The National Farmers Federation says the motion proposed by the Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) as part of its "Climate, Clearing & Cows" campaign is misinformed and in conflict with mainstream scientific opinion.

LEAN argues if Australia can halve its methane emission from Agriculture by 2023 the Federal Government will come close to meeting its recent international pledge target of reducing methane by 30 per cent "even without additional reductions from industry."

It suggests methane-reducing feeds, such as seaweed, and other methods, including selective breeding and culling unhealthy animals (to maximise efficiency), hold the key to achieving its proposed target. 

The campaign, which also calls for an end to broadscale land clearing before the next federal election and a rapid cessation of native forest logging, already has support from 366 Labor branches across the country, according to LEAN's post on social media yesterday. 

However, NFF President Fiona Simson said it was not a sensible policy for a mainstream political party.

"Voting this through would be an open armed embrace of fringe views that are anti-science and anti-farming," Simson said.  
 
"It goes beyond the Government's very recent commitment to the Global Methane Pledge, it massively exceeds the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's own advice, and it's scientifically impossible without cutting herd numbers - something the Government is on record opposing."

Simson said LEAN deliberately fudged the numbers on land clearing - "conflating deforestation, land clearing and routine land management."  

"Australia has rigorous, science-based laws to protect the environment which have largely stabilised vegetation cover for years," Simson said. 

Simson said farmers wanted delegates to understand the impact of the motion if adopted.
 
"This motion is about taking farms out of production, killing jobs and pushing up food prices. It's as simple as that," Simson said.
 
"We're not just talking about farming jobs, but also in trucking, in stevedoring and of course in meat processing - our largest manufacturing industry.
 
"Delegates need to be clearheaded about what really matters to Australians and what the ALP stands for. 
 
"We've seen governments globally fall victim to anti-farming policies which ignore the basic need to grow food and fibre, and the community backlash that follows. We don't want that style of politics to take root here.

"We have every expectation that logic will prevail here, but we won't mince our words when we see this sort of nonsense being peddled."