The Queensland town of Hughenden wants huge new water supplies to help it become a cropping powerhouse.

The small outback town between Mount Isa and Townsville has been holding discussions on securing water for irrigation, and talking about what it will grow if it does.

Hughenden Irrigation Corporation chair Shane McCarthy wants a dam to be built in an area where several rivers flow into the local Flinders River.

“We want to dam one between the hills and therefore secure a lot of water,” he told the ABC.

A 2013 CSIRO feasibility study found growing crops in the Flinders River catchment would be possible, but securing water would be a challenge.

Mr McCarthy said with significant local industries in decline, the town needs a new economic frontier.

“I was born and bred [in Hughenden] … and I'd like to leave it to my kids to be able to come back to this area,” he said.

“I'm a previous Flinders Shire Councillor and I know the potential of the area. We've been talking about doing this sort of stuff for years.”

Local councillor Clancy Middleton has been managing a pilot project to grow grapes, and says interested investors are already watching.

“The market's there, the investor's there and everything,” Cr Middleton said.

“All we've got to do is shore our water up and try and get the Government to be there with us and it's not only Hughenden, but we start to open up the west.

“Once we get our big investor in with his packing sheds and everything, anybody at all can come along then and come into it with a smaller scheme.”