Understanding the ongoing conflicts around succession in farming and how to ensure better inclusion for everyone within the wider agriculture industry were among the topics discussed at the recent Women in Agriculture Scotland Autumn Conference.

The event, which was held in Edinburgh earlier this week, featured various speakers including chair of the Scottish Government’s Women in Agriculture Taskforce Joyce Campbell as well as Julia Latto and Darlene Braithwaite of Scottish Enterprise.

CEO of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) Alan Laidlaw then chaired a panel session which featured Sally Williams, a dairy farmer and director at the Oxford Farming Conference, beef and arable farmer and Farmers Journal Scotland farmer writer Robert Neill, Scottish Enterprise’s head of employee communication Darlene Braithwaite and Colin Ferguson a dairy farmer and Scottish Enterprise Rural Leader.

The theme of the conference was “Making your voice heard” and the speakers and panellists discussed various ways in which women, as well as anyone working in the industry, could ensure they have an active role within agriculture.

Spreading the word

Joyce Campbell of Armadale Farm in Sutherland kicked off the event with her talk in which she discussed challenges she has faced running her own farm and how she uses social media to promote her business.

On her hill farm, Joyce runs a flock of 820 North Country Cheviots and she has utilised social media platforms to “show what my ewes will do”.

She added: “Social media has allowed me to tell my story how it is.”

With help from her niece and nephew, Joyce has been able to advertise her business, its livestock and what life as hill farmer is like, by making various videos and connecting with other farmers and consumers on social media.

While Joyce is using her own voice to help communicate her role within her community and the wider farming industry, she noted that in order for the agriculture sector to more accurately represent those working within it, women needed to gain confidence to become the face of their farm and get actively involved within the sector.

“We need to build women’s confidence – instead of moaning about it, crack on and get in there,” said Joyce. Dairy farmer Sally Williams later echoed the importance of acting now to implement change, rather than just discussing it. “Confidence is absolutely key. And we should be doing what it takes to find it,” said Sally.

Pushing for change

The need for better inclusion for everyone across all areas of the agriculture sector was highlighted. With succession also creating issues for young men as well as women, dairy farmer Colin Ferguson stressed the need for the Women in Agriculture group to extend further and incorporate more people to help make a difference. Colin added that “you have to get your voice heard”.

Robert Neill also highlighted the need for farmers to work even harder to let their voice be heard across the industry to sell their own businesses as well as support the wider industry to the general public.

“We need to sell our businesses a lot better than we do. The UK would not look the way it does today without us on the ground. We need to engage with our consumers,” said Robert. Darlene Braithwaite added that as well as building up confidence within the industry, people need to be enthused and passionate about what they are doing.

Julia Latto said: “We all need to come together and push forward in order to make a difference. It’s about challenging yourself every day and supporting the next generation and learning from them.”

As well as calling for the need to ensure everyone’s voice is heard across the industry, the event also conveyed a strong message for everyone, but particularly women, to stop belittling their own role and its importance within the farming sector by saying “I’m just a” – such as “I’m just a farmer” or “I just do the books”.

“It’s not just people at the coal face doing the hard work, you don’t need to be getting your hands dirty. Agriculture is wider than that,” said Joyce.

Women in Agriculture Scotland

The Women in Agriculture Scotland group began in 2015 and group chair June Geyer described the group as “a gathering where those with tractors in their yard meet other women who don’t have tractors in their yard”.

Various rural organisations from across Scotland have come together to help support the group including RHASS, NFUS, RSABI, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS).

The aim of the group is to help support women across rural areas of Scotland to have access to their peers and support, learn new skills and share their experiences of land based industries and their work across the rural sector.