MOVES are afoot to create a new national body to fill the void left by AWB in promoting Australian wheat abroad.

The Wheat Certification Council, Victorian Farmers Federation and grain broker AgFarm say since the deregulation of the wheat industy there is no single body promoting Australian wheat, educating millers and bakers and liaising with international governments on residue issues.

AgFarm managing director Bob McKay said the reputation of Australian wheat was suffering and farmers would pay for it in poor prices at the silo.

He said the problems became obvious during a recent visit to Taiwan.

"The issue is that no one is promoting Australian wheat anymore," Mr McKay said.

"No one is educating people on how to use Australian wheat, how to bake it."

Mr McKay said there were also government-to-government issues, including concerns about pesticide residues.

"The grain might be perfectly fine in Australia, but not acceptable in Taiwan," Mr McKay said. He said Australia was lagging behind other countries in promoting wheat.

"Everywhere we went US wheat was being promoted," Mr McKay said.

"The US Wheat Associates promote US wheat all around the world and Canada has its single desk."

Wheat Classification Council chairman Robert Sewell said a recent trip to the Middle East made it clear there was a void left by industry deregulation.

"There's a millers' conference in Turkey, with 500 people attending and in the past AWB would have been a sponsor and a prime speaker," Mr Sewell said.

"But people are telling me that Australia is no longer represented on that front."

Mr Sewell will be taking the proposal for a new body to stakeholders at meetings in Sydney and Melbourne this week.

He said there was an urgent need for a new body to take on promotion and education roles.

"The body would be like a drafting gate - when the inquiries come in, the body would know which way to send it," Mr Sewell said.

He said the new body would be independent of government and industry, but may work in partnership with them.

Victorian Farmers Federation Grains Group president Russell Amery said Australia needed to follow in the footsteps of multi-national brands Coke and Nike.

"These brand are the biggest in the world and they still promote their product," Mr Amery said.

He said the new body would need grower representation so information from customers could be fed back to growers.