The Liverpool Plains in NSW were long considered off-limits to mining, their rich black soils ranking among Australia's best farming land. Until China came to town.
Now a small group of farmers who have refused to sell out to China's Shenhua Watermark Coal are locked in a battle playing out across the nation - mining boom versus the future of food.
Seventh-generation farmer Michael Clift and neighbour Tim Duddy say that coal mining has always been a fact of life in the area - an ancient coal-burner stove has pride of place in Duddy's kitchen.
But the nature and scale of mining has changed dramatically in the past 10 years, the smaller shaft-style mine replaced by vast open pits which leave craters in the landscape and fill the air with dust and noise.
"A lot of people never thought that there would be mining on this land, ever," said Clift, from his property some 440 kilometres (270 miles) northwest of Sydney.
9 News Finance
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