Empowerment was the theme of the inaugural Dairy Women Ireland conference which took place on Saturday at the Thurles campus of the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) campus.
Dairy Women Ireland chair Ciara Lynch encouraged all 160 present to reach out to others.
“The only way to build a network is to push outside your comfort zone,” she said.
“Incredible things happen when a group of women come together - we can learn from those who walked the path before us and try and figure out an easier road for those coming behind us.”
All farm work celebrated
Through presentations, panel discussions and breakaway group discussions, the conference celebrated the work women have always been doing on dairy farms - whether in a supportive role to a husband or male family member, through book-keeping or paperwork or physically working on-farm, caring for calves and milking cows.
The low number of women in farm partnerships or listed farm owners (women-owned farms in Ireland sit well below European average at around 13%) has led to a lack of recognition for women in dairying.
Attendees ranged from highly experienced farm owners to women who have married dairy farmers and are just beginning to discover how they can contribute to the family enterprise.
“Inclusivity is really important to us,” Lynch told the Irish Farmers Journal.
Dairy Women Ireland chair Ciara Lynch (fourth from left) stands with members of the Dairy Women Ireland committee at the inaugural conference / Janine Kennedy
“The whole reason for putting Dairy Women Ireland together is because women, for the most part, don’t feel confident in saying what their role is on a farm. For me and the committee, it was important that someone who might see themselves as ‘just’ a farmwife knows she is just as important - if not more important - than someone who is working full time.”
Transferrable and soft skills
While technical topics - including obtaining financing, understanding nitrates and how Government policies will affect the future of agriculture - were covered, the conference placed equal emphasis on soft skills like effective communication, accountability and self-awareness in dairy farming.
These attributes are generally considered secondary to technical knowledge, but it was emphasised they shouldn’t be underestimated.
Keynote speaker Dr Nollaig Heffernan spoke about how women can find their ‘niche’ on farm by exploiting their transferrable skills.
“Dairy farming features over 170 skills,” she told attendees.
Former Tánaiste Mary Coughlan attends the break away group Farming for the future: environmental challenges and sustainability with Laurence Shalloo of Teagasc and Aine O'Connell of the IF.A / Janine Kennedy
“People are slow to use skills they have learned in another role. Women often use minimising words, like ‘just’ – ‘I’m just a farmer’s wife.’ There’s nothing ‘just’ about being a farmer’s wife.”
Plans for expansion
Dairy Women Ireland say they will be looking for regional leaders over the coming months and continue to actively call for new members (annual membership is €50 and can be purchased online here). They plan to hugely increase membership by this time next year and will make the conference an annual event.
“Next year will be bigger and better. This year we were thinking quality over quantity - we wanted to prove it to ourselves that we could do it,” she explains.
“Our biggest challenge is going to be obtaining investors and finance, but I think we proved to ourselves and to our sponsors today that there is absolutely a need for this.”
More women shareholders
The conference sponsor’s included TUS and farmer-owned co-operative Tirlán. Tirlán’s corporate affairs director Pat O’Keeffe addressed attendees, stating the co-operative needs to do more to increase the amount of female shareholders.
“Of our active shareholders, just 5.3% are currently female,” he said. “When we look at accounts where both partners are named, that figure moves up to 13% - which is more in line with the national average.
“It’s a problem for our co-op in terms of communicating with our shareholders because we’re communicating with the male and not communicating directly with the female involved in the business,” he continued.
“We’ve done focus groups [on this] and the early feedback is that a lot of the men are not great at sharing information.
“We can’t get involved in a lot of family conversations around shareholdings but there are things we can do to encourage and facilitate more joint shareholdings.”
Read more
Women only groups not for you? Great - but check your privilege before judging
New group set up for women in dairying
Empowerment was the theme of the inaugural Dairy Women Ireland conference which took place on Saturday at the Thurles campus of the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) campus.
Dairy Women Ireland chair Ciara Lynch encouraged all 160 present to reach out to others.
“The only way to build a network is to push outside your comfort zone,” she said.
“Incredible things happen when a group of women come together - we can learn from those who walked the path before us and try and figure out an easier road for those coming behind us.”
All farm work celebrated
Through presentations, panel discussions and breakaway group discussions, the conference celebrated the work women have always been doing on dairy farms - whether in a supportive role to a husband or male family member, through book-keeping or paperwork or physically working on-farm, caring for calves and milking cows.
The low number of women in farm partnerships or listed farm owners (women-owned farms in Ireland sit well below European average at around 13%) has led to a lack of recognition for women in dairying.
Attendees ranged from highly experienced farm owners to women who have married dairy farmers and are just beginning to discover how they can contribute to the family enterprise.
“Inclusivity is really important to us,” Lynch told the Irish Farmers Journal.
Dairy Women Ireland chair Ciara Lynch (fourth from left) stands with members of the Dairy Women Ireland committee at the inaugural conference / Janine Kennedy
“The whole reason for putting Dairy Women Ireland together is because women, for the most part, don’t feel confident in saying what their role is on a farm. For me and the committee, it was important that someone who might see themselves as ‘just’ a farmwife knows she is just as important - if not more important - than someone who is working full time.”
Transferrable and soft skills
While technical topics - including obtaining financing, understanding nitrates and how Government policies will affect the future of agriculture - were covered, the conference placed equal emphasis on soft skills like effective communication, accountability and self-awareness in dairy farming.
These attributes are generally considered secondary to technical knowledge, but it was emphasised they shouldn’t be underestimated.
Keynote speaker Dr Nollaig Heffernan spoke about how women can find their ‘niche’ on farm by exploiting their transferrable skills.
“Dairy farming features over 170 skills,” she told attendees.
Former Tánaiste Mary Coughlan attends the break away group Farming for the future: environmental challenges and sustainability with Laurence Shalloo of Teagasc and Aine O'Connell of the IF.A / Janine Kennedy
“People are slow to use skills they have learned in another role. Women often use minimising words, like ‘just’ – ‘I’m just a farmer’s wife.’ There’s nothing ‘just’ about being a farmer’s wife.”
Plans for expansion
Dairy Women Ireland say they will be looking for regional leaders over the coming months and continue to actively call for new members (annual membership is €50 and can be purchased online here). They plan to hugely increase membership by this time next year and will make the conference an annual event.
“Next year will be bigger and better. This year we were thinking quality over quantity - we wanted to prove it to ourselves that we could do it,” she explains.
“Our biggest challenge is going to be obtaining investors and finance, but I think we proved to ourselves and to our sponsors today that there is absolutely a need for this.”
More women shareholders
The conference sponsor’s included TUS and farmer-owned co-operative Tirlán. Tirlán’s corporate affairs director Pat O’Keeffe addressed attendees, stating the co-operative needs to do more to increase the amount of female shareholders.
“Of our active shareholders, just 5.3% are currently female,” he said. “When we look at accounts where both partners are named, that figure moves up to 13% - which is more in line with the national average.
“It’s a problem for our co-op in terms of communicating with our shareholders because we’re communicating with the male and not communicating directly with the female involved in the business,” he continued.
“We’ve done focus groups [on this] and the early feedback is that a lot of the men are not great at sharing information.
“We can’t get involved in a lot of family conversations around shareholdings but there are things we can do to encourage and facilitate more joint shareholdings.”
Read more
Women only groups not for you? Great - but check your privilege before judging
New group set up for women in dairying
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