RCV chair Cr Mary-Ann Brown said most of the 37 member councils had identified land and infrastructure, suitable for food and beverage manufacturing operations.

"We commissioned a piece of work about food manufacturing opportunities in rural Victoria," Cr Brown said.

It followed research on the regional workforce.

"We saw this as a real opportunity, for our communities," she said.

Infrastructure Victoria has found collectively the regions contribute almost 20 per cent of the state's overall economy and produce a third of Victoria's exports.

Victoria is Australia's largest food and fibre exporting state, accounting for over 28pc of the nation's exports.

The sector supports around 200,000 jobs, with 76pc of agricultural employment concentrated in regional areas.

She said councils had also looked at comparative land values, between rural Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne.

"There is a significant price differential if people are looking to buy land for manufacturing in a rural community, versus in Melbourne."

Cr Brown said councils were now contacting about 4000 food manufacturing businesses, to gauge their interest in relocating, or expanding, into regional Victoria.

She said regional Victoria also offered the advantage of overcoming the challenges brought about food manufacturers operating in residential areas.

"There are impacts, in terms of how they manage waste and a whole range of things, and you may not face those challenges in a rural community.

"You potentially have access to more land, to manage some of those issues, that you don't necessarily have in the city."

Nearly 40 per cent of the food and beverage manufacturing sector was based in rural Victoria.

"There are some examples where this has been very effective," she said.

"We have seen relocation of horticultural business to rural councils, on the outskirts of Melbourne."

'It's also about diversification of those economies and creating employment opportunities, as well," she said.

'It ticks a number of boxes for our communities."

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