A leading northern Victorian climate scientist says learning to be resilient was one of the key reasons behind her gaining credibility in the male-dominated agricultural sector.
Riverine Plains Research and Operations director Dr Sara Hely, Bright, is a keynote speaker at an International Women's Day event, in Wangaratta, on Thursday.
Times had changed in the past 20 years, she said.
"I would often be the only woman in management meetings and decision making forums - but I've since seen a few more women appear," she said.
"It was pretty hard, there were definitely times when I questioned whether or not I was in the right field.
"I felt I couldn't be heard but I felt it was important to build that resilience".
She said resilience was a quality that was "really respected" in agriculture.
"Farmers are a resilient, right? So over the years that resilience gave me credibility," she said.
"Being a qualified scientist with a PhD, I had credibility and that is also really important in agriculture".
She said it was getting easier - "I've definitely seen a massive change, Riverine Plains is predominantly female and we don't really think about that.
"We just work and that's been inspiring to just not think about whether you are the only female there or not".
Riverine Plains was a not-for-profit, member-driven farmer organisation, with a footprint that spanned from Wagga, NSW, down to Benalla, across to Shepparton and the Alpine valleys.
"I am a trained scientist and have worked in research for 20 years - our organisation has a real mix of what we call research validation projects and a lot of extension and communication," she said.
"We help our farmers adopt to innovation- our motto is farmers inspiring farmers".
The organisation is headquartered in Mulawala/Yarrawonga on the Victorian/NSW border.
"Climate is a huge thing for farmers, they deal with it every day, so we do have a lot of projects that look at the impact of climate volatility and drought through to extreme rainfall events.
"It's more of a systems approach, around that, what decisions would farmers have to make in any climate.
"We also do an enormous amount of work in soils - soils relate to the sustainability of the system.
"If farmers are not thinking about the health of their soil, they are not going to profitable, even in three to five years' time".
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Ms Hely said she grew up in the Hunter Valley, NSW, where her father was a sawmiller.
"There was a period of time where logging pretty much stopped up there so we moved," she said.
"His business was no longer viable so we moved to Canberra".
Over the last 20 years, Dr Hely has held management roles in agricultural research in state and federal government as well as large investors in rural research, development and extension within the agricultural science and rural industries.
She gained her PhD in climate change research.
"That was where I had exposure to investors in the grains industry, I worked for GRDC and CSIRO and more recently, Agriculture Victoria".
But she said she felt she was becoming more disconnected from farmers and small communities where she grew up.
"Riverine Plains was like going back to where it all happened, back into the coal face of what I was really passionate about and I needed to have an impact," she said.
Ms Hely said the next challenge was promoting more cultural diversity, which was one of three main messages for her audience at the Wangaratta forum.
She urged people to "be curious - be a scientist, ask questions, try and suspend your judgement for as long as possible because you will be surprised".
Dr Hely said those who were "white and privileged" needed to create a platform for others.
"Bring others, without privilege, along and up onto it," she said.
"Be yourself, you don't have to be any different to that to be a leader".
Women brought different ideas to agriculture.
"It's so important to innovation - I have discovered that," she said.
"We call it diverse, contested perspectives and that rapidly changes how we solve problems, particularly complex ones like climate change.
"We need evidence in a world that can be full of misinformation".
She said Riverine Plains staff did not feel farmers were less likely to listen to them, because they were women.
"Most male farmers have a woman helping them to make difficult decisions on finances and things like that, so they are not necessarily not listening," she said.
"It's just that men have traditionally been in the room, when decisions are made".
The event will be held at the Wangaratta Performing Arts and Convention Centre, between 5:30pm and 7:30pm, on Thursday, March 9.
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Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
