PRIME farming land will be protected from wholesale tree planting and soil carbon sink under the federal coalition's new climate change policy.

Climate change spokesman Greg Hunt told The Weekly Times there would be no incentives for tree planting on prime land in the policy and pledged a review of existing incentives, including tax breaks for carbon-sink forests.

"We will not be adding incentives for the wholesale re-afforestation of 100 per cent prime cropping land," Mr Hunt said.

Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said the pledge was a "good start" and praised new Liberal leader Tony Abbott's willingness to listen to the Nationals.

"We don't want any preferential up-front deductions for forests on prime farming land," Senator Joyce said.

Four Nationals Senators crossed the floor last year when the Liberals backed the Federal Government's legislation to allow carbon-sink tax breaks.

National Farmers' Federation economics manager Charlie McElhone welcomed the recognition of the importance of prime farming land, but said details of the coalition's approach were still sketchy.

Mr Hunt said the new coalition policy would also acknowledge the "massive" opportunities for absorbing carbon in soils which were currently being lost to Australian farmers.

"They are an enormous source of potential income and carbon sequestration," he said.

"The Rudd Government has locked farmers out of these, using international carbon rules as an excuse."

Mr Hunt said there would also be a lot more emphasis on "green" carbon opportunities generally and the establishment of a carbon exchange, along the lines of the US approach.

Mr Abbott has labelled the Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme a "great big tax on everything" that would do nothing to cut emissions.

Instead he has pledged to use direct methods for cutting greenhouse emissions and is expected to release the coalition's new climate change policy later this week.

The development comes as the Government plans to force another vote on the CPRS, which the coalition voted down late last year, when federal parliament resumes next Tuesday.