Women and Youth in Agriculture
CWFS Tapping a natural resource – a rural and regional ‘remote’ workforce
Date:
Oct 2019- Oct 2021
Funding:
FRRR, Paul Ramsay Foundation
A comprehensive training program that increases skills of participants to work remotely. This project will support the activation of underemployed people & increase human capital in Central West NSW. Individuals (particularly women) will build confidence & acquire skills to re-enter the workforce remotely with CWFS’ facilitation & contractor expertise.
The aim of the project is to support individuals (particularly women) to build confidence and acquire the skills to re-enter the workforce remotely. This project will provide a highly developed educational and networking program to upskill, activate and engage underemployed people to remotely work in Central West NSW (CW NSW) increasing professional & economic opportunities & encourage community engagement.
In addition to ongoing drought conditions, the disruption of the current COVID-19 pandemic has emphasised the need for a sound understanding and key skills to work remotely. This project provides much needed skills and knowledge for individuals to be more agile and competently adapt to changing circumstances.
This project will:
Facilitate peer to peer learning (between the cohort) to create an online community of local individuals. This will enable participants to offer practical support, gain insights and solve problems from each other.
Build confidence and capacity in individuals living in CW NSW to look to remote work as a means of re-engaging with the workforce.
With the support of FRRR, this project can assist in reducing the impact of skill shortages in the regions, maintaining rural populations and improving the outcomes for people in CW NSW.
FRRR will fund CWFS to promote and co-ordinate project activities and measure outcomes. CWFS has a strong network in the region and a history of delivering successful projects driven from the grass roots. Project trainer, Jo Palmer is an experienced professional in the ‘remote work’ space. She founded Pointer Remote Roles (Pointer), a job matching platform that connects businesses with talent that works remotely from anywhere in Australia, in 2017. Jo was motivated to start the company after observing her network of incredibly talented friends who had married farmers and had left the workforce. This group of professionals with a skill set that was underutilised or idle was not isolated to Jo’s friendship circle, but was a phenomenon across rural, regional and remote (RRR) Australia. In September 2019, Jo was awarded the National AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award for her work supporting, educating and connecting rural communities through remote work.
Project roll out
The following elements will be delivered to participants:
Remote Work for Professionals Workshop
Each participant will complete an e-Learning over a maximum of the three-month period
Participants participate in two webinars
Resumes will be assessed and feedback will be provided by an HR specialist
Remote Work Readiness Workshop
Private networking and support group (Slack)
Remote Work for Professionals Workshop
The Workshop will build confidence and capacity in participants and help to remove barriers to entry to the remote workforce by exposing them to remote work technologies and strategies. The Workshop will include practical resources and demonstrations of technologies currently available to professionals that enable remote work. This Workshop includes:
• An overview of the online e-Learning
• Practical training in remote work technology
Remote Ready e-Learning
Participants will complete an online e-Learning course that provides participants with the specific skills, knowledge and training in working remotely. This training empowers individuals and gives them access to a toolbox of skills to make remote work successful.
Webinars
Participants will engage with two webinars; one focusing on change management and the other on resume development. The sessions will be interactive and recorded to review at a later date.
Resume build and review
Participants will receive a template to create their own resume and their resumes will be reviewed and given feedback by an HR professional.
Remote Work Readiness Workshop
This Workshop includes:
Final resume review
Survey of post program skills and confidence levels
Interview technique training
Pointer profile creation
Private networking and support group
Participants will engage with facilitators and each other to build networks and provide support throughout the Project and beyond. This will be hosted in Slack.
Women and Youth in Agriculture Conference 2019
Resilience and Renewal
CWFS 2019 Women and Youth in Agriculture – ‘Resilience and Renewal’ was held on Wednesday 27 March 2019 at the Condobolin Agricultural Research Station to a record crowd of 160 people. With perfect autumn weather, the crowd enjoyed a marquee on the lawn of the Ag Station; with a high number of industry stakeholders and local businesses providing stalls and displays. It was great to see such widespread media coverage with ABC Radio’s ‘Country Hour’ promoting the day by broadcasting live from the Conference.
We were fortunate to have a variety of fabulous inspiring speakers including the Hon Sussan Ley, MP; former State Drought Co-ordinator, Pip Job; Vanessa Bell of Sarah Jane Bond (merino products); Ginny Stevens from Active Farmers; Hamish Munro from Pairtree Intelligence and industry speakers from GrainGrowers; MLA; AWB, ADM, Rabobank; GrainCorp; Tocal College; NSW DPI and Sheep Connect. Our keynote speaker was the renowned comedian, Fiona O’Loughlin, who grew up in rural Australia and has a strong connection with rural life.
The Hon Sussan Ley MP shared with us her inspiring story of determination. Don’t let the world around you decide what’s possible for you. Believe in yourself with unshakable faith and commit to your goals!
Former State Drought Coordinator Pip Job reminded us of the importance of identifying your cheer squad. Who’s your greatest supporter?
Know who they are and where they are so that when opportunity knocks you have the courage to open the door!
Vanessa Bell of Sarah Jane Bond Merino products discussed her vision of consumers who are excited to share the journey with producers.
Digital story telling provides an outstanding platform to provide consumers with insight into a lifestyle they normally wouldn’t have access to.
Education can empower consumers to make informed decisions.
A panel session focusing on agricultural marketing was facilitated by Josh Gordon NSW DPI International Engagement Unit followed morning tea with a lively discussion with Michael Vaughan, ADM; Izzi Hutchinson, GrainCorp; Josh Coulthurst, Rabobank; and Warren Lander, AWB.
Well known comedian, Fiona O’Loughlin, had our crowd absolutely captivated and in fits of laughter as she demonstrated the essential qualities of a good story teller. From what I have heard, Fiona also had a great time and is keen to come back to our community in the future.
The afternoon session kicked off with Ginny Stevens, sharing the origin story of Active Farmers. What a fantastic initiative Ginny has led, which helps combat the effects of isolation by fostering social connections that promote health and well-being in our farming communities.
Ginny’s session was followed with an introduction to a few of the amazing women advocating for our farmers in their industry roles.
Thank you to Lucy Durragh from GrainGrowers; Fiona Young from Meat & Livestock Australia; Megan Rogers from Sheep Connect NSW and Estelle Cooper from Tocal College for all the work you do to promote and up skill Women and Youth in the Ag Industry!
Our final speaker of the day was Hamish Munro from Pairtree Intelligence. He spoke about how to be a good Employee-preneur, by making your interests and passions add value to the work you already do.
Pairtree was developed as a solution to the “data-overload” problem Hamish identified as a result of the current AgTech revolution.
CWFS would like to thank all the sponsors of the Conference, this day would not be able to happen without your support. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the CWFS staff for all their help and hard work prior, during and post-Conference. Last but not least, thank you to all of you who attended and helped make this year’s Conference bigger and better than ever before.
Susan Ley MP, John Medcalf LSC Mayor and Diana Fear CEO
Panel discussion with Josh Gordon NSW DPI, Michael Vaughan ADM, Izzi Hutchinson Graincorp, Josh Coulthurst Rabobank and Warren Lander AWB at the Conference
The crowd at the afternoon session
The crowd under the marquee on the lawn of the Ag station
CWFS AgMarketing Project 2018
AgMarketing Project
The AgMarketing Project brings on-farm decision makers (women) and marketing specialists together in regular workshops and forums to learn more about agricultural commodity marketing strategies and opportunities. This project aims to increase knowledge, confidence and profitability of farming businesses through mentor support and peer to peer learning. The Project was funded by the Federal Government’s Farming Together Project and has been especially success with participant surveys demonstrating an extremely positive response and reiterating the importance of upskilling in this area.
The speakers engaged the audience with much advice and strategies to better use opportunities in relation to marketing their commodities. Christine and Rosie both talked about leadership within their communities and the importance of sharing a vision with all stakeholders. Christine is well known as the organiser of the ‘Rent a Farmhouse’ program which revitalised her small community by encouraging people to move into the area. This meant that schools could remain open, businesses stayed viable and the community went from strength to strength. Rosie has played a pivotal role in beautifying the Forbes area through sculpture and she developed the ‘Somewhere Down the Lachlan Sculpture Trail’. Both women have a strong commitment to their rural communities and have shown great determination in following their vision. Both stressed the need to be focused and find like-minded people to help drive projects. It was very inspiring to the group to hear Christine and Rosie speak and we thank them very much for their presentations.
A panel session with Izzi, Warren, David, Christine and Rosie followed the more formal part of the day and the audience were invited to ask questions. It was very interesting to hear Izzi and Warren give their viewpoint on potential grain prices, particularly given the dry season. In terms of livestock, David talked about pastures and the need to generate a saleable product and make sure feed is available to keep animals in good condition.
A consistent theme across all speakers was the need to identify the best enterprises in terms of livestock and crops for your business and the need to stay abreast of opportunities to maximise price.
This was the final workshop for the CWFS AgMarketing Project under the Farming Together program. I would very much like to thank the sponsors, Farming Together; NSW DPI International Engagement Unit; RDA Central West; ADM; GrainCorp; AWI and Jemalong Wool, who have generously availed themselves to the group and attended the many workshops. And thank you to all the marvellous women who participated in this project. It was wonderful to get to know you all and I look forward to seeing you again at another CWFS event.
The Group at the Eugowra Workshop
The group intently listening to the panel
The Panel awaiting the audiences questions
