Majura Valley farmers are ramping up their nearly two-decade campaign for a lease, saying the Barr Labor government "breaks promises".
They are also pushing for a decision from the government before the caretaker period starts next month, ahead of the October 19 ACT election.
The caretaker period starts at midnight on September 13 and ends with the election of the next chief minister - and during that time the existing government undertakes to make no major policy decisions or undertakings.
Farmer Paul Keir said he and other farmers in the Majura Valley wanted the government to honour an offer of a 25-year lease made to them in 2022 by then planning minister Mick Gentleman, with input from the Greens.
"We want them to back up their words. They made this offer and why is it still stalling?," he said.
"Now is our opportunity to bring it to the fore for the election - this government breaks promises. It doesn't matter what they say - they don't back up what they say."
The farmers have placed protest signs along the Majura Road which spell out that they have been waiting since 2005 for a lease renewal.
They also have an electronic sign on the Majura Parkway directing people to the Save Majura Valley website - www.savemajuravalley.com - to explain the long-running saga of rural leases in the valley.
The website includes a clock ticking down to when the caretaker period starts.
"We had a meeting to take that step and put it in the government's face - that we are still waiting and to let the public know we've been waiting for 20 years," Mr Keir said.
The farmers have not been on a lease since 2005, making it difficult to get loans and put their business plans into practice.
The government can remove them from the land at any time with 90 days' notice.
Current Planning Minister Chris Steel told estimates that the government had started negotiating with Defence around the so-called "split-blocks" in the Majura Valley.
Some of the farms in the valley run over both Commonwealth and ACT land. The ACT is talking to the Commonwealth about degazetting and transferring the land.
The farmers hope that leads to a lease being given, but there are also concerns it will open the way for other use of the land in the Majura Valley, including light industrial.
"Some people ask me, 'Do you think they have other plans for the valley?' You know what? I'm certain they have but they haven't got plans for the next 25 years, they've told us that. Yet they're still stalling," Mr Keir said.
Mr Steel told estimates the split-block issue represented "very complex land tenure matters" and the government was continuing to seek legal advice about it.
He understood the farmers wanted certainty.
"Certainty can be provided in a range of ways," he said.
"The certainty that I'm interested in is making sure that we give proper legal effect to any future land tenure arrangements."
Mr Steel said Labor wanted to provide certainty "in this term of government, at least in principle, as far as we can in relation to the tenure", subject to legal advice and the possibility of "special purpose legislation".
"We want to provide as much certainty as we can to the farmers in the Majura Valley about the tenure arrangements but it requires this legal work and I appreciate it's not going as fast as they would like, but it is important to make sure we can actually give legal effect to future arrangements," he said.
The five split blocks are also located within the Eastern Broadacre Strategic Assessment area, which is currently in draft form and with the Commonwealth to comment on its future development.
The farmers have been told their future is also wrapped up in the outcome of that.
They feel like they are presenting the same arguments to successive governments and that they are "going around in circles".
Anne McGrath, who runs a farm on Majura Road, including free-range lamb and eggs with her family, said there was a misconception among the public that they had somehow received a handout when in reality they had bought the land at market value decades ago and were now left with an asset worth nothing without a lease.
Some of the land her family bought had already been resumed for the construction of the Majura Parkway, without compensation.
"And that's the big fear for me, if we don't get a lease soon and the government comes along and says, 'We'll take that and we'll take that and we'll take that' and we'll get nothing, except for improvements," she said.
The farmers have business plans to put in place on their properties.
Mr Keir wants his property to be a showcase of heritage and modern farming that can host tour groups and open days. Anne McGrath has plans for a farm-gate sheep dairy. Others want to grow lucerne or continue farming cattle on the land.
Farmers' advocate Sherry McArdle-English said the business plans were presented to the government as far back as 2016 and it was "very impressed with what we were offering".
"Had the government of the day renewed those leases in 2005, all these business plans would be up and running and they're not because we're still waiting," she said.
