FARM lobby group GrainGrowers has used its pre-budget submission to the federal government to push for funding for areas such as market access and work into keeping costs down for critical farm inputs such as fertiliser and pesticides.
Other areas of interest for the organisation included infrastructure, biosecurity, taxation and sustainability.
GrainGrowers chair Rhys Turton said the organisation was looking for government investment that would boost industry capacity and resilience.
He said putting funds towards the grain industry was a sound use of government money.
"As an industry, we are a powerhouse of regional Australia with 22,500 farm businesses directly employing 34,000 workers each season and thousands more employed across the supply chain," he said.
Mr Turton said specific examples of funding upgrades GrainGrowers were looking for included a significant upgrade in funding for freight networks and regional roads, including $1 billion over four years through the Regional Infrastructure Recovery program.
He also nominated allocating $85.9 million for the Agri-Business Expansion Initiative as a key way the government could improve grain's market access.
Mr Turton also called on government to assist with increasing opportunities for domestic manufacturers of fertiliser, chemicals, fuel, and spare parts and to develop better visa arrangements to allow more workers at key times of the year.
GrainGrowers also outlined its support for an inquiry into the Australian grains industry.
However, unlike its fellow grain grower representative group Grain Producers Australia, who have been lobbying for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to conduct an inquiry GrainGrowers said it did not have a clear favoured option of how the inquiry should be run.
GPA has said it believes there are potential distortions within the market that need to be reviewed.