More than 60 Hunter residents arrived in the morning, waving placards that said "you can't eat coal" and "shame, Macdonald, shame".

The demonstration was held before the upper house debated a bill, put forward by The Greens, to protect agricultural lands.

Farmers Liverpool Plains also demonstrated outside Parliament, calling on the Government not to renew coal exploration licences.

Upper Hunter MP George Souris told the crowd he would vote to protect agriculture if the bill made it to the lower house, but it was defeated last night by only one vote.

Coalition members, The Greens and Christian Democrat Gordon Moyes voted in favour of the bill.

The Government, Shooters Party and Christian Democrat the Reverend Fred Nile voted against it. After Mr Nile indicated the way he would vote, farmers in the public gallery began to chant "shame, shame" and were asked to leave.

Dianne Montague, who raises cattle at Gloucester, said at the rally that she did not want coalmines around the town.

"Cows and coalmining do not co-exist well," she said. "Once you have mines you cannot go back to agriculture it destroys it.

"The Government has no plans for agriculture. They just want to worry about the mines and the money the mines bring to the state."

Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald told parliament there were already enough environmental safeguards in place.

"An exploration licence is not an approval to develop a mine," he said. "Any future mining proposal must obtain approval under the state's comprehensive and rigorous planning legislation."