Barkly beef
Northern Territory. Department of Business, Industry & Resource Development
Barkly Beef; E-Journals; PublicationNT; Barkly Beef
2005-03-01
Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).; This publication contains many links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.
English
Agriculture; Tennant Creek Region; Periodicals
Northern Territory Government
Tennant Creek
Barkly Beef
Volume 13, Issue 1, March 2005
application/pdf
1325-9539
Attribution International 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
Northern Territory Government
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/223108
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/687906
Barkly Beef 12 March 2005 RURAL WOMENS AWARD 2005. AND THE WINNER IS The presentation ceremony for the 2005 RIRDC (Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation) Rural Womens Award was held on the 14th February at Parliament House. The ceremony was hosted, and the awards presented, by the Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries, Kon Vatskalis. Women from a range of industries attended the boots, jeans, heat and mud (depending on the stage of the wet season!!!) exchanged for high heels, dresses, plush carpet and air-conditioning at least for an afternoon! Being non-discriminatory, there was a sprinkling of males within the audience, also enjoying the occasion! The background to the Rural Womens Award is that it aims to recognise and encourage the vital contribution that women make to rural Australia, and is open to all women involved in agriculture, including forestry, fisheries, natural resource management, and associated service industries. The Award supports women with a strong and positive vision for the future of their industry and its people, with the objective of increasing womens capacity to contribute to rural Australia by providing them with a Bursary and resources for skill development, to achieve their vision. Applicants from each state or territory are required to submit a proposal which outlines a vision they have for their industry, and how they are going to try to achieve this. This is then assessed against three selection criteria; their personal commitment to sustainable agriculture and to the role of rural women in their state or territory their potential to achieve and deliver benefits to agriculture their ability to provide leadership and impart skills and knowledge The winner receives a $15,000 bursary, and the opportunity to attend the Australian Institute of Company Directors Course. This course is held in Canberra, and coincides with a national dinner of all state and territory winners of the Award. The runner-up receives $5000. The panel of myself as the NT coordinator, Edwina Clowes as the National Coordinator, and Lee Berryman, last years winner, assessed Ann Palmer and Sarah Fea as the Northern Territory contenders for the 2005 Award. Ann Palmer, a manager at Crocodile Farms NT, was the winner, and as I write this, is heading to Canberra and to officially collecting her $15,000! Her proposal outlined how she would use the bursary to investigate market opportunities for products currently classed as by-products of crocodile production, and to advance on-farm techniques for increased productivity. This will involve over the next 12 months, visits to interstate crocodile farms to liaise about production innovations and improvements in husbandry and management strategies, and to initiate network development with Asian stakeholders to target by-product markets. Ann commented she was particularly looking forward to her time in Canberra a week out of the King Gees and work boots, and the challenge of the Directors Course! Im not sure how she responded to the nickname of Crocodile Dundette, which seemed to stick after the presentation ceremony! Sarah Fea, an agricultural extension officer at Katherine, was the runner-up. She aims to use the $5000 to assist the agricultural and horticultural industries adopt sustainable management practices through Biological Farming principles. This will involve Sarahs attendance at interstate training courses to increase her knowledge and skills, from which she can then further educate primary producers and promote the benefits of biological farming to better manage weeds, disease and soil nutrition. Both these women exemplify what the Rural Womens Award represents - they are motivated, dynamic and are passionate with a