of Queensland's land mass has
the potential for strategic cropping, that is, it has the soil, rainfall and topography
to support more than one quality commercial crop.

The Queensland Resources Council said the criteria is flawed and would set aside too
much land unfairly, for example, the soil water storage level that has been used wouldn't
even sustain a sorghum or wheat crop.

Council chief executive Michael Roche said it was too important to Queensland's future
to risk cutting corners on the science.

"A number of major resource projects, which have already cost companies tens of millions
of dollars, will live or die on the basis of whether these criteria do their job properly,"

he said in a statement.

"As they stand, the criteria put $22 billion of resources projects at risk."

Farm lobby group AgForce said the release of the criteria did nothing to deliver confidence
to the farming sector, and more detail was urgently needed.

"Without the knowledge of how the proposed state planning policy and the strategic
cropping land framework will tie together to preserve food production in the face of competition
from the resource industry and urban development, it is difficult to understand how the
SCL will provide certainty," policy director Drew Wagner said.

"A lot more work is needed and AgForce urges the state government to clearly articulate
the level of protection strategic cropping land will receive, what areas will be specifically
protected, and the size of the area which will be afforded this SCL protection."

Peak horticulture organisation Growcom said the eight criteria are focused on soil
quality and they would not necessarily protect fruit- and vegetable-growing areas.

Chief executive Alex Livingstone said what is good quality soil for one crop may not
suit another crop and other factors such as appropriate climates, microclimates, reliable
access to water, labour supplies and transport infrastructure should also be taken into
account.

"If a narrowly focused policy based only on identification of high quality soils is
pursued, highly productive horticultural regions such as the Granite Belt and growing
districts for major crops such as pineapples, citrus and grapes may be afforded no protection
at all."

AAP ka/crh/sn

KEYWORD: LAND WRAP

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