He already has a cross marked on his forehead by powerful trade unionists who hate his telling them their protectionist instincts are bad for their members and for the ­country. Some hate it so much they would like to see him lose Labor pre-selection, Geoff Kitney wrote in The Australian Financial Review.

Emerson risks posses of farmers joining his trade union pursuers.

The minister yesterday bluntly warned farmers that their protectionist sentiments and fear of foreign invaders were as damaging to Australia's long-term interests as industrial protectionism.

This is not likely to endear him to some Labor colleagues, who believe his advocacy of freer trade and economic openness is not good amid deepening economic uncertainty.

But Emerson is a passionate advocate of what he calls the "Hawke-Keating economic reform agenda".

Emerson used the release of a report by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences on foreign investment in our agriculture yesterday to advocate a new front in the evolution of the economy that Hawke and Keating began three decades ago.

The report gives Emerson cover for a strategy he launched last year to open what he sees as potentially huge beneficial links between the agricultural sector and foreign investors.

He is focusing on China and its vast and rapidly growing demand for agricultural products. Emerson took the initiative last year to encourage China to send an agricultural trade mission to Australia just before Christmas. A reciprocal Australian mission will go to China next month.

He says buying farmland is only a minor interest for the Chinese. Much more important is expanding the ­supply of food on the global market at fair prices.

But there is clearly unease among farmers about rising Chinese interest in buying Australian farms, processing facilities and agribusinesses, and Emerson made it clear yesterday that he sees a risk that this will generate politically dangerous xenophobia.

He fears this will undermine Australia's chance to become a key part of China's long-term food security planning, which presents opportunities comparable with those now occurring in the minerals and resources sector.