Liza Balmain wakes up each morning with a knot in her stomach, knowing what could be around the corner on her mixed cropping farm at Cecil Plains.
She is one of many farmers who say they are not confident in the government's plans to address coal seam gas-induced subsidence.
Subsidence, the gradual sinking of land, occurs when groundwater is extracted by gas companies to allow for gas production.
Liza Balmain said a petroleum lease over her farm, which has been in her husband's family for more than 100 years, was "very much the great unknown".
"We know it's coming our way and I have two children that I would love to see continue in what my husband is doing," she said.
"Subsidence is going to cause huge impacts to your land surface, your crop yield, your profit margins and there's no up-front surety being offered to you.
"It's soul-destroying."
The Queensland government said it would broadly support all recommendations from the Gasfields Commission Queensland's review into coal seam gas-induced subsidence.
Minister for Resources Scott Stewart said the implementation of the recommendations was a new way forward for resources, energy and agriculture use in Queensland.
"We know how important agriculture is, but we also know how important gas is, particularly for our future," he said.
"We've got to understand that co-existence is a really fine balance between the agricultural industry but also our resource industry as well and we're only going to get one go to get this right."
The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) said the reforms were important to continue the positive relationship between the gas and agricultural industries.
"Although there are details still to be worked through, these reforms are a step in the right direction by ensuring strengthened regulatory management to protect landholder interests while gas production continues to deliver much-needed energy supply and economic benefits to Queenslanders," Acting Queensland Director Joshua O'Rourke said.
"The oil and gas industry is one of the most regulated sectors and has a long history of co-existence and consultation with stakeholders."
Farmers say co-existence a myth
But Ms Balmain said co-existence was a myth and the issue of subsidence should have been investigated and researched before petroleum leases were issued, when concerns were initially raised by landholders.
"A decade on, subsidence has started to occur in the Kupunn area and other areas and so the government are basically playing catch-up," she said.
Lawyer Peter Shannon said he was frustrated by how long it had taken to see action from government.
"It's a bit like the fire alarm's been going off in my house for the last three hours and the head of the household rolled over and put the pillow over their ears," he said.
"It's proceeding at an absolute snail's pace and it's like a bandaid on a volcano.
"They're doing absolutely nothing and in the meantime the companies continue to expand and roll out over the vulnerable country."
Mr Shannon said the report acknowledged landholders were being impacted by subsidence, but said those landholders were getting nowhere in their dealings with the companies.
"Here is an admission by government that they dropped the ball, basically five or six years ago, and they're playing catch-up," he said.
Both Mr Shannon and Liza Balmain have called on the government to freeze all future expansion of the industry.
More research needed
Mr Stewart said the government would engage the Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment (OGIA) at a much deeper level and it would be funded to do further research.
"This work is all focused on making sure that we get this right, that there are triggers that need to be put into place to ensure that we continue to protect that high-value agricultural area, but also the ability for the gas to continue to operate as well," he said.
"While we've got a number of people who have raised a lot of concerns, we've also got a large number of people who said that this is really important that they have got some great outcomes from seeing the gas industry working with their community."
But Ms Balmain said triggers were difficult things to determine because every farm was different.
"Everyone has different situations, different farming practices, so you can't apply a one-size-fits-all trigger to the Darling Downs, it's just not possible," she said.
She said she was haunted by stories of subsidence on nearby properties.
"We have this really rich heavy clay soil that retains the water, which is great for growing crops but when you've got sunken land the water sits there so you cannot access that land," she said.
She said last year a farmer, affected by subsidence, was not able to plant 80 hectares because they couldn't access the land, which was waterlogged.
"You have other farmers in this in the same area where they have just picked their cotton and where the subsided patches were, due to water logging impacts they've experienced, for example, a two-bale-per-acre yield in the subsidence, compared with five bales per acre in the non-affected areas," she said.
"These are huge economic hits to the farmer."
