After making on-ground assessments over the past few months, soil scientists, consultants and agronomists collectively established the key land and soil characteristics to help define what land needs to be preserved.

The state government released the following eight SCL criteria yesterday:

• 1. Slope of less than 3-5%, depending on the region
• 2. Rockiness – areas with less than 20% of rocks more than 60mm in diameter
• 3. Less than 50% of land surface being gilgai microrelief of more than 500mm in depth
• 4. Soil depth of more than 600mm
• 5. Drainage which is considered favourable
• 6. Soil pH of greater than 5 for most soil types
• 7. Salinity – chloride content of less than 800 milligrams within 600mm of the surface
• 8. Soil water storage capability.

“The proposed criteria will now be used in drafting the new strategic cropping land legislation, to be introduced in Parliament later this year,” Queensland Environment and Resource Management Minister Kate Jones said.

“Strategic cropping land is a finite resource that must be conserved and managed for the longer term, and the release of this proposed criteria is the next step in our efforts to provide strong protection for Queensland’s food bowl.”

She said the government was finalising guidelines to help landholders and developers identify “whether their land is or is not strategic cropping land” using the criteria.

These guidelines will be released next month.

The government also plans to release the regulatory assessment statement and draft state planning policy for public consultation “as soon as possible”

The SCL policy is expected to be legislated this year.

About 4% of the state’s land mass is expected to be categorised as SCL, including tracts in central Queensland, with land near Emerald, Rolleston, Moura, Clermont and Dysart earmarked for protection from mining development.

State Member for Maranoa Bruce Scott is campaigning against Xstrata’s $3 billion Wandoan thermal coal project in the Surat Basin and wants it assessed under the SCL requirements.

He expects it to fail this test as the project covers prime agricultural land in the Darling Downs.

Targeting 30 million tonnes per annum run-of-mine, Xstrata has previously forecast first Wandoan exports to start as early as 2014.

But the project remains subject to Xstrata board approval with a decision not expected until the end of this year.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management has provided more insight into the policy on its website.

“Resource developments, such as mining for minerals and coal, that permanently alienate strategic cropping land will generally not be able to proceed on strategic cropping land.

“It is important to note that the strategic cropping land framework will not result in wholesale refusal of resource tenure applications.

“Resource tenures can cover very large areas of land, some of which may be confirmed as strategic cropping land after on-ground validation. Development will be allowed to proceed on areas of the tenure that are not strategic cropping land.”

More information about the criteria, along with the technical and independent expert reports, is available at DERM’s website: http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/land/planning/strategic-cropping/index.html#proposed-criteria