Asia and unity NFF priorities

Newly appointed National Farmers' Federation chief executive Simon Talbot says Australia will never be the food bowl of Asia, but it could be its deli.

The former Mondalez corporate affairs manager spoke to the _Countryman _ after attending the NFF National Congress 2014 earlier this week, which was his first high-profile engagement in his new role.

Mr Talbot - who also runs a Murray Grey stud in Tasmania - said the theme of this year's event, Producing our Future, saw more than 350 representatives from Government, industry and the wider agricultural supply chain join together to explore core business, challenging viewpoints and blue-sky opportunities for agriculture, at the grassroots, Australian and global levels.

And he said the focus for Australian agriculture needed to be the Asian export sector.

Mr Talbot said after more than seven years working on agricultural investments in the Asia-Pacific region, he brought the skill-set to facilitate that focus.

"We've focused on the local market but if we open the Asian markets, it will open the food opportunity for the country," he said.

Mr Talbot also said he believed the nation's exports could double by 2020 and that would mean the WA agricultural industry could be worth about $15 billion to its economy each year.

"In Jakarta, especially, WA products are everywhere and if you think that by 2020 the Indonesian middle class is expected to reach 65 million, it's a massive opportunity," he said.

Mr Talbot said, therefore, it was imperative for the future success of farming groups to tackle the Asian challenge, as well as domestic issues, and that unity between States was required.

"We discussed a report into farming sector representation at the congress," he said.

He said farmers across Australia wanted their advocacy efforts to be streamlined and strengthened through a more unified model of representation.

A report released at the Congress, based on exhaustive research of grassroots farmers, recommended that the agricultural sector unify, reduce duplication and adapt to changes in the modern agricultural environment.

"We'd like to either virtually or physically come together, but now it'sits now in the hands of our 30 member organisations," Mr Talbot said.

WAFarmers is a member of the NFF, but the PGA is not.