Women shine in Aussie agriculture as results tallied
Liv Casben |
The final figures have been tallied at Australia’s largest agricultural exhibition, the Sydney Royal Easter Show, with women a standout in some of the event’s biggest competitions.
From an all-female business to a mother-and-daughter duo, women are making their mark in Australia’s food production and agricultural sectors.
“This year was just outstanding in terms of the number of women who have come through either as sole owners of the business or partners in that particular business,” said Michael Bullen, a judge of the President’s Medal, one of the show’s top gongs.
The President’s Medal competition examines the social, economic and environmental impact of 4000 food producers across Australia.
Mr Bullen said this year there were more female-dominated businesses than he had seen in almost a decade of judging.
“It was really strong the involvement of women in those businesses … it also extended beyond the individual businesses to their employees and their staff,” he told AAP.
Queensland business Rice Culture, whose all-female employment base are Japanese mums working school hours to get the job done, took out the top prize.
“Mums are very efficient, and I know that whatever I ask them to do, it’ll be done before 2.30pm in preparation for school pick-up,” said Rice Culture owner Tomoko Onuki.
Women also took the lead in the Rural Achiever Award, with six of the eight finalists female.
Among them was Goulburn agriculture teacher Laura Fletcher, who wants to beef up the agricultural influence in Aussie schools through a mobile teaching workshop.
“If they’re getting that exposure (to agriculture) … especially in those older high school kids, it may spark something that they may never have thought about,” she told AAP.
The award recognises young men and women who are making significant contributions to rural and regional communities.
Award winner and mum of one Keiley Noble from Narromine in NSW hoped her win would inspire other mothers.
“I’ve never seen someone that’s had a child young, with the title of mum and young leader, so I thought if I could do it, hopefully I could open the pathway up for other people,” said the 27-year-old.
She hopes that sense of inspiration extends to her five-year-old daughter Ruby.
“A lot of the reason why I entered was to show her the things you can do in ag and be a role model for her,” she told AAP.
About 880,000 people attended the show over the 12 days, with more than 15,000 awards handed out during the competition.
Some 6500 livestock exhibits showed off 480 animal breeds.
A waist-bulging 30 tonnes of Aussie spuds were consumed thanks to the production of chips on a stick, while more than 2.5 tonnes of flour was used to make scones and 1200 cases of lemons were squeezed for lemonade.
Over 50,000 items of produce were put on display in each of the district exhibits, with 1.6 million showbags sold.
AAP
