The Victorian Farmers Federation's (VFF) relationship with the new Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has started positively after a meeting between the two.
The Minister met with representatives from the agricultural sector in a meeting organised by the VFF.
VFF president Emma Germano said a number of agenda items were discussed.
"It was a fantastic opportunity to establish two-way conversation between Minister Watt and Victorian farmers," Ms Germano said.
"The Minister was very keen to hear directly from farmers on a number of important issues, including worker shortages, biosecurity and water policy."
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Mr Watt said he wanted to listen to industry and that conservations with the VFF have been positive.
"It was great to be in Victoria last week and speak with farmers and forestry workers on their home turf," he said.
"I intend to be the kind of Ag Minister that listens to industry rather than dictates, and want to work together wherever possible.
"I had a very productive discussion with the Victorian Farmers' Federation, speaking about issues affecting the dairy, sheep, grains, horticulture, pork and egg industries.
Mr Watt also acknowledged the wide amount of challenges facing the agriculture sector.
"It's clear that while market prices and climatic conditions are generally good, farmers and growers continue to face challenges around biosecurity, input costs, workforce shortages and infrastructure bottlenecks," he said.
"I will take the feedback and ideas I received around workforce shortages with me to the government's Jobs & Skills Summit in Canberra next week, to ensure the voice of the Ag sector is heard."
Mr Watt is currently visiting all jurisdictions to hold roundtable discussions with agriculture representatives ahead of the Treasurer Jim Chalmers jobs and skill summit to be held in Canberra on September 1 and 2.
As well as bringing their ideas to the summit, the National Farmers Federation (NFF) will be the only agriculture-based body that will attend the summit.
In their submission, the NFF have called for a visa processing times to be reduced, restructuring vocational education frameworks for those wanting to study agriculture and the removal of bureaucracy in when hiring staff.
