SECURING AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE – Sustaining families, farming and our future

Friday 22 September 2017

Registrations Open

12 noon Registrations Open

Optional Tour

1.00 pm – 3.30 pm Tour & Afternoon Tea at Food Connect Food Hub, Salisbury.

PLEASE WEAR ENCLOSED SHOES ON THIS TOUR

See how this amazing enterprise continues to grow, whilst connecting consumers with producers and ensuring that farmers are paid in a fairy price in a fairer food system. Local farmers supply ecological food that is in season and super fresh - they are paid around four times the amount of the big food chains. At Food Con-nect, local means local: fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy products and bakery items travel no more than 400 kilometres before getting to the consumer's door. See https://www.foodconnect.com.au/

Opening Cocktail Event

6.30pm - 8.30 pm City Skyline Cocktails – Sponsored by Ruralco

Enjoy Drinks & Nibbles, overlooking the beautiful Brisbane River with spectacular views of the Story Bridge and City Skyline. Our keynote speaker for the evening is Rochelle Courtenay, Founder and Director of "Share the Dignity". Rochelle is the 2016 Cosmopolitan Humanitarian of the Year and Share the Dignity was a finalist in the 2017 Telstra Charity of the Year Awards.

8.30 pm Explore Brisbane at your Leisure. Various dinner options are available, including Alto Restaurant & Bar, the Eagle Street Pier and the Valley (both 10 mins walk).

AUSTRALIAN WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE

ANNUAL CONFERENCE & AGM

SECURING AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE Sustaining families, farming and our future

Friday 22—24 SEPTEMBER 2017

OAKWOOD HOTEL & APARTMENTS

BRISBANE

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

***** PLEASE NOTE PROGRAM IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Saturday 23 September 2017

7.00 am Breakfast is available in Alto Restaurant or nearby cafes and restaurants..

7.30 am – 8.30 am Registrations

Official Welcome

8.30 am – 9.00 am Official Welcome & Housekeeping

Welcome to Country, Songwoman Maroochy

Maroochy, of the Turrbul/ Dippil ancestry was born on Cherbourg Aboriginal Re-serve in Queensland. She is the Song-woman and Law-woman of the Turrbal Peo-ple – the Traditional Owners of Brisbane.

Sustainable & Stronger You

9.00 am – 10.30am Rural Bank – Farmer Focused. Future Driven.

Following the screening of the Film - Grace Under Fire (Courtesy of Victorian Rural Women’s Trust), join our panel of industry leaders led by renowned public speaker and facilitator of conversations, Alana Johnson as they discuss overcoming barriers and issues in the workplace so there is a sustainable and stronger you! Our expert panel includes:

• Researcher & Author, Dr Skye Saunders, • Senior Advisor, Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Amanda Bart-

lett, • 2017 RIRDC VIC Rural Woman of the Year, Social Research & Program Man-

ager Seafood VIC, Kirsten Abernethy. • Agricultural Communicator; Agvocate; Agricultural Teacher Janine Milne

10.30 am – 11.00 am Morning Tea

Our morning tea is proudly sponsored by Maggnum Engineering.

Keeping you on track when you live and work "off the track"

11.00 am – 11.30 am

Off The Track Training focuses on fitness, food & motivation designed to ensure long term sustainable health & wellbeing for people in isolation or anywhere whether they are - rural Australia or inner city suburbs. Owner & visionary, Joy McClymont has grown the company virtually from her family’s remote western Queensland sheep & cattle station, often with clients of no to low internet access!

11.30 am - 11.45 am Keep Safe. Keep Farming.

Caroline Graham, CEO of Safe Ag Systems will provide an overview of where Aus-tralian Farms are with Farm Safety and Safety Systems.

11.45 am – 11.50 am Short Break. Directions for Break Out Sessions.

Break Out Sessions – Group One

11.50 am - 12.20 pm Break Out Sessions (Each panel 30 mins)

Scholarships

Join Tess Camm and Lauren Peterson as they discuss their journey of self and professional development, improving skills, knowledge and networks through the opportunities available. Tess is Production & Sales Manager at Signature Beef. She won the Cattle Council of Australia ‘Rising Champion in Beef Initiative’ in 2013 and the 2012 Edgar Hudg-ins Memorial Scholarship which involved touring the USA for 3 months as an in-ternational ambassador for Australian beef producers. She was a participant in the 2009 AWiA ‘Shaping the future in a changing environment’ program. Lauren is a dairy farmer and Emergency Dispatch and Call Taker. Lauren uses scholarships and awards to develop her farming knowledge and networks. These include UDV & Gardiner Foundation scholarship (Tour of NZ), Agriculture Victoria Upskill and Invest Young Farmers Scholarship, 2017 Great South West Dairy En-couragement Award & NRWC e-Leaders Grow, Innovate & Sustain Program.

Saturday 23 September 2017

Break Out Sessions – Group One (continued)

11.50 am - 12.20 pm Break Out Sessions (Each panel 30 mins)

Getting on boards

Our panel includes Alex Ramsay, Future Farming Network Board Member and Company Secretary and Georgie Somerset, AGForce South East Queensland. They will discuss pathway to board directorship and provide insight into how you can ‘get on boards’ in your industry/sector/community.

Georgie Somerset is a rural industry leader and strategist whilst also running her family cattle business. She has board experience across the not-for-profit, govern-ment and industry sectors as a director of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland section), Children’s Health Queensland Hospital & Health Service, QRAA and Outback Sunrise. Ms Somerset is also the Vice President of AgForce Queensland. AGForce South East Queensland Board Member.

Alex is an Agribusiness lawyer who acts for farmers, graziers, rural business opera-tors and Agribusiness stakeholder groups. Based in Brisbane, Alex works for clients spread across the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales dealing with issues ranging from rural property transactions to compensation negotiations with mining and gas companies to business succession planning.

Farm Safety *Limit 20 people

Nothing is more important than your loved ones and your livelihood. Cost of fail-ing to comply with legislation and apply farm safety systems is too higher cost for anyone to pay. Caroline Graham and the Safe Ag Systems team will demonstrate the Safe Ag Systems Program which helps you manage Workplace Health and Safety in Your Business. One lucky attendee will win yearlong subscription and support package for their business.

Break Out Sessions – Group Two

12.20 pm - 12.50pm Break Out Sessions (Each panel 30 mins)

Workplace Wellness

Join our Sustainable & Stronger You panel as they explore ways to improve work-place wellness. What strategies and programs are needed to improve your work-place? What could be delivered to make the transition from education to employ-ment or return to the workforce easier?

Getting Grants

The Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR) is a not-for-profit organisa-tion that harnesses the power of collective investment between government, business and philanthropy to improve the lives of those living in rural, regional and remote Australia. FRRR is both a grant maker and a grant seeker—distributing funds through a number of programs for the benefit of rural and regional Austral-ia. CEO, Natalie Egleton will provide insight into how to find, apply for and be suc-cessful in obtaining grant funding for your communities and industry sectors.

Farm Safety *Limit 20 people

Nothing is more important than your loved ones and your livelihood. Cost of fail-ing to comply with legislation and apply farm safety systems is too higher cost for anyone to pay. Caroline Graham and the Safe Ag Systems team will demonstrate the Safe Ag Systems Program which helps you manage Workplace Health and Safety in Your Business. One lucky attendee will win yearlong subscription and support package for their business.

Sustainable Business & Land

2-30 pm – 2.40pm Sugar CRC Session Intro

2.40pm – 3.05 pm Seasonal workers creating perennial change at home and within Australia - LMAP at Work!

Hear from Maxie Makambo Dominic (from PNG) and the DFAT Pacific Labour Mo-bility Assistance Program Team about this exciting Pilot Project. PNG Women are the backbone of agriculture providing more than 60% of work that is associated with food production. Despite this there are limited economic opportunities for women to improve their livelihoods. The Labour Mobility Assistance Program (LMAP) supported by DFAT is planning to assist PNG women involved in agriculture to gain experience in Australia through the Seasonal Worker Programme to enhance their knowledge and skills to im-prove the production and marketing of fresh produce in PNG and contribute to improving their livelihoods.

3.05 pm – 3.35 pm SEDEX - Sedex Global

Sedex is the world’s largest collaborative platform for sharing responsible sourcing data on supply chains, used by more than 40,000 members in over 150 countries. It is used to manage labour, health and safety, the environment and business eth-ics. Aaron Hill, from Sedex Global will provide an overview of Sedex and the role it plays within the supply chain in Australia.

3.35 pm – 3.50 pm Afternoon Tea

Join members of the NAB Agribusiness team for Afternoon Tea.

Break Out Sessions – Group Three

12.50 pm – 1.20 pm Break Out Sessions

Contracts Kasey Solar - Thynne and Macartney

Primary producers across all sectors are involved in a range of contracts – these can be for employment, contractors, sales of produce and livestock, leasing land…. the list goes on. Thynne & McCartney will present on how you can do your due diligence with contracts within your farming business.

Superannuation Nichole Richter - Powers Financial Group

Do you know how much Superannuation you need to retire? Do you want su-per or would you prefer something else? Can you use your super to invest in agriculture? These are some of the many questions women have around su-per.

Farm Safety *Limit 20 people

Nothing is more important than your loved ones and your livelihood. Cost of failing to comply with legislation and apply farm safety systems is too higher cost for anyone to pay. Caroline Graham and the Safe Ag Systems team will demonstrate the Safe Ag Systems Program which helps you manage Work-place Health and Safety in Your Business. One lucky attendee will win year-long subscription and support package for their business.

1.20 pm – 2.00 pm Lunch

Meet and join the team from Powers Financial Group for lunch!

1.30 pm International Youth Delegate Meeting

2.00 - 2.30 pm AWiA AGM

Saturday 23 September 2017

2017 AWiA Rural Bank Conference Gala Dinner

6.30 pm – 10.30 pm Rural Bank Gala Dinner Cruise

Celebrate with dinner aboard the Kookaburra River Queen Paddle Wheeler. Our Guest Speaker is one of the highest-selling authors in Australia's ever-popular rural romance genre, Fleur McDonald. Living and working for much of her life on a farm Fleur draws inspiration from anything and everything she's experienced. From wrangling ewes to marking mobs of lambs, Fleur never knows where the inspiration for her next novel will come from - but you can rest assured, it often comes from experiences she's had firsthand.

DRESS CODE: SMART CASUAL WITH SENSIBLE SHOES

Saturday 23 September 2017

A Sustainable & Innovative Future

3.50 pm – 4.05 pm MLA AUSTRALIA

4.05 pm – 4.20 pm Genevieve Windley – Kalfresh / Carrot Vodka

Genevieve Windley and Alice Gorman, both members of Kalfresh's customer focus team, are behind a new Carrot Vodka, distilled using fresh carrots. The women were looking for ways to reduce food waste on farm by using wonky carrots, when they happened upon the idea of creating a vodka infused with carrot juice.

4.20 pm – 4.45 pm Robert Pekin & Emma – Kate Rose, Food Connect, Brisbane

Food Connect provides seasonal, ecological food from local farmers within a 500-km radius of Brisbane. Weekly boxes of fresh produce and groceries are delivered through its unique distribution system called the City Cousin network. Over the past decade, Robert Pekin, the founder of Food Connect, has successfully worked with communities to initiate, support and inspire many ethical food distribution enterprises across Australia. Robert with discuss ‘Why' food connect exists and its connections to his personal journey whilst Emma will present on 'How' it does

4.45 pm – 5.10 pm Farming Together – Farming Cooperatives & Collaboration

Project Director, Lorraine Gordon heads up the Farming Together Project team based at Southern Cross University. Lorraine will provide an overview of the 14-million-dollar Federal Government initiative that aims to provide farmers with knowledge, skills and materials on collaborative ideas, co-operative structures and collective strategies. An insight into the successful projects funded and their out-comes will also be delivered.

5.10 pm – 5.15 pm Concluding Comments

Sunday 24 September 2017

Sustainable Food Supply & Healthy Communities

8.30 am - 9.00 am How many people are hungry in Australia?

Despite being known as the ‘lucky country’, Australia still has a hunger problem - in fact it may not be a problem, but rather a crisis. Brianna Casey, CEO of Foodbank Australia will present on the activities of Australia’s largest food re-lief organisation, including the 2016 Hunger Report.

9.00 am - 9.30 am QCWA Country Kitchens Program

Fiona McKenzie, Program Coordinator will share the amazing journey that the QCWA Country Kitchens Team have taken working towards developing a sus-tainable program aimed at increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables Queenslanders eat. Supporting people living in regional, rural and remote Queensland to improve their health by adopting healthier eating practices.

9.45 am - 10.15am Tasty Food Starts and Finishes with the Community - Beechworth Food Co-op

Jade Miles, President and co-founder of the Beechworth Food Cooperative will share her story and that of the Co-op — a member-owned and operated com-munity initiative she started with husband Charlie Showers. Hear how local farmers have opportunities to sell their produce locally and create a resilient community that is not reliant on “a broken food system”.

10.15 am - 10.40 am Morning Tea

10.40 am - 11.30 am Bush Foods in Australia Session & Panel

AWiA Director, Donna Digby will chair this session focusing on Bush foods, their medicinal, nutritional and commercial benefits.

11.30 - 11.45 Conference Wrap Up

11.45 am Collect packed lunch, ready for departure.

Tours

12 noon – 5 pm Optional Tours

(1) Pretty Produce, Lamb Island

PLEASE WEAR SENSIBLE SHOES

FOR WALKING

Travel by coach, then ferry across Moreton Bay to Lamb Island where you will tour and enjoy high tea ‘tasting’ at Pretty Produce. Simone Jelley delivers inter-esting produce through wholesome growing practices. Considerately grown leaf mix and edible flowers are freshly picked and add an abundance of flavour, colour and texture making any salad or dish extraordinary!

(2) Sirromet Winery, Mt Cotton

PLEASE WEAR SENSIBLE SHOES

FOR WALKING

Travel by coach to Sirromet, a family owned and run winery situated at pictur-esque Mount Cotton. Tour Sirromet’s state of the art facilities and enjoy wine tasting amidst the natural structure and unique architecture of the winery’s buildings and the breathtaking scenery surrounding Moreton Bay.

The 2017 AWiA Conference

would not be possible without the generous support of our Conference Sponsors:

CHARITY PARTNER:

GALA DINNER CITY SKYLINE MEDIA PARTNER: RIVER CRUISE SPONSOR: COCKTAILS SPONSOR:

CONFERENCE SPONSORS:

INDUSTRY PARTNERS: