Uncertainty persists with agriculture's role in the CPRS

Uncertainty persists about agriculture's role in the federal government's carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS) beyond 2015, according to farmers.

While agriculture was not included in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's unveiling of the scheme on Monday, farmers say a great deal of research needs to be done before the role of agriculture in the carbon cycle is understood.

"Agriculture emits greenhouse gases but also stores carbon in trees, crops, pastures and soils and this equation needs to be understood," said AgForce President John Cotter.

The research into agriculture's production and storage of carbon will be reviewed in 2013, with the earliest inclusion of the sector in a CPRS to be in 2015.

Cotter said the government recognised the implications of the CPRS on future food security and agriculture's potential for providing solutions for climate change.

He said the world was facing a global food crisis but it was important for policy makers to recognise that agriculture could provide both food and carbon storage. This dual role should be acknowledged in any carbon accounting system, Cotter said.

"We don't have to convert farmland to forests to store carbon," Cotter said.

"In moving to solve the climate change problem, the government must balance the need to have land available for viable food production in future and, as an exporter of food, ensure that Australian producers are not compromised in the international market.

"Yes, agriculture has emissions, but it also sequesters carbon in trees, crops, pastures and soils."

Cotter said the comprehensive work program would begin next year.