VFF grains group president, Geoff Nalder, said a survey of members had attracted a healthy response and had shown overwhelming support for the development of a brokerage that will link producers and buyers in the newly deregulated wheat market.

The idea has evolved out of plans mooted earlier in the year at the VFF grains group conference to set up a co-operative for marketing wheat.

Since then the VFF has decided to develop a brokerage service for the upcoming harvest, believing it to be more achievable in the short time frame available.

"We had 85pc support for the brokerage and a bit less for the co-op proposal which we are not pursuing - this year anyway," Mr Nalder said.

"Now we’re busy this week meeting with (financial management firm) Price Waterhouse Coopers to develop the business plan and structure and see how we will go about putting it all together."

Mr Nalder said the brokerage would have two major purposes.

Firstly, there would be a market dissemination service for growers looking to assess various marketing products against each other, while the brokerage will act as an intermediary between growers and marketers.

Mr Nalder said he hoped the brokerage would deal both with international and domestic buyers - but said there would be scope to provide more domestic options to sellers.

"There’s a lot of business in the domestic trade where you have to be `in the know', so hopefully we will be able to link growers with more buyers and give them more choice."

He said the grains group could also work with other VFF commodity groups, such as livestock and poultry to foster new relationships.

Marketers would also benefit from the brokerage, according to Mr Nalder.

"If they are looking to accumulate grain, this will be a good option for them to get their hands on larger amounts of grain quicker."