The 10th Women & Agriculture conference organised by the Farmers Journal took place in October. It’s a conference that has grown in strength and popularity, with almost 800 attending what is now a permanent fixture in the diaries of farm women in Ireland.

It started as a way of bringing farm women together, to hear their voices, understand their needs and recognise the enormous role they play in maintaining the family farm model.

The conference begins the evening before when up to 350 farm women attend a gala banquet. This social event gives women a chance to relax and make new friends. It ends with a dance and it is a lovely thing to see the dance floor full of women of all ages having a great time.

Often, after the conference the letters and emails I receive are from women who met other farm woman and discovered a shared worry or interest. Making a connection meant all the world to them.

This year there were women in the audience who had attended each and every conference while many others were first timers. The challenge each year is to find new speakers and formats that will engage and hold the attention of all who attend.

It’s never easy. I work on the principle that ‘you can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time’ – even though we try our very best.

Chance to listen to the voices of ordinary women

Our audience ranges from women who are farming with family members to women who are farming by themselves. Many more are involved in the agri sector outside of farming. We have also developed a following of women who hail from rural areas and have heard the conference is a powerful day and an opportunity to meet and learn from like-minded women.

One of the features of the conferences has been how the audience reacts to speakers. They are with them and willing them on. This is important as many of our speakers are ordinary women who have rarely, if ever, spoken in public before and certainly never to such a large audience.

I believe this testimony of ordinary farm women, whether it be about the challenges they face in their farming or their personal lives is what gives the conference its magical touch. Yes, good, knowledgeable speakers are essential but it’s even more important that the voices of those working at the coalface of agriculture are heard and listened to.

Building the conference

When it comes to conference planning we begin thinking and talking about themes straight after Christmas and the choice settles down around Easter.

Then with a theme selected we look at potential speakers and it can take another few months to pin down the panel we want.

I have to take the blame for trying to fit as much as possible into the day. I work on the principal that the audience will put up with one speaker who mightn’t interest them for 15 minutes but if they were on for an hour, it would wreck the session.

Last year our conference coincided with the biennial Women & Agriculture Awards which are also organised by the Farmers Journal. Margaret Farrelly was one of our winners and went on to the COPA-COGECA Women Farmers Innovation awards.

There, she beat all comers from right across the EU to take the top award. Her account of growing a €6.2m business from 150 free-range hens was inspiring – a real example of the importance of a ‘laying hen.’*

Being relevant

At the conferences we have discussed succession and retirement planning, farm development, financial planning, safety on the farm, mental health management along with a myriad of other topics.

One of the sessions that caused a big stir in October was the role of women and their future in the country’s largest indigenous industry.

The question was asked if we acknowledge the technical excellence of the skilled women farmers who farm in their own right and alongside their husbands and families? Or the innovative farm women who have diversified on farm and created successful businesses? Or do we acknowledge those farm women who with their off-farm income support tens of thousands of farms in Ireland?

And why are there so few women elected into leadership roles in the farm organisations and on the boards of farming co-operatives? It made for a rousing debate.

But the conference is not all about serious topics, we have lots of fun too. Each year we invite well-known musicians, writers or comedians to entertain our audience. We have inspiring women tell their stories. Stories that make us laugh and cry.

Our hope each year is that our audience will travel home invigorated, inspired and entertained. And it is their wholehearted engagement with the conference that has farm women returning to it year after year.

*A laying hen is a term for a farmer’s spouse who has a good off-farm income.