Queenslanders will soon be paying more for red meat if the state government succeeds in its pursuit of land clearing laws, farmers say.
Debate on the state Labor government's bill to restrict land clearing after regulations were relaxed under the previous LNP government got under way in state parliament on Tuesday.
Second-generation certified organic cattle grazier Scott Sargood was among the hundreds of farmers who protested against the laws.
He has already sacked two employees from his 34,400 hectare Charleville property ahead of the laws being passed.
Mr Sargood said the laws will force businesses like his to downsize, leading to a drop in the supply of beef and higher prices for consumers.
His business will produce fewer calves because he will have less land to farm, and it will take at least a decade to replace reduced breeding stock.
"You're strangling the goose that lays the golden egg," Mr Sargood told reporters outside parliament.
"We get up every single day ... and feed thousands of people.
"Those people are sitting there stuffing food in their mouth and we're trying to tell them the real deal, the way it really is, and nobody wants to know about it."
Greg Maudsley, president of farming lobby AgForce, said the laws would shut down new agricultural development, and promised to fight for a more balanced approach.
Deforestation in Queensland is higher than the rest of the country combined, according to a recent Climate Council report.
A parliamentary committee has recommended the legislation be passed to slow the rate of land clearing.
Recommendations include giving landholders support in navigating the application process to clear land, as well as investigating the establishment of indigenous community use areas.
The move will restore regrowth and in turn better protect the environment against climate change as well as Queensland's native wildlife, Natural Resources Minister Anthony Lynham said.
"Landholders are still able to manage vegetation essential to their day-to-day business," he told state parliament.
"The bill does not ban all clearing, rather it seeks to ensure the sustainable management of native vegetation."
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington says her brothers, both graziers, are among those who will be affected by the laws.
"It actually means for them that they will be stitched up and unable to manage their own vegetation in a reasonable manner," she told reporters.
Nationals Senator Barry O'Sullivan said the laws will have a devastating impact on vegetation used as fodder.
He said mulga trees had been used as fodder for cattle during drought for the past 150 years.
"Can you imagine if we said to everyone in the city you're not allowed to touch one leaf in your yard any longer," Mr O'Sullivan told ABC Radio.
"We'd have a civil war on our hands."
