Queensland farmer Peter Thompson does not see coal seam gas as a threat, but an opportunity.

His is a rare voice in the emotion-charged debate over CSG extraction on agricultural land a debate fuelled by the recent suicide of Chinchilla farmer and anti-CSG campaigner George Bender.

“To us it’s now part of our landscape so we definitely don’t see it as an eyesore,” he said. “I do see it as part of the integrated operation we have here.”

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Peter and wife Nikki Thompson own and run Echo Hills, a grazing and grain farm 500 kilometres north-west of Brisbane. It is also a gas field.

Origin Energy has 40 CSG wells, two water stations and 70 kilometres of flow lines scattered across the farm and the Thompsons’ adjoining property.

Mr Thompson says Origin Energy pays the family $320,000 a year in compensation, a hard-fought sum, well above the initial $130,000 offer which almost drove the family to Land Court 10 years ago.

“I had the worst day I ever had in my farming life when six people in orange shirts turned up and told me what they were going to do on my place, and it still affects me thinking about it,” he said.

“But at that point I thought, do I fight this and let it get me down or … do we pull up and think about how we make it work rather than all the consequences of fighting and going against it.”

The Thompsons say they now have a good working relationship with Origin Energy, both in the paddock and in head office.

“I won’t say for one minute it was easy. It was a long, difficult process,” Mr Thompson said.

And it is a process which requires an ongoing commitment by both parties.

“Initially I had a bit of a ‘if I stick my head in the sand, maybe it will go away’ attitude,” Ms Thompson said.

But “as it’s evolved, it’s become much more of a partnership”, she said.

Bouncing along in the cab of Mr Thompson’s massive tractor, past the golden stubble left from a bumper wheat harvest, he points out one of the gas wells – a testament to successful negotiation.

“That well to our right was to be on our left in the middle of this absolutely prime bit of cultivation, but we’ve moved it 55 metres,” he said.

As we drive through the fields and grazing land along the main farm road we pass a red sign which declares: “No Origin access beyond this point”.

Mr Thompson explains that Origin Energy gravelled the road at no small expense for joint access by farm and company workers.

But the company has not been allowed to use the road for five years because it broke the terms of their joint agreement, he said.

“It’s not about dollars buying you off and letting them do what they like.

“We are getting compensated for looking after the land, which in our case is also our underlying asset.”

CSG paid for more workers, reduced debt

The Thompsons say the CSG compensation has allowed them to take on more workers; pay down debt and start building their dream of preserving 2000 hectares of Brigalow Forest for eco-tourism.

They concede that CSG activities may pose environmental risks but say that so far, independent testing has shown no problems for soil or water.

“There’s a coal mine planned for east of here and I would chain myself to a tree over that if I thought they were going to ruin all of this beautiful grazing country,” Ms Thompson said.

“Whereas with CSG I can see how it can work in an integrated way.”

The Thompsons say they are deeply saddened that George Bender took his life.

“Everyone is different. Every situation is different and I find with the Benders that is an incredibly sad situation,” Mr Thompson said.

But the couple hope their experience shows that agriculture and gas extraction can co-exist.

“We need the protest groups to rattle the cages but the other side is we’ve rattled the cages and how are we going to move forward?” Mr Thompson said.

– ABC