A new almond research facility is to be built in South Australia in a bid to make the AUD$160 million (US$122 million) industry more innovative and competitive.

Website Abc.net.au reported the Almond Centre of Excellence would be built in the territory's Riverland region, and the Almond Board of Australia and the South Australian government would each contribute AUD$4 million (US$3 million) of funding.

The story also said the Almond Board had been pushing for a research facility to be based in the territory since 2013.

The facility will also reportedly operate an experimental orchard.

Abc.net.au reported South Australian Agriculture Minister Leon Bignal had said on a recent trip to India he was told there was huge potential for Australian almonds.

"It's a growing world out there in terms of the appetite for really good high quality nuts. It's important that we don't just sit and do what we did last year or the year before or 10 years ago," he was quoted as saying.

"We need to be innovative, we need to make sure that we can grow the almonds in the most competitive, water-efficient way possible and we also need to make sure we're growing what the markets want in India and China and New Zealand and Asia.

"It's going to be terrific for the industry to have all these researchers doing science experiments out in the fields in the sort of conditions where the growers are."

The story said the Loxton Research Center would house the new almond research facility.

Almond Board chairman Ross Skinner reportedly said there was room for the industry to grow and the Center of Excellence would help find the most sustainable growing methods for Australian conditions.

"It's to be the home for the industry's research and developments," he was quoted as saying.

"It will help match the growth that's occurred in the industry, in a lot of ways the industry has grown so quickly that we've outpaced the research capacity for the industry.

"One of the things that has happened with the industry is that we've transplanted a lot of the technology from California straight to Australia but the different climate and the different soil types that are experienced here as opposed to in California does mean the industry has got some risks that aren't faced by the Californian industry."

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