Ducks on the Pond

Do you have a goal or dream that you want to pursue, but stop yourself because you feel it’s too selfish or you don’t have enough time? Sometimes we women formulate the idea that we need to be of service to others… in order to be loved. And it’s not our fault. This idea can come from messages coming from society, or perhaps from the homes we grew up in. The good news is that we can learn how to reprogramme these unhelpful ways of thinking and get ourselves motivated to pursue what...

Agriculture isn’t just the act of growing crops or tending to the animals, as the dictionary likes to define it. And it's how outsiders can see it too. A bloke with his sheep and cows. Rather, agriculture is a complex system, that impacts and is impacted by a variety of things from government regulation, people, climate change, business, politics etc. And it's also integrated with family systems too (including, women and children!). Therefore stepping into the space of advocacy on an i...

Tea tree oil and nanotechnology for fly strike and foot-rot resistant sheep…. These are just some of the exciting innovations happening in agriculture. But how do lift an entire sector or industry? It’s not always easy in farming when most of us work alone or with family. But in this episode, you'll hear about the benefits of taking part in extension programs, learning from research trials, and even just forming local groups to learn from your neighbours. Emily King is the Nationa...

Owning a home these days is hard enough, so what about building your own farm from scratch? Dr Lexie Leonard is a vet, an animal health trainer and a farmer who is building her own farming business alongside her husband and their young children in Balmoral, Victoria. Originally from the suburbs of Melbourne, Lexie would never have predicted she would grow up to be a farmer. And it has been a steep learning curve at times. In part two of this collaboration series with RIST, Lexie shares ...

Women have a powerful voice in agriculture, but would you call it equal to men? In Australia, there are more than 88, 000 women working in agriculture across multiple industries. The numbers are growing, but women only make makes up one third of the overall ag workforce. There are also fewer women in positions of seniority, while research shows daughters only inherit the farm about 10 percent of the time. It's a complex problem, but a key leveller is undoubtedly ...