UNE Senior Lecturer, Dr Lucie Newsome, talks about women in agriculture with the clarity of both an economist and a grazier’s daughter. Growing up on a mixed grazing enterprise near Glen Innes, she watched deregulation, drought and the collapse of institutions reshape rural communities and women’s lives. Those early observations now underpin her research into gender and agriculture and her message for women considering the Harvest Her Power Conference in Dubbo.
“Most employers and business people in sectors beyond agriculture understand the importance of professional development. Agriculture should be no different,” Dr Newsome says.
Her work shows that women’s contribution to farm businesses is both immense and often invisible. “If a woman is reading this and thinking, ‘I’m just helping out; I’m not really the farmer,’” she says, “your contribution (on farm, off farm, community work) is 49% of real farm income.” Yet too many women are framed as “supportive wife”, “entrepreneurial partner” or “builder of resilient communities”, rather than as farmers and decision makers in their own right.
For Dr Newsome, gatherings like Harvest Her Power are one way to begin shifting that pattern.
“From the 1990s onward Women on Farms gatherings revolutionised the women in agriculture movement. They were, and continue to be, crucial for sharing stories, networks and information and building a collective identity that says ‘we matter in this industry and we want to have a say’,” she says. Her hope for Dubbo is simple and powerful: “That if you don’t already know how crucial you are to agriculture, you now do.”
Harvest Her Power is founded and organised by UNE alumna and Central West farmer, Katja Williams, who lives and works alongside her husband near Dubbo and Nyngan. Like many of the women she hopes to welcome to Taronga Western Plains Zoo, her role is a blend of on farm work, business administration, marketing, compliance and family life, alongside her podcasting and community work.
“The spark came from lived experience,” she says. “So much of agriculture education and professional development focuses on production, systems, finance and machinery, but often the human beings behind those businesses are an afterthought.”
“Harvest Her Power was born from the belief that when we invest in women as whole people, their skills, mindset, wellbeing and leadership, we strengthen farm businesses, families and rural communities at the same time.”
Image: UNE Alumna, Katja Williams
This year’s conference carries an added opportunity for UNE graduates and friends, with the UNE Central West NSW Alumni Networking Event held alongside the program. For Katja, the alignment “feels very natural”.
“Harvest Her Power focuses on personal growth, leadership, skills and confidence. The UNE alumni event focuses on connection, pathways, opportunity and community,” she says. “Together, they create a bridge between personal development and professional networks, rural experience and tertiary education, local communities and broader opportunities.”
She is clear about what that means for women on the land and for the region. “It reinforces the message that learning doesn’t stop when you finish a degree, and that rural people deserve access to the same quality of professional connection as metro areas. For the region, it builds social capital. Stronger relationships lead to collaboration, innovation and people choosing to stay, return or invest in their areas.”
For UNE alumni who have not been engaged for a while, Katja describes the networking event as relaxed, welcoming and genuine. “This isn’t about rigid name-tag networking or sales pitches. It’s about conversation, shared experience and reconnecting with the UNE community in a low-pressure environment,” she says. “If you’ve ever thought ‘I’m not a natural networker’ or ‘I’m not sure I belong’, you are exactly who this event is for.”
Ultimately, both women see Harvest Her Power and the UNE Alumni Networking Event as part of a much longer story of rural women’s leadership.
