Two women from the New England are two of the three finalists in the 2025 NSW/ACT AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award, highlighting the growing impact of female leadership in an industry long dominated by men.
Tamworth’s Dimity Smith and Nemingha’s Katelyn Wall have been named alongside Dubbo’s Carol Mudford as this year’s finalists, recognised for their contributions to agriculture and rural communities.
Minister for Women Jodie Harrison praised the finalists.
“Rural women are some of the most innovative people I know,” she said.
“They are routinely faced with ever-changing challenges and think creatively to ensure their communities and industries continue to flourish.”
Dimity Smith, a registered psychologist, founded GRO Rural and GRO Events Group to address critical challenges in rural employment. Her work focuses on sustaining remote and contract employment, inspired by her background in the dairy industry, to ensure its long-term viability.
“Seeing my own challenges when I was searching for rural professionals, I realised how much time was spent trying to find the right contractors,” she said.
“Imagine if I could save that time for farmers and corporates when they were trying to recruit rurally.”
GRO Rural is a web-based platform connecting skilled agricultural professionals with employers in need. It provides a recruitment solution for rural industries struggling with workforce shortages.
Ms Smith, who grew up on a dairy farm in Scone, has also worked to bridge business knowledge gaps within the dairy sector, where many service-based agricultural businesses lack the necessary business skills to grow sustainably.
“One of the biggest challenges in dairy is that while milk production has increased, the number of farmers has halved,” she said.
“That’s a mixture of economies of scale and rising operational costs, which are challenges that many other agricultural industries are also facing.”
Despite the obstacles, Ms Smith said she was determined to drive change.
“I was a single woman starting the business on my own and I don’t have a partner financially backing me,” she said.
“I want people to know that you don’t have to be in a certain position to give something like this a crack. I’ve connected with wonderful people and learned so much along the way. Agrifutures is an incredible program, and I’m honoured to be a finalist.”
For Katelyn Wall, her journey into agriculture came through an unexpected avenue – her daughter’s preschool. As the co-founder of Wall’s Honey Co., Mrs Wall built an award-winning beekeeping and pollination business with a strong focus on education and sustainability.
“In 2019, while my eldest daughter was in daycare, the centre asked me to do a small presentation on bees,” she said.
“I went to Spotlight and Officeworks, made some interactive resources, and took an empty working beehive into the classroom. The kids were fascinated.”
That single workshop has evolved into an educational program spanning preschools, aged care facilities, gardening clubs, scouts, and the Country Women’s Association and Mrs Wall believes early engagement is key to securing the future of beekeeping.
“There is a worldwide shortage of beekeepers,” she said.
“If we can engage kids at a young age, the plan is that some will maintain their interest and enter the industry. Three out of every four fruits, vegetables, and nuts rely solely on bee pollination.
“People are really starting to engage with bees and want to find out more information about them and they really are the backbone of our agriculture industry.”
Mrs Wall, who also works as a radiation therapy educator, hopes to use the $15,000 AgriFutures prize money to purchase beekeeping suits, an observational beehive, and interactive resources for her preschool program.
“I am so incredibly humbled and in awe that I have made it to this stage as this is a prestigious women’s agriculture award and my two co-finalists and all the women who have come before me are incredibly inspirational,” she said.
Despite working in a traditionally male-dominated field, she sees no reason why more women shouldn’t enter the industry.
“Less than 20 per cent of beekeepers identify as female,” Mrs Wall said.
“With more exposure, that can change. You cannot be what you cannot see, and women remain an untapped resource in agriculture. If we don’t encourage more women into the industry, we are underutilising nearly half the population.”
The AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award has long championed the contributions of female leaders in agriculture, and AgriFutures Australia Chief Operating Officer Belinda Allitt reinforced the significance of this recognition.
“It is AgriFutures’ privilege to provide these women with a platform to build on their leadership skills and drive change in rural and regional Australia,” she said.
“We’re excited to follow their journeys and support them as they accelerate their impact across Australian rural communities and industries.”
The winner of the 2025 NSW/ACT AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award will be announced at NSW Parliament House on May 1 and the winner will progress to the national awards.
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