Four trail-blazing Victorian women are in the running for the 2024 Agrifutures Rural Women's Award.
The Award celebrates Australia's rural women leaders from across a range of industries, including Victoria's $20.2 billion agriculture sector, who use their skills to benefit their communities and rural Australia, and inspire others.
The Victorian winner will be announced in April and will receive $15,000 towards their project. They will also go on to represent Victoria at the National Award, a Gala event at Parliament House in September. The national winner will receive a further $20,000 towards their project, and the national runner-up $15,000.
In 2023, Victoria's Glenmore-based co-founder of Grown Not Flown, Nikki Davis, took out the National prize. She said the award felt like recognition for the challenges she has faced as a female founder working across both the agriculture and technology sectors.
'I am not a natural farmer, I don't know how to fix a fence, and I would prefer to stay indoors when it is windy outside,' Ms Davis said.
'What I am good at is problem solving, working with technology and data, and believing that we can change the world with our ideas.'
This year's finalists are:
Georgina Morrison, from Hamilton, formed the Creative Toolkit to help position rural Australia as a hub for competitive creatives. The online academy aims to empower rural creatives to expand their profitable skillsets.
Grace Larson, from Kyneton, formed The Sisterhood Project to mitigate the barriers of distance and affordability for parents and carers in rural areas. The Project aims to deliver free access to essential paediatric first aid training for vulnerable groups, to help curb higher child mortality rates in rural Australia.
Reeanjou Ram, based in Melbourne but raised in Fiji, founded iTrazo Tracetech to help bridge the gap between Australia's rural producers and their metropolitan consumers. iTrazo offers digital traceability services to mitigate transport risks for producers and better inform customers.
Sarah Holmes, from Mildura, founded EnviroEDU to promote environment, conservation and sustainability awareness in rural and regional communities. EnviroEDU aims to educate children at the grassroots level to help contribute to conserving our natural ecosystems.
In addition to the Victorian AgriFutures Rural Women's Award, the Victorian Government is supporting women in agriculture and rural communities more broadly with a suite of programs that provide leadership skills and support resilience and connection for women across rural Victoria.
