I live on a farm at Sunnyvale on the Yorke Peninsula with my husband and 2 beautiful children Celeste and Fletcher. We are broad acre farmers who work in a strong family unit with my father-in-law and his identical twin brother’s family.
I consider myself a farmer (my whole life has been connected to agriculture) but I don't drive tractors/headers or feed sheep. I grew up on a farm at Ardrossan, went away to Adelaide for school and university, then married a farmer which reconnected me back to farming life. However, the agriculture industry and its importance has recently taken up even more of my focus in life. Two years ago, I started a group for young women in agriculture to connect and learn from each other. I had discovered that there was an education gap that existed for women who weren't actively farming alongside partners, families, or employers in their overall understanding of both the practical and business areas of the industry. I had experienced this myself in that I knew what the daily happenings on the farm were, but I lacked an in-depth understanding of the processes, the science and the business side of farming.
In the past I had attended events with my husband and had assumed I knew everything about crops, sprays, machinery, farming concepts etc. However, I didn't know everything and while I had a keen desire to learn, I wasn’t sure how to access the information or have time during the days to investigate to any real degree. I was eager to have more involvement on our farm and I also wanted to learn and connect with similarly situated members of our community. So being brave, I contacted a small group of women, all of whom were easily found because they were in the same position as me and called our first meeting. To my surprise, many young women attended and from that meeting since, our membership has continued to grow. We all enjoy the opportunity to connect and learn.
I feel that with my greater understanding of farming and the agricultural industry that I will be able to teach my own children the importance of a strong and united team working to put food on the tables of people around the world. I hope that our family farm business continues well into the future for both my children and the generations to come.