Finalists for National Rural Women’s Award announced

The complete list of national finalists for the Agrifutures Rural Women’s Award has been announced.

For over two decades, the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award has championed women from Australia’s rural industries by acknowledging and supporting the essential role they play in businesses and communities.

The Award serves to identify, celebrate and empower women in the industry by providing financial assistance, mentoring, resources and support for state and territory winners.

The state and territory winners are:

· Anh Nguyen from Tasmania, whose project Vine-Ai aims to roll out a smart farming system using automatic controls and management retrofitted to current irrigation and control systems. This will make farm management more efficient and sustainable by freeing up labour, optimising resources and maximising productivity.

· Natasha Roebig from Queensland, who is passionate about sustainable and ethical beekeeping and is looking to establish a Beekeepers’ training facility aimed at promoting research, knowledge exchange and networking across the apiary industry.

· Claire Moore from Victoria whose project aims to address declining bee colony numbers by breeding a genetically diverse range of queen bees that are healthy and adaptable in a variety of climates.

· Zoe Malone from Northern Territory, whose project seeks to collaborate with grassroots organisations to provide tools and information empowering volunteers and community groups to take charge of their governance.

· Belinda Lay from Western Australia, whose project uses specially designed collars to monitor the needs of sheep, transforming the use of technological data for on-farm animal welfare outcomes.

· Deanna Lush from South Australia, whose project seeks to establish a network of value-based connections between the agricultural industry and city, changing discussions in the agriculture sectors about the importance of engagement.

· Jo Palmer from NSW-ACT, who has founded Pointer Remote Roles, a project which connects regional women looking for work with jobs that can be completed remotely from their rural hometown. This portal has the potential to reduce rural unemployment, stimulate local economies and reduce pressure on farming families looking for alternative income streams to drought-proof their businesses.

Each of these women has received a $10,000 bursary for further work on their innovative ideas and projects, as well as access to professional development opportunities and alumni networks.

The state and territory winners will now go on to compete for the National AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award later this year.

The National Winner and Runner Up will receive a further $10,000 and $5,000 respectively to develop their projects.

The state and territory winners will participate in a three-day workshop and National Selection Panel interviews next month before the National Winner is announced at the 2019 Agrifutures Rural Women’s Award Gala Dinner held at Parliament House, Canberra on 11 September.

You can read about the winners of last year’s award here.