Dr Gillespie said he had invited Mr Joyce, the Deputy Nationals Leader, to the region recently and the Minister agreed to visit the Manning and Hastings valleys on Wednesday, November 19.

"I am pleased to announce that Barnaby will be spending some time in our electorate.

"His visit is particularly timely given today's release of the much anticipated Agricultural Competitiveness Green Paper which is now available for public comment," Dr Gillespie said.

Dr Gillespie said the Coalition Government's agricultural policy was focused on increasing returns at the farm gate.

"The Coalition is continuing to deliver on its commitment to boost the competitiveness and profitability of Australia's agricultural sector and the Green Paper represents the next step towards the development of a White Paper," Dr Gillespie said.

"Barnaby Joyce has been particularly keen to increase agricultural returns for Australia, particularly at the farm gate and this Green Paper has been built from the ground up drawing on the valuable input from farmers and industry and community representatives."

The Green Paper presents a number of possible policy ideas put forward by stakeholders during the issues paper consultation process.

"If you want to help shape Australia's agriculture policy agenda, then I encourage you to make a submission against the Green Paper," he said.

Minister Joyce said there were 25 diverse policy themes for comment in the Green Paper.

"I said I wanted to hear the big ideas, to shake things up," Mr Joyce said.

"Now it's about whittling these ideas down and deciding what's really important to take into the future particularly given the tight fiscal environment we are working in.

"As a nation, we need a competitive and innovative agricultural sector - a sector that increases farmgate profitability, has expanded export and trade opportunities, and strengthens our rural and regional communities."

Submissions are due by 5pm EST on December 5, 2014.

To find out more visit www.agriculturalcompetitiveness.dpmc.gov.au