AGRICULTURE has been ignored in Australia's draft national curriculum, sparking an angry response from farmers and rural educators.

The new national curriculum, covering kindergarten to year 10, excludes agriculture as a mandated area of study.

Farmers' role in Australia's settlement gets little mention in the draft history curriculum, yet students are asked to look at farming in medieval Europe and Asia.

Even the senior years' draft curriculum emphasises the sustainability of agriculture and conflicts over land and water rather than its benefits.

Primary Industries Education Foundation chief executive Ben Stockwin said there was "bugger all" mention of agriculture in the curriculum.

University deans, agricultural teachers and the NSW Farmers Association lodged submissions with the inter-government Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, which has developed the draft curriculum, arguing for more balance and emphasis on agriculture.

Parents at Australia's top agricultural schools have also raised the alarm.

The president of South Australia's Urrbrae Agricultural High School Council Sheryn Reid said the draft ignored agriculture as a crucial area of learning.

"Our concern is that if a national curriculum plan is not developed for this key learning area, agricultural education inAustralia will suffer and possibly meet its demise," Ms Reid said.

"It is obvious that schools will choose to offer nationally recognised subjects over those developed by state authorities."

Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture spokesman Professor Roger Leigh said the current draft would "just perpetuate the idea that farmers are harming the environment".

"We know the majority of the population lives in cities and their knowledge of where their food comes from and what it takes to produce is pretty slim," Prof Leigh said.

But so far, ACARA has dismissed the agricultural educators' concerns.

ACARA's letter to the National Association of Agricultural Educators last month said: "At this point agriculture is not listed for development as a separate learning area".

When contacted by The Weekly Times, ACARA curriculum general manager Robert Randall said no decision had been made on whether agriculture may be included at some future date.

But Prof Leigh said ACARA's response was not good enough.

"It's an argument that agriculture is not important at the federal level," he said.

Federal Education Minister Simon Crean said ACARA  had no plans to develop agriculture as a stand-alone subject.

However, there would be other opportunities for students to learn about agriculture in the Australian curriculum, such as in science, geography and design and technology, he said

Federal Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said it was astounding that agriculture, which has been the backbone of Australia's economy, got so little attention in the draft curriculum.

"I have no doubt that if agriculture was part of the (national) curriculum and taught in an unbiased way, it would encourage more people to return to the land," he said.

Mr Pyne said that if the Coalition gained government at the August 21 federal election, it would review the national curriculum with a view to making it more balanced and, if necessary, delay its implementation.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Andrew Broad said he was not surprised at the lack of emphasis on agriculture.

"It's just not high in the minds of the Federal Government," Mr Broad said.

"Yet it's vital we get the best minds of the future to see agriculture as a valuable career to drive our productivity gains."

The NSW Farmers Association submission said the draft curriculum did not incorporate enough emphasis on agriculture and its importance to the economy, rural communities, health and nutrition and the enviornment.