Rupanyup farmer and Grain Producers Australia chairman Andrew Weidemann said there were a number of issues the government needed to address to improve the industry for Wimmera farmers.

“We’ve been working on improving the transparency of the supply chain, not just in the grain industry but other sectors,” he said.

Mr Weidemann said infrastructure was an ongoing issue. “We are still trying to tackle infrastructure issues about getting grain to port quickly by either road or rail and improving the supply change,” he said.

“The government needs to open up a conversation about what rail lines are needed going forward versus what roads are needed.”

Mr Weidemann said Grain Producers Australia was working closing with the federal government about chemical regulation before the election.

“The legislation to improve regulation is sitting there with government – we were hoping it would be handed down before the election but that wasn’t the case,” he said.

“We would like to see that issue finalised.”

In a pre-election commitment, the federal government made a number of announcements regarding the agriculture white paper.

Mr Weidemann said he hope these announcements were now delivered.

“There was talks of things like $5 million for more education in agriculture as well as the potential to develop some co-ops,” he said.

Mr Weidemann said he wasn’t sure who the next agriculture minister would be.

“It will be interesting – Barnaby Joyce might get a higher portfolio now after winning his electorate,” he said. “He did a pretty reasonable job at getting agriculture back onto the landscape and giving the industry a boost.”

He said he hoped the new government would make agriculture a priority.

“There are lots of things we would like to see finalised and now is the time to roll the sleeves up and have a crack of getting at good things done,” he said.