Thanks to support from Rural Bank, two BCG members and one BCG staff member attended the Australian Women in Agriculture conference in Brisbane, 22-24 September.
The lucky recipients were Kate Cowan from Sheep Hills, Cara Hadzig from Dimboola and BCG Project Manager, Louisa Ferrier who joined a contingent of Rural Bank and Bendigo Bank representatives at the event.
Ms Ferrier said the conference was an exceptional experience for networking, meeting influential and empowering women and discussing critical topics imperative for rural living.
Australian Women in Agriculture (AWiA) was founded in 1998 and is Australia’s peak organisation for women from across all sectors of agriculture. Individuals converged on Queensland’s capital for an annual weekend of new information, experiences and networking.
The conference drew farmers and industry representatives from across Australia and focussed on ‘Securing our Future through Sustainability of Families, Business and Land’.
Organisers acknowledged that ‘sustainability needs a holistic rather than a piecemeal approach’ and so designed the conference program to reflect this.
Topics included overcoming barriers and issues in the workplace; fitness and activity; workplace health and safety risks and obligations; superannuation; getting the best deal from supply contracts; accessing grants for community projects and food security.
There was also an international theme with presentations from Papua New Guinea and Fiji delegates.
The Gala Dinner featured guest speaker Fleur McDonald, a best-selling Australian author, farmer and a champion of rural living.
Ms Hadzig reflected on the event and said she enjoyed meeting like-minded women and hearing their battles to achieve what was needed.
“The farm safety information was really useful because it has such a big impact in the agricultural industry. It is something I have brought back with me and told people about.”
Thanks to the generous support of BCG gold corporate partner Rural Bank, the attendees came away with new ideas to improve their farming and work practices, but also with a new network of like-minded people in the industry.
