#Strongwomen. "I write about the power of trying, because I want to be okay with failing. I write about generosity because I battle selfishness. I write about joy because I know sorrow. I write about faith because I almost lost mine, and I know what it is to be broken and in need of redemption. I write about gratitude because I am thankful – for all of it." Kristin Armstrong
In August last year following a number of conversations I wrote my first post announcing the launch of the Wise Women Project that would bring together big picture thinkers to support women and their allies to solve some of agriculture’s biggest challenges.
In the first instance we see an exciting opportunity to reframe gender balance as one of the century’s most obvious business opportunities. But first we have to acknowledge, understand and maximize the complementary differences between men and women. The challenge here is not to treat everyone equally and the same, but to treat everyone equally and different, with a deep understanding of what those differences are.
We need to look at the blueprints of our workplaces, to understand how the policies, processes, structures, employee behaviours, leaders, and culture in our workplaces can value women and their contributions
We started looking at ways we could tap into that as yet great untapped resource in agriculture – women
Women comprise 32% of workers in agriculture (ABARES, 2021). Women are 51% of the Australian population and bring valuable skills to a workforce, such as building empathetic innovation driven systems and early adoption of technology.
And we took on this challenge
And I know that a lot of people who have done the hard yards on this are going to be very excited to learn we are going to get a chance to see if we can make it happen
Watch this space
FYI
Books I am reading and referencing
Brandsplaining by Jane Cunningham and Philippa Roberts
The Fix by Michelle King
Seven Steps to Leading a Gender-Balanced Business by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox
I work in the social impact space and I am appreciating participating in peer learning groups, being exposed to new stimuli and having opportunities to reflect and reset..
Inspirational speaker panel- How awesome are peer learning groups, being exposed to new stimuli and having opportunities to reflect and reset..
A fortnight ago I had a 30 min zoom call with some-one who asked me some great questions including what success looks like for me.
Excitingly we have travelled a significant distance to achieve No 1 – A fit for purpose education system that prepares young people for the reality of work and supports them to thrive in life.
A fit for purpose agricultural workforce strategy and roadmap. The good news here is we have crossed the starting line. The Action4Agriculture team look forward to having their Action4Youth initiative funded to experiment and see what works, what has potential and what we can park
Clear Pathways between 1 and 2. I am confident if funded Professor Felicity Blackstock can bring together a team of bright minds to make this vision a reality
Agriculture fixes its social and environmental justice red flags. We know what we need to do, building a critical mass to make it happen is another thing. We must focus on the huge cost of inaction on this one
The agriculture sector connecting, collaborating, codesigning and creating success together. This one is particularly close to my heart and I will continue to work with my tribe to celebrate the wins on this one – no matter how tiny
In April our Young Farming Champions will be participating in a workshop under the tutelage of the wonderful Gaye Steel former National Marketing Manager of McDonalds and Telstra. Gaye will share with agriculture’s Next Gen advocates the dangers of reinforcing the negative ( agriculture’s area of expertise) and how to flip the conversation (like to the Coalition for Conservation have )
I took some-one to lunch today to say thank you for the all the pro bono work they had done for me and our organisation.
I selected the restaurant because it knew it featured the produce of one of our supporting partners. A partner I am very proud to be aligned with. The menu featured a number of branded produce yet not once did the restaurant team members tell me and my dining partner why this produce was on the menu. The big question is why?
I remember when I was returning to the farm and still doing a few shifts in pharmacy and I would meet new people and they asked me what was my day job I would alternate between saying I was a farmer and a pharmacist
I remember vividly the day some -one replied “That’s an esoteric career” when I said I was a farmer . ( BTW I had to look up the word esoteric later)
This inspired me to go on a journey and work with the Action4Agriculture Young Farming Champions to “normalise” careers in agriculture.
How are we doing that?
We start by telling people agriculture- farming, food and fibre is so much more than the farm
It starts before the farm with custodianship of the land and the sea.
It progresses to encompass the farm itself;
The stage between the farm gate and the point of sale, which includes value-adding; and shaping of, and by, buyers’ preferences.
Throughout the process, there is a significant supply chain component.
None of the players in any of these stages stands alone. They are all linked in a web of interdependencies, where harm to one weakens the whole (for example, poor labour hire practices injure the reputation of the whole sector); and, conversely, enhancement of one strengthens the whole (for example, a focus on continuous learning in one industry spills over into another).
Cooperation among the players in the various stages benefits the entire sector more than if one gains a temporary benefit by disadvantaging another.
Unlike the 20th century, the 21st century has seen a growing realisation in the various elements of the Australian agriculture (farming, food and fibre) sector that they all hang together, and that cooperation is more constructive than conflict.
A career in agriculture is not for the faint hearted – Do we spend enough time building human capital and resilience . Graphics source
The strategy confirms that Australian agriculture is a complex and sophisticated system. Its performance relies heavily on the quality of its people. It highlights the need to:
I love the way the report talks about agriculture being so much more than the farm and to recognise this the committee chose to use the term “Agrifood”
It is a spectrum comprising a number of stages. Starting before the farm with custodianship of the land and the sea, it progresses to encompass the farm itself; the stage between the farm gate and the point of sale, which includes value-adding; and shaping of, and by, buyers’ preferences. Ultimately it is the end consumer’s preferences that dictate the workings of each stage. Throughout the process, there is a significant supply chain component.
It goes on to say
None of the players in any of these stages stands alone. They are all linked in a web of interdependencies, where harm to one weakens the whole (for example, poor labour hire practices injure the reputation of the whole sector); and, conversely, enhancement of one strengthens the whole (for example, a focus on continuous learning in one industry spills over into another). Cooperation among the players in the various stages benefits the entire sector more than if one gains a temporary benefit by disadvantaging another. Unlike the 20th century, the 21st century has seen a growing realisation in the various elements of the Australian AgriFood sector that they all hang together, and that cooperation is more constructive than conflict.
The committee noted with concern
the converging problems of agricultural workforce shortages, reduced employment opportunities for young people and poor perceptions of agricultural jobs and careers.
As we face increasingly complex major global and domestic challenges, Australia’s social and economic future is reliant on a fit-for-purpose education system and easy to navigate training pathways that equip young people with the skills they need to transition through school, to higher education and/or the workplace and thrive
The committee then made this beautiful statement
If the sector places capability development of its people at its core, if a general recognition prevails that this is a highly diverse sector encompassing a number of stages, if the ultimate arbiter is acknowledged to be the expectations of citizens and the tastes of consumers, if industry leaders rise to the challenge, and if they unite to plan actively to recruit and educate the new workforce, Australian AgriFood will not just survive in the 21st century. It will thrive.
I came to agriculture from a 25 year career in retail and I have always been frustrated by the lack of desire or lack of availability in the agriculture sector to upskill from a human capital perspective.
For example I spent 3 years at uni learning pharmacology – my degree did not prepare me for the world of retail but the University of New England and Financial Management Research Centre (FMRC) filled that gap 30 years ago. I don’t know of anything similar in agriculture except the Rabobank Business Management offering . I havent done the Rabobank course so I don’t know if it covers team management and motivations.
I was so impressed by the FMRC course I still have the manual 30 years later
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Is agriculture having enough conversations with our team members? Are we doing regular surveys like this one from McKinsey? What do we know about our team members?
There is some very important work being done by Professor Peter McIlveen and Dr Nicole McDonald looking at the Vocational psychology of agriculture. (e.g., the skill, knowledge, openness to change, and motivation of farmers). Their research couldn’t come at a more important time
This research by McKinsey shows why we shouldn’t guess and why the research is so important.
Problems are challenges to be solved and when we have the right solution we need to advocate at the highest level to ensure those solutions are put in place.
And we have some very wicked problems in Australian agriculture including human rights and modern slavery issues we should have addressed a long time ago.
The more modern and sophisticated the whole AgriFood sector becomes, the less room there is likely to be for unethical operators, particularly in labour hire, and the mistreatment of transient workers. The Committee is strongly of the view that every possible means should be brought to bear to stamp out these ugly practices. Source
Photo source The Weekly Times
What does real advocacy look like – three very courageous women in Session 11 at the recent ABARES conference showed Australian agriculture industry leaders exactly what it looks like.
“This is real issue for industry bodies and it goes to industry leadership we can’t address our workforce labour issues until we deal with the elephant in the room… and stop sweeping our problems under the rug” Professor Joanna Howe
Professor Joanna Howe answers the question “What is the problem”
The problem is, when there’s so many people doing the wrong thing, and when there’s a reliance on undocumented workers and dodgy contractors, which are unregulated, and when the industry hasn’t shown the leadership on these issues, it becomes very, very difficult. The main thing that the industry has fought for, is an ag visa and for more expanded migration pathways without recognizing that they’ve lost their social license. That there are real issues with the industry saying, give us more visas, give us more overseas workers, when investigation, after investigation is showing problems. I think that there is a need for the industry bodies to step up and to own this issue and to face the difficult solutions that will result in structural change.
There are growers that need to go out of business because their business model is based on exploiting workers. There are other growers that can then pick up the slack and expand their operations because they have the economies of scale and the competency, but it’s not just about large business. For example, in the Northern territory, a small mango farmer that we knew, that we interviewed, he brought in six workers on the seasonal worker program. It was more expensive for him to do so, but he was running a very sharp operation and making profits, even though that program is quite expensive, but he knew that it was a better program for him to use than the backpacker program, which is a revolving door for undocumented migrants. It’s not just about the small farms, bad, big farms compliant, that’s not what it is, and there’s not what I’m saying, but the industry needs to recognize that there’s some very hard decisions ahead and just arguing for an agriculture visa without acknowledging the extent of the problem or being open to doing real hard work about it.
For example, industry created the Fair Farms initiative through Growcom in Queensland. Good program, but if I’ll be honest with you, it doesn’t involve … I’m just being honest, it doesn’t involve unions. Yes, it’s got involvement from the Fair Work ombudsman, but the amount, they have very few inspectors across an entire country. We know that there’s problems across this workforce and while unions cause a lot of trouble for farmers, they are a necessary evil. If we’re going to put it that way from the growers perspective. In that, they do monitor standards. If we need to clean up the industry, they’re a part of this and they’re going to be involved. We saw the impact that they can have and the piece rates case. The fair farms program should be tripartite. Otherwise, it’s just the good growers who sign up to that accreditation program and who use it. It does nothing to affect the bad growers who are doing the wrong thing and getting away with it” Watch the video here
What does best practice look like
We ALL have a role to play – everyone in the supply chain from farmers to retailers to consumers can ask themselves what role can I play in stepping up to say no to modern slavery in this country
This week I participated in an extraordinary workshop for 200 CEOs of “for purpose” organisations across the country
Our first session was with Dr Jemma King ( if you every get a chance to be part of a workshop with Dr King – grab it with both hands )
She shared with us a recent survey on close to 100 CEO’s who self assessed their level of stress
As you can see from the graphic 85% of CEO’s previously survey were in the amber zone for an average of 12 months and if I remember correctly Dr King said one should not be in the amber zone for more than 6 to 8 weeks. She said if the CEOs were feeling like this, its highly likely their team were too
We were then put in break out rooms and given the hypothetical if we were these CEOs how would we ensure self care for ourselves and pastoral care for our team members.
The mood in the breakout room was quite gloomy as we reflected on the impact of 2 years of pandemic, never ending adverse climatic events and now war.
So I suggested we use a positivity hack I learnt from the wonderful Cynthia Mahoney
I suggested we all share something that bought us joy this week
They suggested I go first and comparing their answers to mine was a HUGE wakeup call for me.
Mine was work related, the rest of the breakout room was a mix of nature, family and pets
One can be too intense, too driven, too outcomes focused. I want to thank my break out room team mates for giving me more clarity
Now what tiny habits do I need to start before it becomes the norm for me to identify nature, family or pet moments that bring me joy and I ultimately enter the creative calm zone?
I am immensely grateful 🙏 for the recognition and support given to our organisation, Action4Agriculture . This recognition has been a beacon of hope and inspiration.
My heartfelt thanks go to those who nominated me for various awards 🏆, and I am deeply honoured to have received agriculture’s most prestigious accolade.
However, let’s speak plainly: the real impact of an award 🌟 is measured by the actions that follow. Does the awarding body foster the greater good, or is it more about self-promotion?
Regrettably, my journey has shown that true collaboration and co-design for the greater good is often lacking in the aftermath of awards. We cannot achieve monumental change alone or in isolated efforts. True progress requires organisations to not only acknowledge their awardees but also actively engage with them in creating a better world 🌍 #TogetherForChange.
As an award recipient, I’ve observed a shortage of organisations that truly embody this collaborative spirit.
We face a pivotal choice: to create a better world for all 🌈 or merely enhance our own surroundings. The past twenty years have shown me the incredible potential that lies in uniting change-makers for a greater impact.
I’m curious about your experiences. What does an effective, purposeful award system look like? 🤔 #AwardingChange
Reflecting on the numerous climate nonprofits, one wonders if the proliferation of these organizations is part of the challenge? 🤷♂️ #NonProfitReflections
Have we lost our ability to connect, collaborate, and co-design for a common goal? The answer lies in our human capacity for collective action and innovation 🤝 #HumanityInAction.
There are SO many important causes to support (e.g. human rights, human health, ending poverty, ending wars, education, racial/social/economic justice, ending world hunger, animal welfare, and many more). They’re all 100% worth supporting.
But we are at risk of losing all of the gains we’ve made over the decades in these areas if we don’t address the overarching planetary emergency.
Because the planetary emergency is not only undermining all of these issues simultaneously – it’s threatening to take out the very building blocks of our society and economy.
Society relies on a healthy, stable biosphere for food, water, clean air, shelter, livelihoods, and much more…and our biosphere – this place we call home – is under attack.
The model acknowledges careers’ awareness starts in primary school and leverages the relationships that Action4Agriculture’s school programs have developed with schools over the past 15 years
One of the key elements of the Action4Youth model is the pastoral care package. If agriculture is going to Attract, Train and RETAIN people, they must feel physically, emotionally and identity safe in their workplaces
The graphics shown above have been created for a program aimed at attracting young people who are disengaged from school to the foundation careers on farm/in the oceans for the dairy, fishing and wool industries
It can be adapted, replicated and scaled (or shrunk) for all industries.
Interestingly enough that is where it is getting the most traction. There are no shortage of industries with dollars to invest in best practice workforce engagement strategies that don’t have what agriculture has.
The question is are we making the most of what we have?
Agriculture is not alone in having a huge labour shortage.
With Australia’s birthrate at its lowest ever level of 1.6 (more people choosing career over having children) and reduced accessed to overseas workers we are going to have to be very committed to building and investing in relationship building with the next gen workforce. We have to be equally committed to agriculture being the image we want the world to see.
Source 
Photo source The Weekly Times 
