NFF president Fiona Simson has called for 20 "regional development precincts", including the Riverina, to receive government funding aimed at becoming "globally recognised centres of high-tech agriculture, food processing and manufacturing".

Ms Simson said the proposal would put the pressure on all levels of government to work together to come up with a plan for the regions.

"Rural local governments are acutely aware of both the challenges their communities face and their potential, but are financially constrained by a more often-than-not small rate base," she said.

Riverina Eastern Regional Organisation CEO Julie Briggs said skills and housing shortages needed to be addressed, with projects such as Inland Rail and Snowy Hydro 2.0 already demanding additional workers.

"If you create jobs, you create more skill shortages," she said. "All of our councils at the moment have job vacancies that they cannot fill."

Ms Briggs said the COVID-19 pandemic had demonstrated the difficulty of filling regional skills shortages, but also the appeal of living regionally, and said more funding was needed for "soft infrastructure" that would make the region more appealing to move to.

"People don't just come to a place to work, they come to the country to live," she said. "And living includes ... things like arts and cultural services, things that people enjoy in their leisure hours."

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Ms Briggs said REROC's regional housing strategy aimed to address the "severe housing shortage" in the Riverina but said more funding was needed.

"If we are not able to address that shortage, then we won't be able to have communities grow across the Riverina," she said.

Nationals senator and Regional Development Minister Bridget McKenzie is due to attend the NFF's blueprint launch in Shepparton today, while Nationals colleague and Riverina MP Michael McCormack told The Daily Advertiser the region has an "exciting future".

"The Riverina and Central West is, of course, one of Australia's most productive regions," Mr McCormack said.

"It is a natural region to invest in and to develop."

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