Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

NSW farmers want land protection

Updated at 6:29 am on 24 July 2012

The New South Wales Farmers Association is backing calls for all agricultural land to be protected from mining and coal seam gas extraction

At a conference in Sydney, farmers have called for all agricultural land in the state to be protected from extractive industries unless it can be proven there will be no long term damage to land or water.

Merriwa farmers leader Chris Kemp says farmers are worried the state government has not protected enough of its premium food producing land for future generations.

"We can't do all this mining and still have viable agricultural communities," he says.

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