Landholders in the Mid-Western Region have been given a chance to have their say on how Australia's agriculture industry should be developed.
The National Farmers' Federation has held a meeting in Mudgee to get input on its blueprint for the industry.
Members of the New South Wales Farmers' Association have used the forum to call for priority to be given to fair rather than free trade rules and to ensure land is not fragmented by subdivisions, urban expansion and mining.
The Chairman of the Mudgee branch Mitchell Clapham says property rights must not be jeopardised, and there are other ways to protect farming.
"Well it absolutely is very controversial and probably one of the best ideas I've seen," he said.
"I was at a conference run by the Australian Farm Institute and there was the president of the US farm lobby group.
"What they have over there is a scheme where they would buy the right to subdivide which meant then he could then retain it and gave him capital and he could then retain it purely for prime production."
Mr Clapham says agriculture should be given priority over mining.
"Any blueprint for farming needs to preserve the right to farm.
"Where you're coming up against urban expansion or mining and that means it should have priority over mining.
"New South Wales Farmers' have been arguing that at a state level and I think that should be argued at a federal level too."
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