Planning for agriculture development

If you plan to develop, diversify or expand your agricultural business operations, you may need to complete a development assessment or other approvals.

Use the interactive mapping tools to help you determine what interests may be triggered by your proposal.

Access tools developed from the Rural Planning project to help with land use planning and development.

Get started

Your first step is to contact your local council to discuss any requirements under the planning scheme.

They will let you know if they will be the assessment manager for your application, or if you need to contact the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA).

Read about the approval process and licencing costs through ABLIS.

The Australian Government may also have interests with your development:

  • Biodiversity conservation: to determine whether an approval is needed for an action likely to have a significant impact on a matter protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
  • Native title: to determine if there are any procedural rights for future acts under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cwth) section 24HA or 24KA.
  • Use the Protected Matters Search Tool to find out if there are any protected matters relevant to your proposal site.

Find out if you need to obtain approval under the EPBC Act.

Approval examples

Even if your proposed activity does not require a development permit under the local council planning scheme, you may require Queensland Government or Australian Government approvals before you can begin.

Example 1 – Developing water infrastructure

If you propose to construct a water bore to access groundwater, you will need:

  • information about the management and use of Queensland's water
  • access to water entitlements across Queensland including water allocations, licences and unallocated water reserve volumes
  • a development approval.

Example 2 – Clearing native vegetation

If you propose to clear native vegetation, you will need to:

  • comply with Queensland Government laws on vegetation management
  • take into account potential impacts under the EPBC Act, such as on habitats of threatened species.