"The medium term OUTLOOK for grains and oilseeds will be significantly affected by government policies that subsidise or mandate the use of biofuels," Vince O"Donnell, Manager, Commodity OUTLOOK, ABARE told the conference.

"Increased demand for feed grains for biofuels combined with the continued expansion of intensive livestock industries will result in world stocks remaining low, placing upward pressure on world prices," Mr O"Donnell said.

Mr O"Donnell was optimistic about the coming Australian winter grain season.

"Assuming average seasonal conditions, winter grain crop production is forecast to reach around 38 million tonnes in 2007-08, an increase of almost 23 million tonnes from last season"s drought affected crop."

Alick Osborne, Commercial Manager of Louis Dreyfus Australia, spoke of the importance of on farm storage and market signals.

"The Australian wheat industry requires clearer market price signals so that participants can make informed decisions on marketing, asset utilisation and service pricing," Mr Osborne explained.

"The Australian wheat industry should be no longer compelled to service the export market only through a national pool. For necessary market signals to come through clearly and efficiently there needs to be an open and contestable wheat export market," Mr Osborne said.

Tom Keene, Managing Director of GrainCorp spoke of some of the challenges facing the grains industry.

"Changing markets and changing customer expectations, both domestically and internationally, along with managing the Australian grain brand in international markets will be two key industry challenges going forward."