Australian Dairy Industry Council chairman, Wes Judd, said the Federal Government must clarify that Australian food producers would receive similar treatment to its global counterparts under the CPRS.

"The recent announcement by the European Union to safeguard their milk processors under the EU emissions trading scheme has the potential to seriously impact the Australian dairy industry," Mr Judd said.

"The EU has decided European dairy manufacturing that has a potential exposure to production shifts to fewer emissions efficient countries, without emissions restrictions, will continue to receive free permits once the EU ETS moves into its next phase from 2013.

"The Australian dairy industry is a highly trade-exposed industry and our government’s current Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme proposal leaves us vulnerable to losing export markets to other countries whose policies differ significantly from Australia’s.

"We need the reassurance that the Australian dairy industry will receive consistency of treatment with our major international competitors."

Despite several calls being put into Senator Wong's office since last Friday requesting an interview on the farm sector's coverage in a scheme in light of these international developments, the Minister was unavailable to answer questions from Rural Press regarding agriculture's treatment in the proposed carbon pollution reduction scheme.

Her office did provide some written responses to questions put to it on the matter and, rather than rule the sector out, instead signalled the hope to one day cover agriculture within its carbon pollution reduction scheme.

"Agricultural emissions contribute around 16 per cent of our national greenhouse gas emissions," the response said.

"Including agricultural emissions in efforts to meet Australia’s targets for reducing emissions will help to reduce the cost of addressing climate change for all Australians.

"Agriculture is excluded from the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme until at least 2015. It is not in the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme legislation."

Her office dismissed suggestions there would be major economic impacts on farmers.

"While agricultural emissions aren’t part of the CPRS, economic modelling suggests that the impact of the CPRS on farm production costs will be modest, with expected increases of between 0.05 and 1.3pc for most farms," Senator Wong's office said.

"The cost of some inputs to farming, such as electricity and fuel, are expected to rise. This reflects the purpose of the CPRS, which is to encourage all Australians to use energy more efficiently."