Agriculture Minister Jaclyn Symes toured the park's Australian Grains Genebank as part of her first visit to the Wimmera since taking on the portfolio. She said she was impressed with the work being done to make crops more drought-tolerant.

Related: Symes lays out Wimmera priorities

"To learn about how they're looking at native plants that aren't edible and looking at the traits that may be transferred into edible crops … it's great," Ms Symes said.

She said she wanted to focus on promoting agriculture as a career pathway to young people.

"The science behind (agriculture) is something a lot of farmers are really attracted to. I think it's a really good tool to encourage new farmers into these fields," she said.

Traci Griffin, the park's research director, said it was important for the scientists to be connected to the minister.

"They are the greatest advocate for the work we do," she said.

"The Grains Innovation Park is probably the largest employment site in the region, so it's incredibly important for those sorts of salaries being around, and we're constantly working on projects to improve what crops are available to farmers.

"As an example, we breed lentils that are herbicide resistant and so that brings a whole range of options for farmers they might not have had a few years ago."