Relations between miners and farmers are coming a cropper

Where the twain meet ... Wheat crop on Tom Saint's Curramulka farm with a Rex Minerals drilling rig in the background set up to take core samples. Picture: Mangan Chris Source: AdelaideNow

WHILE both industries are integral to the future of the State, the interests of mining and agriculture can often be at odds, says Cameron England.

SOUTH Australia, and the Eyre Peninsula in particular, has a long history of agriculture and mining.

Wheat, much of it grown on the Peninsula, remains the largest single export from the state, and the iron ore mines at Whyalla have been operating for more than 100 years and were integral to the early growth of what is now BHP Billiton.

But that does not mean that mining and agriculture are easy bedfellows, with a recent flare up in industry relations on the Peninsula serving to illustrate the tensions that can arise from competing land uses.

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