AGRICULTURE is to be taught in all Australian schools.

The authority overseeing the development of Australia's first national curriculum has bowed to pressure from the Primary Industries Education Foundation and other rural educators to ensure agriculture and other primary industries are taught from kindergarten to year eight.

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While there's still a long way to go, PIEF chief executive Ben Stockwin said the intergovernment Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority had also agreed to list primary industries as an optional stand-alone subject in years seven to 10.

ACARA's decision is a major win for regional Australia, given The Weekly Times reported in July the authority had dismissed calls for agriculture's inclusion in the draft national curriculum.

At the time ACARA curriculum manager Robert Randall told rural educators:"agriculture is not listed for development as a separate learning area".

But after weeks of lobbying by PIEF and other rural educators ACARA has slowly given ground.

This week, Mr Randall told The Weekly Times ACARA believed all students should, through the national curriculum, acquire knowledge, skills and understanding about the food they consumed and natural resources they used.

"That is why, to help guide the inclusion of this aspect of student learning into the Australian Curriculum, ACARA is collaborating with the PIEF to clarify desired learning about these topics," Mr Randall said.

Mr Stockwin said it was a fantastic step forward for all primary industries.

"It also means students will be more aware of the huge range of careers available to them in primary industries," Mr Stockwin said.

The deputy principal of South Australia's Urrbrae Agricultural High School, Dean Cresswell, said ACARA's new policy was a huge turnaround.

"I think we have moved forward a very long way from where we were just a fortnight ago," Mr Cresswell said.

When The Weekly Times analysed the draft history curriculum in July it showed farmers' role in Australia's settlement got little mention, yet students were asked to look at farming in medieval Europe and Asia. Even the senior years' draft curriculum emphasised the sustainability of agriculture and conflicts over land and water rather than its benefits.