Leading lights shining in AgriFuture Awards
THE four finalists for the AgriFuture Rural Women’s Award have been announced, and the Queensland competition is filled with women who are making waves in the agriculture and manufacturing industries.
Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Rural Communities Minister Mark Furner said the award promoted the “wonderful contribution” women make to rural industries, businesses and communities.
“This year’s winner will receive a $15,000 Westpac grant and represent Queensland at the national announcement in September where they will have the chance to win an additional $20,000 Westpac grant,” he said.
All four finalists have received a $2000 grant provided by the University of Queensland. The winner of the competition will be announced March 2, 2023.
Meet the finalists below:
Louise Noble, Toowoomba – The Mulberry Project
A former architect who lived in Paris for 13 years, Louise Noble traded building designs for the veggie patch after she had a conversation with a friend under her mulberry tree in Nobby, Queensland.
“An African fellow had arrived from the Congo after spending 16 years in a refugee camp and he said ‘Louise, you have all this land, do you mind if we come and grow some veggies’, and I said sure why not?” Ms Noble said.
After she dug up 500sq m of her property, Ms Noble began allowing others from “displaced communities” to grow produce in her yard.
The Mulberry Project has helped reconnect people with traditional planted foods as well as link people to employment, Ms Noble said.
“People who come from a very wide range of migrant backgrounds, they’re new to the workforce here so that poses challenges for them, so we’ve designed a range of programs to help them overcome some of those issues.
“Being an architect I have a lot of transferable skills. You could be working with a range of stakeholders or CEOs to people shovelling dirt so … find it’s a good fit for my skills.”
Ms Noble said if she were to win the $15,000 grant she would put it towards gaining more leadership skills and speaking with similar social groups.
Emma-Louise Gibbons, Sunshine Coast – Huds and Toke
What started as manufacturing horse treats has led to a long and successful journey to creating dog treats with a sustainable difference.
Owner of Huds and Toke and Sunshine Coast local Emma-Louise Gibbons said, before she and husband Russell got into dog treats manufacturing, that she believed “everyone who owns a horse generally owns a dog”.
“We have a link between producers in Australia and you can see where we fit in the commoditised world in Australia with regards to creating products with a higher value,” she said.
The manufacturing company, named after the childhood imaginary friends of Mrs Gibbon’s son, Huds and Toke is made up of 15 women in the factory. “We work together to make sure we produce world class premium products.”
The latest innovation of using insect protein in dog treats which launched 12 months ago comes after Mrs Gibbons started her own insect farm to fully understand the processes required.
“Insect farming is a lot more intensive, it uses very little water which is really where a lot of the sustainability part comes from,” she said.
If she won the extra grant she said she’d spend it on another piece of equipment that helps process the protein to ensure it doesn’t lose its nutritional value when heated.
Emma Black, Kingaroy – Black Box Co
It’s safe to say that agriculture and innovation was in Emma Black’s blood and she was destined to follow in the footsteps of her parents, who were sheep producers in Longreach, and as Ms Black said “innovators and forward thinkers themselves”.
The owner of start-up Black Box Co, Ms Black studied livestock science at the University of New England before launching the profound data analysis software.
“I’ve always been heavily involved in agriculture and worked in a number of different roles of the supply chain,” she said. “Everything from nutrition consulting to pasture management through to working in the processing of the supply chain, so it was really all of those years of having boots on the ground that I learnt a lot.”
The Kingaroy woman said through her experience of working different roles in the supply chain she noticed a gap in the industry when it came to data.
“Everyone thinks data is painful, we hate sitting in spreadsheets for hours trying to get insights,” she said.
“The software analyses (data) and provides key insights of each segment of the supply chain, telling people what they need to know to really drive better decisions in terms of how they manage their livestock, the types of livestock they buy and sales decisions within business.”
The businesswoman said she was surprised to discover she’d made it as a finalist.
“It’s just an incredible network, it offers a really wonderful platform to enable change in agriculture and support women that are really leading the way in terms of innovation and who try to generate change particularly in regional and remote areas.”
If granted the extra $15,000 Ms Black said she was primarily use it to increase education on the software.
Kate Lamason, Cairns – Little Tuna
A qualified accountant, Kate Lamason’s passion came from the ocean and luckily enough she found another lover of the sea with husband Rowan, who was a tuna fisherman.
“My husband’s family pioneered the tuna fishing out of Cairns, his father had 13 boats operating out of Cairns and when I met my husband he was catching all of this amazing local tuna yet we were eating the canned stuff that was imported, and thus we started Little Tuna,” she said.
Ms Lamason said the idea for the business aligned with her care for health and sustainability.
“I really care about what I eat … and understanding where food comes from.”
If she nabs the $15k grant, Mrs Lamason said it would go towards strengthening her leadership skills as well as boost the next step in their business plan to release new products.