Rural change agent

Karen Hutchinson, from Hanwood, New South Wales was, at the time of the Award, Executive Manager of Murrumbidgee Irrigation and an irrigated agriculture leader at a time of unprecedented change in the management of the nation’s water resources.

Karen came from an academic background with expertise in group processes and sustainable resource management and professional experience in strategic development.

Since 2000 Karen has lived with her family at Hanwood outside Griffith, where she has been involved in primary industries; directly at a farming level growing sultanas for dried fruit production on their irrigated property. Indirectly she has been an educator and involved in policy development for the irrigation industry.

In her role as Murrumbidgee Irrigation Executive Manager, Karen was responsible for water distribution and customers throughout the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA).

Trade negotiator

At the time of the Award, Angela Betheras was an alpaca breeder from Darnum, West Gippsland and principal of an integrated tourist enterprise ‘Nickelby by Darnum’. She was the first female to sit on the Committee of Lardner Park Events, the largest Farmworld event in the southern hemisphere and was previously Chair of the West Gippsland Gourmet Country Tourism Association.

In 2005 she traded the corporate world and an 18 year career in international trade and supply chain management with some of Australia’s major retailers to pursue her passion for alpaca breeding.

The alpaca industry has established itself as a credible and profitable fibre industry, boasting a total of 100,000 breeders. But, according to Angela, it needs to find new markets for its woollen products if it is to expand and support its breeders.

Rural communicator

Barbara Grey from Mungindi, Queensland, has been an irrigated cotton grower since the early 1980’s. The innovative and efficient practices she and her husband have put in place on their farm led to them being awarded the prestigious Cotton Australia ‘Innovative Grower of the Year Award’ in 2007, and consistently being placed in the top five percentile of their region’s benchmarking group for cotton growing.

At the time of the Award, Barbara was Chair of the Women’s Industry Network – Cotton and Non-executive Director of the Cotton Co-operative Research Centre. She is a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, has completed an Advanced Diploma in Business and was enrolled in a Masters of Business Administration.

Community capacity builder

Kim Blenkiron from Strathalbyn, South Australia, grew up on a farm in the Mallee and always knew her work and life would be in farming.

At the time of the Award, Kim and her husband had been farming for close to two decades, both on Kangaroo Island and on the mainland at Strathalbyn. Her industry involvement included working with Agriculture Kangaroo Island and representing Kangaroo Island on the SA Advisory Board of Agriculture.

At the time of the Award, Kim was the State Coordinator of Partners in Grain in South Australia.  In this role she worked with key women in regional communities to develop their professional skills and self confidence. In holding that position she established and ran an impressive 13 self-directed learning groups.

Rural entrepreneur

At the time of the Award, Caroline Robinson lived in Woolocutty, Western Australia and was a rural development consultant specialising in community development, strategic engagement and project management, and a wheat and sheep producer from Woolocutty in the Western Australian wheat belt.

Caroline is the brains behind the Wheatbelt Business Network (WBN), established to promote local produce and regional tourism, and to provide opportunities for entrepreneurship and networking, training and education and the advancement of women in business.

Agricultural educator

Jackie Brown from Brighton, Tasmania, is a leader in the field of agricultural education in Australia. Since the early 1980’s she has been committed to agricultural education and to raising awareness of the dynamic and diversified number of career pathways that agriculture offers students.

Jackie was the driving force behind the development of the Bridgewater High School Farm in Brighton, Tasmania. She was instrumental in building the farm into a nationally recognised and highly utilised educational facility.

The farm provides vocational training, work skills programs and agricultural science, as well as a diverse range of short courses.

There was no winner in 2011 for the Northern Territory