In 2019, Cara was one of 14 recipients from Western Australia to receive a prestigious Churchill Fellowship. Using the award, Cara will travel to the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil to connect with First Nation and African American-owned rodeo and pastoral based communities to learn more about the positive engagement other organisations have delivered, within a connected global narrative.

Cara is hopeful her RWA nomination will help increase public awareness about Saltwater Country’s vision whilst creating more traction around the national and international conversation of culturally appropriate action. By providing experiential, engaging and creative learning platforms which focus on cultural needs, she hopes to level the playing field between rural and metropolitan standards of living for Aboriginal people.

As a proud Yawuru/Bunubu woman and inspiring social innovator, Cara, lives and breathes only for positive empowerment; having dedicated her life to helping people, communities and businesses transform mind-sets that result in deep, true conscious change.

Originally slated to include face to face sessions, the program use of Zoom, with three 90-minute sessions per week, means there is now the opportunity for the program to reach wider geographical areas.

Stephanie believes her win of the SA Rural Woman’s Award is a win for mental health in general, and that it shows recognition of the importance of mental health and wellbeing for our farmers and rural communities. It’s her hope that by building skills to approach and manage everyday challenges – whether on farm, at home or in business – country areas will have healthier, more vital individuals and communities that don’t just survive in adversity, but thrive.

Stephanie says adversity is a significant issue faced by her local community and the Australian rural community at large; suffering through one of the severest droughts on record, then bushfires, floods and now the impact of COVID-19. For Stephanie, addressing the mental health challenges faced by rural communities is one of the biggest concerns facing rural Australia; and she believes the adversity that comes with environmental volatility is going to increase with the changing climate.

Stephanie’s pilot program has been co-funded by Country SA PHN, with a specific focus on the drought impacted regions of South Australia. From this initial pilot, Stephanie hopes to expand the program and run additional programs in both SA and potentially throughout the rest of Australia using online platforms. Stephanie’s long term goal for ACTFORAG is to develop a ‘Train the Trainer’ program, so that other mental health workers and community workers can run the program out within their own communities and then be connected and supported within a network through the training.

Kelly says that one of the biggest issues in any rural area is isolation. This isolation may not always be geographical in nature and can also include working alone on farm all day with extremely limited human contact. With many environmental challenges beyond farmers’ control, she says the constant stress and feeling of lack of control can take its toll on physical and mental well-being. With access to mental health resources extremely limited rurally and often difficult to access, and the evidence of enormous benefits of therapy and assistance dogs in other settings, the connection between farmers and their dogs can prove an invaluable experience.

By educating farmers on how to handle, manage and bond with their dogs, Kelly says these strong partnerships can significantly help to reduce the stress and improve the mental well-being of those on the land, much in the same way as therapy dogs and assistance dogs.

The program aims to teach farmers low stress stock handling skills and dog handling skills whilst encouraging them to bond with their working dogs and see them not just as a work tool, but as a best friend, work partner and source of comfort and support when things get tough. The working dog schools also encourage networking and socialising with likeminded people, thereby kindling friendships and support networks.

Kelly envisages the training school will comprise of a small group training formula of six one-day sessions over a 12-month period, to provide practical skills in a training environment. Facilitated by master dog trainers, Kelly says participants can expect to walk away from the program feeling a stronger connection with and appreciation for their dogs, and a deepened understanding of how these working companions can aid quality of rural life.

Karen aims to use her RWA bursary to develop new plant culture technologies called Temporary Immersion Systems. Traditionally, the plant tissue sector cultivated and multiplied microscopic plant material in agar gel solution. Through the RWA platform, Karen has engaged with international experts to develop protocols for woody and perennial plants to perform in a hydroponic environment. Karen’s work in this area has seen plant samples propagated in hydroponic systems double in productivity compared to the traditional agar practice.

With global kelp reserves beginning to decline, Karen believes her research into hydroponic growth could help future-proof the horticultural industry and relive its dependence on the algae-based agar solutions. Karen says kelp is now a prized component in the cosmetic and food industries, and is also being affected by environmental temperature changes. With the future of seaweed harvest looking shaky, Karen says an alternative product for the multiplication of plants in Australia needs to be developed.

Karen says her work could also powerfully aid Australian apple orchards which were significantly affected in the 2020 bushfires. Using the new plant tissue production technology, Karen’s team hope to supply pathogen-resistant apple rootstock to the orchardists, which could potentially slash the growers’ first harvest timeframe from eight years to four. Traditionally, once an apple tree was planted, the ability to plant in the same hole was difficult due to residual pathogens, meaning the new plant often didn’t succeed. New rootstock genetics have overcome this, while also proving suitable for robotic harvest, reduced chemical spraying and uniform harvest.

The workshop Amy has developed, titled the Totally Territory Science Roadshow, is ready to be rolled out to schools in Darwin in time for Science Week and includes the development of a website that provides information about shark dissection as well as further analysis of the species that inhabit the Darwin area. Amy has also created resources for schools to utilise themselves and has been writing a children’s storybook on this topic.

Amy in the process of contacting schools in Arnhem Land and near Kathrine to arrange its adaptation and delivery, with the potential for the information to be altered into a cartoon or video. Amy believes it is important to alter the program for different schools to ensure it is particularly relevant to the kind of fishing their communities undertake the most and compare this to the commercial fishing industry.

With more indigenous fisheries entering the market, Amy expects her research to impact these communities by allowing them the capability to influence Australia’s fisheries management. She knows now more than ever is an exceptionally important time to collaborate in regards to the future management of these fisheries.

In addition to being the winner of the 2020 NT Rural Women’s Award, Amy is a PhD candidate undertaking study in sharks at Charles Darwin University. Originally from Perth, Amy is a trained Marine Biologist whose research focuses on the commercial exploitation of sharks and works alongside the Northern Territory Fisheries as well as the seafood industry.

Amy’s research centres around two shark species caught by offshore snapper fisheries; the Australian Blackspot Shark and the Milk Shark. Through the study of the biology of these species, we can understand how their population size and resilience, for example, are impacted by local fisheries. This in turn will help fisheries to become more sustainable by reducing waste.

Elisha’s avid interest in the agriculture industry saw her co-found Cattlesales.com.au, a marketing and advertising website that provided a time saving solution and ease of access online platform to producers, studs and livestock agents seeking to both sell and buy cattle. The website makes it possible to list cattle for sale via any sale point and incorporates smart searching tools that makes the searching process more convenient.

Cattlesales.com.au offers a free system alert that allows buyers to receive notifications based on their cattle requirement specifications as well as the use of social media tools for sharing. This is how the website increases market reach and has revolutionised the way the Australian cattle industry connects.

During the coronavirus pandemic, sale yards for cattle sales were not able to function in their traditional format with open access to any buyers, with only essential persons being allowed onto the premises during a cattle sale. This led to prove that the cattle industry needs marketing tools more than ever to help further market reach of sale cattle and to utilise online technology to advertise cattle prior to sales.

Elisha developed the website with friend and business partner, Anabelle Spann, while living and working over 1,000 kilometres apart, combining their differing knowledge of the cattle industry to see it come to life. Elisha and Anabelle believe agricultural industries, the beef industry included, have realised the potential for online platforms like theirs to save time and provide improved outcomes with cattle selling quicker and offering greater competition for sale price.

Elisha is also a founder and director of the agricultural advocacy group QLD Food Future Inc which educates consumers about the agriculture sector. She was also named the 2020 NAB Agribusiness Cattle Council Rising Champion in 2019.

Elisha often lends her voice to important campaigns and initiatives impacting Queensland’s primary producers including campaigning to prevent vegetation management and reef regulation changes in recent years.

Dismayed that small-scale producers are exposed to the winds of commodity markets and oligopolistic market structures. Cressida believes some businesses will need to re-think their dependence on the mainstream dairy market and explore alternative pathways. Through Dairy Cocoon, Cressida wants to see family farms take control of their own production system, including marketing and branding, allowing them to become “price-setters” rather than “price takers”

Currently in its development phase, Dairy Cocoon is being guided by direct feedback from farmers with fewer than 200 milking cows. Once completed, the digital platform will be the first of its kind in Australia offering it’s members a curated  source of business tools, mentors, information resources, educational guides and an online community hub to help facilitate industry-wide networking and support.  By centralising these features, Cressida hopes to assist farmers in their journey to develop, launch and sell their own branded cheese, ice-cream, yoghurt or milk products.

As a founding member of the Kiama Farmers Market, Cressida was inspired to help family-owned dairy farms within her community and now seeks to make a difference more widely. With her partner Michael, Cressida own’s the extraordinarily successful Pecora Dairy located in Robertson, NSW and now hopes to give back to the industry in which she has found so much passion and fulfilment.

Pecora Dairy continues to grow and has consistently been recognised for its excellence and its industry leadership. The first in the country licensed to make raw milk cheese, Pecora Dairy continues to push boundaries for the industry and was most recently recognised for this work by taking out the National Trophy for the Delicious Produce Awards.

Cressida believes an on-going presence of small, independent dairy brands will ultimately lift the profile of the sector, especially as consumer consciousness shifts to preference for locally made produce. She hopes to use her position as the NSW Agrifutures Rural Women’s Award winner to tell the stories of hard-working dairy families, educate consumers on the benefits of high-quality dairy products and preserve this unique industry for generations of dairy farmers to come.