President Brent Finlay said the work had just begun.

“We have always been against the carbon tax and never changed our position on it,” Mr Finlay said from the NFF members’ council meeting at Cairns.

“But now we will be turning our attention to what the federal government is proposing in terms of its Direct Action policy and the emissions reduction fund.”

Mr Finlay said that while agriculture was not an industry directly involved in paying the tax it impacted on the sector because other suppliers passed on the cost of the tax to producers.

“That includes electricity, fertiliser, chemicals, fuel supplies, steel and so on,” he said.

“The Australian Farming Institute has estimated that costs each farm somewhere between $5000 and $10,000, on average, per year.”

Mr Finlay said the NFF had not done a lot of work on the federal government’s Direct Action policy — its alternative to the previous government’s remission reductions plan — as yet.

“Our first focus was on repealing the carbon tax,” he said.

“Now we will need to sit down with the government and look at their modelling and work through it.

“We will especially be asking them to institute effective pathways for agriculture to participate in the Emissions Reduction Fund.”

Mr Finlay said that should be accompanied by a firm commitment to invest in research and development, in order to develop and convert carbon science and methodologies into practical and feasible on-farm action.

“Farmers are dealing with climate variability every day,” he said.

“We are constantly adjusting our businesses and constantly taking it into account.

“It’s a risk to agriculture and a risk we have to manage.

“But we need the scientists and the funding for research and development.

“We used to be one of the best countries in the world with our ag scientists and while the government has put $100 million on the table we intend to keep Mr Abbott accountable for how it is spent.

“We wanted $100 million of new money but you can’t take away with one hand what you give with the other.”

Mr Finlay said agriculture already plays a leading role in reducing emissions and the government must set policy to allow the sector to continue to do so — and remain viable at the same time.

“For example, we have reduced livestock emissions by 40 per cent by changing our production systems and the way we manage our livestock,” he said.

“Agriculture is some- thing we do really well in Australia.

“We’re part of the solution; we’ve been real leaders in systems returning carbon to the soil.”