Isra-Mart srl : Farming's carbon fears

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FEARS are mounting agriculture will eventually be included in Labor's proposed carbon trading scheme, after the government's chief climate change advisor, Ross Garnaut, flagged its inclusion when releasing his sixth and final report on the tax system last week.

The National Farmers Federation is vehemently opposed to Professor Garnaut's suggestion that agriculture should eventually be included within any future carbon tax or Emissions Trading Scheme, and Wednesday's rally in canberra demonstrated the full wiehgt of opinion against the tax.

NFF economics adviser, Charles McElhone, said including agriculture in the controversial scheme would place financial penalties on farmers for owning livestock or using fertiliser.

Mr McElhone said the proposal was not only impractical but would also be detrimental for the sector's ability to compete on the international markets on which it depends.

He said Professor Garnaut did get one aspect of his climate change review update right and that was his analysis of agriculture's trade exposure, which he described as being more acute than most other sectors of the national economy.

"The risks of increased costs from any carbon pricing policy are therefore real for farmers and could jeopardise Australian food production at a time when the world's ability to meet its increasing needs is running thin," Mr McElhone said.

Mr McElhone said the NFF would continue to be extremely concerned about the Government's emerging carbon policy plans, despite its commitment to go against Professor Garnaut's recommendation and exclude agriculture’s direct emissions from its carbon tax.

"It is sometimes misconstrued that because agriculture's direct emissions are excluded from the Government's carbon pricing plans, that the sector will be unaffected," he said.

"This could not be further from the truth, even with a Carbon Farming Initiative offset scheme in place."

Federal Nationals leader, Warren Truss, said Professor Garnaut's report opened a Pandora's Box for Australian farmers who could now be included in Labor's carbon tax regime.