MasterChef winner Emma Dean spoke about farmers selling their products direct to consumers in a subscription-based service.

Red Balloon founder and judge from Channel 10’s Shark Tank Naomi Simson spoke about supporting entrepreneurs.

Nationals member for Riverina Michael McCormack also addressed the conference on Thursday.

Hindmarsh councillor and Rural Councils Victoria chair Rob Gersch told media the summit was a way for councils to discuss ideas to address common issues.

‘‘One of our major problems is loss of population and the way to turn that around is jobs, jobs and more jobs,’’ he said.

‘‘We need to stimulate our thinking on entrepreneurship, we need entrepreneurs to stand up have a go and there is support there.

‘‘Importantly, we need to help ourselves. We can’t be looking for handouts. We need to stand up and have a go ourselves.

‘‘We do have a lot of common issues with rates, funding, loss of population and losing our young people.’’

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Cr Gersch said he hoped bringing people together would stimulate ideas for councils.

On Thursday afternoon, Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics Elisabetta Barberio spoke about the proposed particle physics laboratory mooted for the gold mine in Stawell.

‘‘The idea of the project is to use the mine to catch dark matter,’’ she said.

She said the proposed site one kilometre underground was free from interference from cosmic rays.

Gourmet Farmer host Matthew Evans spoke about getting success from having a vision.

Austrade Placemaking’s Sally-Ann Watts spoke about the opportunities for rural councils with free trade agreements.

SED Advisory’s Nick Byrne and Think Up’s presented on the role of young people in designing public space.

Former Christchurch mayor Sir Bob Parker will speak at the conference today about guiding a municipality through a natural disaster.

Stawell’s Amy Rhodes will present on her trip to the Y20 conference, while Regional Development and Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford will represent the state government.