President Rohan Sullivan said this year's AGM theme was on future leaders and the next generation, with speakers focusing on succession as well as young up-and-comers.

It is expected Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke, will open the conference, attended by up to 300 participants and more than 450 dinner guests.

Mr Sullivan said there would be a "bit of an international flavour", with guest speakers Chenjun Pam from China and Professor David Hughes from Britain.

Ms Pam will be speaking about emerging economies in Asia, while Mr Hughes will discuss international buyer preferences across all markets.

"(It's about) how people make decisions about what they buy...and trends in what people's attitudes are and what influences their purchasing decisions," Mr Sullivan said.

A fair representation of the Katherine region is expected, and Mr Sullivan pointed out NTCA membership covered about 90 percent of the NT's cattle herd.

The conference will stage the election of office bearers and hear reports from the branches and NTCA representatives on the National Farmers' Federation and the Cattle Council.

Mr Sullivan said issues were much the same as last year.

"On the federal scene, (there's) the Climate Change Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme legislation and (we'll be) lobbying on that again," he said.

Mr Sullivan said while the amendments to exclude agriculture were passed, both parties needed to be held to make sure it doesn't fall back out again.

He said what would transpire on the floor of parliament when the legislation came before it again was a bit of an unknown.

"On the Territory front, the NT Government is proposing legislation changes to the Pastoral Lands Act with the introduction of a native vegetation management act.

"We're keenly interested in what sort of government proposal might be involved there."

Mr Sullivan said they would continue to lobby on roads, and noted the positive movement of the health air-med situation.

"(It seems to be moving in the right direction) with a new tender coming out and so I'm certainly positive on how that might pan out; ... Katherine people would certainly be interested in what's going on there," he said.

"We are looking forward to getting some outcomes this year."