Australian Greens Deputy Leader and climate change spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, said:

"The best climate change strategy for rural and regional Australia is in learning how to keep more carbon in the soils - reducing our climate impact and building resilience to the warming that we've already caused.

"Enhancing soil carbon is being recognised globally as not only a great thing for improving productivity and building resilience in the face of climate change, but it is also potentially a huge opportunity to reduce the carbon emissions which cause climate change.

"It is stupid and short-sighted in the extreme for any government to be closing down a facility which has 75 years of data to back the new, exciting science around soil carbon.

"Minister Wong must intervene immediately with the Government of NSW to prevent the closure of this facility and the loss of the important science that it represents.

"With the dominance of private sector funding in scientific research, we have lost too many scientists from our research institutions who understand how carbon is stored in soils and how natural systems work. We cannot rely on the agribusiness sector which is putting huge pressures on farmers' margins as well as on soils. Instead of getting rid of scientists who understand soil carbon, we should be recruiting them again and increasing their research funding.

"Gross mismanagement in NSW is no excuse for losing the research which could make such a huge difference to rural and regional Australia as we adapt to climate change."