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Rima Al-Azar is an international development expert and Senior Natural Resources Officer in the Climate and Environment Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Fluent in four languages, with experience in over 50 countries around the globe, her expertise includes social development issues such as gender, social inclusion, migration, citizen,  engagement, agriculture, rural and community-based development and poverty alleviation. She has also held several positions with UN agencies, such as UNDP, UNICEF, FAO, IFAD and WFP as well as with multi-lateral financial institutions, including the World Bank.

Al-Azar will be speaking at the 2019 Women in Food and Agriculture Summit in Amsterdam, so we caught up with her to talk shop on climate initiatives, agriculture—and the women working to make it happen.

The FAO is the UN technical agency responsible for leading the international effort to defeat hunger and achieve food security for all. The Climate and Environment Division of the FAO develops policies, planning and response towards the challenges of climate change and its impact on a grander scale within food and agriculture. “We are very much involved in helping countries understand the issues related to agriculture and climate change, and to give them the tools to better negotiate,” says Al-Azar. “We have hundreds of projects that are related to agriculture and climate change. So, it could be a livestock project in one country, it could be fisheries in another, or forestry.”

At the WFA Summit later this year, Al-Azar will be speaking on a stream dedicated to “Our Planet, Our Health,” specifically how new technology, techniques and corporate strategies can help to achieve sustainability. “Basically, how to increase production to feed the growing number of people that are living on the planet without destroying the planet,” she noted.

Climate change is one of the biggest issues the world is facing, and agriculture has a huge role to play in that. And women play an integral role in food production. From feeding their babies to feeding communities, women are responsible for nourishment in one way or another at every step of the value chain.

“For me, working on women in food and agriculture is one of the basic things that we should be working on because I think it’s absolutely unacceptable that in the twenty-first century you have people that don’t have enough food to eat or don’t eat properly,” she asserted. “We can live without a lot of things in the world, but food is not one of them.”

For Al-Azar, her unique perspective of the plight of women in food and agriculture has been defined by her work with developing countries. “I’ve always been working in the poorer parts of the world and not the richer parts of the world.”

Women in some of these regions deal with very specific challenges when it comes to agriculture; things like access to information, literacy to obtain the information where and when it is available, and/or an official form of identification.

“If you don’t have an ID it means you don’t exist. If you don’t exist this means you can’t take a loan from the bank, you cannot own a piece of land, you cannot have access to finances.”

“And then there might be laws in some countries that discriminate against women and that’s another challenge,” she says, “but of course this all depends on the country. In many countries, social norms are pretty well-specified. That the women tend to do this, this, and that—and the men do something else.” These types of tasks, ranging from getting water and tending chickens to tanning leather, may often be considered gender-determined roles, Al-Azar notes, depending on the area.

“So, you also have to be very culturally sensitive and understand in that particular culture what can and what cannot be done—or, at least, how can you do it gradually.”

Looking at the global business of agriculture, we asked Al-Azar what can be done to ensure women are supported at the boardroom level.

“This is a question you can ask for every-single industry and any country in the world,” she mused. “Start by hiring women in the first place and then give them the opportunity to grow. Also, provide more flexibility in the workplace. If a woman goes on maternity leave, you shouldn’t give her the choice of either having children or being promoted.”

But there is much work to be done. And this concept goes back to the beginning—helping the women working in agriculture in developing areas.

“The sky is the limit in terms of what you can do and what you should do because there is a need across the board in terms of working with women and both improving the quality as well as the quantity of what they produce and linking them specifically to market so that they get better prices for what they produce.”

“Women are fifty percent of the world so if you do not involve them completely you will always, by definition, be missing something. Because you can’t do anything properly if you don’t take into consideration fifty percent of the population of the world.”

Rima’s story and more from real women working in food and agriculture can be found at: www.wfasummit.com. In 2019, we’re celebrating the women who work to feed the world—shining a light on female leaders in the industry. Get involved—and join us at the Women in Food and Agriculture summit in Amsterdam, December 3-4, 2019. 

Rima Al-Azar, Senior Natural Resources Officer, (FAO) of the United Nations.

BITING the bullet and looking for different styles of leadership is what the industry needs to take it forward.

Former first female editor of Farmers Weekly and now AHDB chief executive, Jane King says her experience in being selected for farming roles – having not come from an agricultural background – came down to transformational leadership and being honest with the industry.

She was thrust into the sector in 2005 for her knowledge of business-to-business media, spending 10 years refreshing the Farmers Weekly business:  developing the website and events, revamping its content and brand positioning.

A move to AHDB then saw Ms King using her skills to drive better value from levies for the farming industry.

Her transferable skill through it all, she says, was change leadership.

Ms King says: “I was recruited because I had a proven track record of leading change and at the time the levy boards needed to embrace change to deliver more for farmers and growers.

“The scale of change facing the industry is significant and we will need bold, strident leaders in future to provide the drive and direction that is required.   It should not be difficult to attract different types of leaders given the dynamism and opportunity in agriculture.

“These are exciting times and we need people from diverse backgrounds to come and join us and help us realise our ambitions.

“Good leaders are great communicators and are able to inspire others to follow them sometimes to a completely different place to where they have come from.

“Advances in technology, changes in demographics and consumption patterns, in trade and policy will all have a dramatic impact on what we farm and how we do it.  Everywhere you look things are going to be different.

“So in order to prepare the industry for that, we need leaders that are able to drive big step changes – transformational – not just manage small incremental steps.”.

NFU president Minette Batters is a strong example of good female leadership in the industry, Ms King says.

“Minette is a wonderful example of a bold, passionate leader.  She is a fantastic communicator and able to take people with her.  We are lucky to have her as the NFU president at this time of unprecedented change.”

But the industry needs to mobilise its expertise and resources better to fulfil its potential as world leading.

One way of doing that, she says, is for more collaboration and aligned goals with key organisations working well together around common goals.  She also calls for more ‘holding a mirror up’ for the industry to see more clearly where it is succeeding and where it can do better competitively.

Ms King prides herself on being an authentic leader, someone able to be open about where things can improve within AHDB and the industry.

“By that I mean being able to be honest with the industry about where we are now, where we want to go, what is the ambition of the industry and what is the end goal, and how we are going to get there together,” she says.

“I think it’s important we are able to be frank about the leaps we are going to have to make and in doing so be motivated to get on with it.

“We want to get to a place where we really play to the strengths of all the different stakeholders that we have got.”

One of the key challenges at AHDB is improving the way it communicates with the industry and how to trigger better engagement with farmers.

To do that, Ms King says: “We have to listen to our customers the farmers and growers much more and understand them better. Our services need to be compelling and make a difference to the farm business.

“You can’t be dull.

“You have got to stand out because it is a very noisy field.”

She says the industry needs to inject more variety into its style of leadership; being more receptive to people coming in from other walks of life that have different backgrounds and a different skill-set.

Ms King adds: “We know we are not short of the technical expertise, but where we are short is really inspiring, imaginative leaders.

“It doesn’t hurt to show that you are enthusiastic, passionate, but keen to drive improvement. To me, being able to demonstrate some of that is important and not just saying what people want to hear.”

When appointed AHDB’s chief executive in 2015, Ms King inherited a top team of 10. In that team, including herself, there was only two women.

Now, there is a top team of six people, with an equal split of three men and three women.

“We have really made a big effort at breaking that stereotype down,” she says. “I think the big thing is for more female role models.”

AHDB’s boards have also seen an overhaul of diversity, which meant more women, more people from other backgrounds, and more skills.

But what Ms King wants to see next, is more young people in those leadership roles.

“When I think about the work we are doing at the moment around developing a new skills strategy and developing this new Livestock Information Programme, helping the industry prepare for Brexit, I think in all of those working groups that are going on, there is nowhere near enough young people sitting at that table,” she says.

“In theory if we carry on [as we are] and end up replacing businesses with the same sort of leaders from similar backgrounds to now, we run the risk of ending up with businesses that will continue to be exactly the same as they always have been.  If we can inject more diversity through recruiting leaders from others walks of life, then you might find that you get more innovative solutions”.

“We need more  inspiring leadership to disrupt the current status quo.”

Despite being a distant relative of the famous agriculturalist, Jethro Tull, Catherine Pratt’s life and work had no link to farming until she started her job as chief operating officer at the Small Robot Company last May.

With an aptitude for maths and science, after completing a degree in maths and economics, Catherine’s career began as an IT consultant for IBM, where she got her first taste for systems analysis.

Catherine’s problem-solving nature has since seen her work in technical analysis and project management roles for corporations including Sky, energy company SSE, British Gas and Ordnance Survey.

Her first encounter as a woman in a male dominated industry was when she landed one of the first graduate consulting positions at IBM in 2004, where the company prided itself on the fact that 25% of their workforce were women.

“They were well ahead of the others and there was a huge amount of pride around that statistic, which I always thought was a bit sad, but I get it,” says Catherine.

Fifteen years later, women are still hugely underrepresented in the tech industries, making up just 17% of the workforce, according to online careers advice service Women In Tech. A statistic not helped by the ‘archaic’ attitudes within some companies, says Catherine.

She adds: “Being a woman in a position where you went into meetings as the knowledgeable person in the room meant it was sometimes a battle to be taken seriously.

“People would assume you were in a junior or secretarial role as opposed to someone going in there to give direction and content. You almost had to prove them wrong and show them you know what you’re talking about before they’d take you seriously – it was tiring.”

But it is not the tech industry alone that needs more workers, and farmers are crying out for changes in technology, says Catherine.

“Farmers are not luddites. Because the industry hasn’t evolved from big tractors, you assume it’s a deliberate decision, but they are desperate for new technology – it just has to be the right technology.”

It was during her time at Ordnance Survey, working in programme management that Catherine met Ben, one of the Small Robot Company founders, and Joe, the chief technology officer.

She says: “Ben phoned me one day and said they were looking for someone that could put all of these ideas and processes into place.

“He described Small Robot Company’s farming as a service solution, explained what the robots would be doing and went into detail about the problems experienced in arable farming with wheat. It was an industry I knew nothing about, but everything he said made sense.

“From a complete outsider looking at the issues being experienced, and the solution that Small Robot Company wanted to put in place, you couldn’t spot the gap in the logic,” she adds.

“I couldn’t have written a better job description and for me personally he was offering me the opportunity to put my 15 years’ worth of learning into something, giving me free rein.”

Aware she had no knowledge of the agricultural industry, Catherine was confident the skills gained from her previous positions were transferable.

She says: “The value I brought to the company was being able to ascertain a problem and find a technical solution.

“You do have to take the time and effort to understand the industry, but you can merge that with your other skillset.”

For the Small Robot Company, supporting women in tech is hugely important, says Catherine.

“We held a session a couple of months back about how our workplace can be more appealing to women.

“Industries that are not stereotypically female such as programming and engineering need to develop a deeper understanding that most women have a young family, and the majority of the time they are the primary care giver.

“Knowing it’s not an object to have the flexibility to support your family and do your job is fantastic, and for me, one of the most important things.

“This is exactly the kind of behaviour that will encourage women to stay in these positions,” she says.

Balancing family life with work also means women are often well accustomed to managing complex workloads and hitting delivery dates in a creative way, making them suited to these kind of roles, she adds.

But with females making up just 7% of students taking computer science at A-Level, encouraging young women into the industry is as much of a challenge as keeping them in it.

“Children must grow up not associating gender with job roles,” says Catherine.

“I think the only way this will change is to educate our children and make these STEM jobs become the norm for everyone.

“The majority of my ex-colleagues wouldn’t consider themselves sexist, and they are lovely people, but some were unintentionally sexist. Its subconscious, so you’re trying to tackle a problem where people aren’t aware they are the problem.

“We need to bring our children up without the stigma that technology is a man’s job. It’s the same in farming – we need some really strong female role models and for kids to grow up knowing famous female farmers.

Just look at kids’ TV programmes where farmers are predominantly male. We need female pioneers in these industries to help it become the norm.”

Ahead of the WFA Summit in December, Jez Fredenburgh catches up with one of the speakers Jane Rickson, president of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers, about the need to get more women into the industry and why confidence is key.

As the first female president of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers, Jane Rickson believes it is important to fight sexist prejudices with technical knowledge and professionalism, while mentoring and supporting young and mid-career women to have the opportunity and confidence to continue their careers.

“I think it’s all about professionalism,” says the professor of soil erosion and conservation at Cranfield University.

“How do we give that to young women so that they have the confidence to walk into a room full of men and stand their ground – because not everyone has that confidence.”

Everyone, male or female, has to prove their worth professionally, says Ms Rickson, but there are some people out there with prejudices against women, she says.

“It’s a red-rag to a bull for me – I want to challenge those stereotypes in a methodical, professional way. If people have different expectations just because I’m a woman, that’s their problem, but we do need to challenge them.”

She acknowledges that this might be more difficult for younger women just starting out.

She advises: “Be confident you know your stuff – there’s no reason to feel inferior. Know that you can turn around any prejudices by demonstrating your capabilities.”

Tackling gender splits in science

Growing up, Ms Rickson says she was always interested in the outdoors.

“I saw how fundamental soils are for producing our food (97% of our food comes from soil), storing water and reducing global warming through carbon sequestration – no wonder soils are really moving up the agenda.”

But as she became more specialised in her studies and work, she found that she was increasingly one of only a few women working in her field.

Why that is, she’s not sure, but she thinks there is a need to go right back to school education to understand how science subjects are taught.

“We need to talk to educationists,” she says. “I have three daughters – I see no reason why they couldn’t study a subject like agricultural engineering if that’s what they want. It’s about having the opportunities. If an opportunity is there but they choose not to pursue it, that’s another thing.”

 How to support young women

“Senior women need to be role models,” says Ms Rickson. “We need to develop early career women and share with them how we got on in our careers.

“I think mentoring is really important – where we talk with young women about good (and not so good) experiences to show that they can succeed. It’s all about leading by example.”

Creating a workplace culture that allows more flexibility is also important for encouraging young women to stay in their careers, says Ms Rickson.

Improving that culture for both men and women is important, so they can more easily juggle commitments outside of work, such as caring for children or elderly relatives, she adds.

Looking ahead to December 3-4, Ms Rickson adds events like the WFA Summit are useful in highlighting the challenges the industry faces, while also bringing together like-minded individuals to find solutions.

She says: “I think the Summit is important and timely because agriculture is increasingly recognised as the solution to several global challenges, including food security, rural development and climate change mitigation.

“As the agricultural sector evolves to meet these challenges, more women are taking on more diverse roles, at all levels. The Summit will recognise and celebrate the contributions women can make to agricultural innovation to meet the challenges ahead.”

Dr. Antje Eckel
Founder and CEO
Dr. Eckel Animal Nutrition

INTERVIEW: Lessons from a CEO Who Built Her Company from Scratch – Women in Food & Agriculture

This year, German animal nutrition firm Dr. Eckel marks 25 years of existence. From its beginnings in the corners of the family home in Niederzissen, founder and CEO Dr Antje Eckel and her team—including her husband as well as longtime friends who have been with the business from the beginning—have grown Dr. Eckel Animal Nutrition into a respected voice on matters of innovative feed additives for animal performance and welfare, as well as feed protection. Before cutting into the cake to celebrate the milestone in a private gathering at the Feed Additives Asia event, Antje shares a few lessons learned over the business’s extraordinary trajectory.

Early history

The company Dr. Eckel Animal Nutrition began as a way for Antje, who had a degree in agricultural engineering and a growing family with her university sweetheart Bernhard, to reconcile her desire for a career and a family. “After finishing my PhD, I found myself in the countryside with two little children, a husband with a very exciting first job…but for me, I wasn’t so sure what the future would hold. One thing I was sure about, I wanted to work. But there was one big question left: how to work in a job with two little children and a salesman on the road?”

As it happens, Dr. Eckel was getting into the sector just at the right time, as companies were moving away from antibiotics and the industry was looking for different solutions. The business quickly outgrew Antje alone. “I needed a salesperson. I needed a nutritionist. And I needed a babysitter.” So she pitched her husband—whose own PhD was in animal nutrition—on the proposition of joining her business. She laughs to recall the offer: “double the work, half the pay” is what it came down to, she estimates. “When I told this to my daughter later, she said ‘oh, this is what you call true love.’ But maybe it was just juvenile naïveté,” Antje says. “Ever since June 1994, we’ve been building this company together, each of us doing what we could do best. Bernard [handled] everything about products, about science, about markets. I was responsible for finances and for organization.”

As with many startups, the early days were lean, and every penny counted. “I placed my desk in the bedroom and the garage was our first warehouse,” the CEO explains. She recounts hosting an executive from a major German chemical company at her home, around a meal cooked by her neighbor: “The story we told the guest was, ‘we’re sorry, there’s no good restaurant in this village’, [but] the truth was ‘sorry, we don’t have money.’” Instead, during those times, the company chose to focus its resources on building the brand. Antje still remembers running their very first advertisement, and the thrill of hearing a Swiss prospect reference it shortly thereafter. It really hammered the lesson home: “marketing works.”

The importance of strategy

Growing a startup as it expands into new markets and simultaneously raising a family required nimble organization; of course, only one of the Drs. Eckel could travel at once. Antje recalls her doubts when Bernhard began pushing for exports to East Asia relatively early on in the company’s development, at a time when she felt the company should be moving more cautiously and focusing on more local markets. She claims that while Bernhard was on his way to VIV via the Philippines, she was getting together with her team and trying to prepare arguments about why it was not the right time to move into Asia, when someone pointed out that, counter intuitively, shipping to the Philippines was actually cheaper than shipping to the south of France. “It’s important to have a solid strategy…but it is just as important to throw it overboard if you find a better one,” she states. “So by the time Bernhard came back, we knew more reasons to go to the Philippines than he did, and it was the start of our export business.” They quickly noted with pleasure that customers in Asia were more open to innovation than the established European players, and so business grew fast.

As the company continued to grow, more strategic milestones presented the opportunity for lessons. Launching their own branded solutions backed by internal R&D was long an important priority for the company, but toll manufacturing proved to be a minefield. “You can make as many contracts [and] NDAs as you want, but if you work with third parties you can always lose [proprietary] knowhow,” Antje warns. And so the company eventually took the nerve-wracking decision to launch its own plant. “Going into production is like being pregnant, you can’t just partially do it,” she jests. “And after you have [in-house] production, it changes your life totally.”

It’s been ten years since the company’s first manufacturing site began production, and 25 years since the company itself was formed. Today, Dr. Eckel now boasts employees from over 20 countries. But, seen from another perspective, it has not drifted so far from its roots: the company’s headquarters is still in the small town of Niederzissen, it still employs Antje and Bernhard’s first assistant, Ingrid, among several others who have been with Dr. Eckel for more than two decades, and its focus is still on good health and well-being for animals and humans.

One final key to this longevity has been the company’s determination to stay ahead of the market, whether with antibiotic alternatives in the 1990s or animal welfare solutions in the 2000’s. “Over the years, we’d always been investing in R&D…because we are curious and have fun doing it,” recounts the CEO. “And there is one thing I promise: you will get a lot more innovations in the coming years from us.”

Claudia Roessler is the Director of Agriculture in Microsoft’s Azure Global Engineering Group. She is responsible for developing strategic partnerships around digital innovation and ag tech solutions within the agricultural ecosystem. Originating from Germany, Roessler now operates within the U.S. where she seeks to help businesses drive increased productivity by leveraging technology.

Roessler joined Microsoft 26 years ago after realizing her passion for data and technology solutions.

“I was always excited about what technology can do for a business,” she noted.

This became especially apparent when Roessler was introduced to the agricultural sector. “While age-old ag is fast in adopting technological advancements and mechanizations, it lacks getting the value due dissipate systems, missing data and lack of interpretation coming for analytics.”

Now, ag tech solutions are at the forefront of the industry, across the globe and throughout all levels of the supply chain. “It’s a good time to be in this place and I’m excited about it.”

Roessler is part of the Global Engineering Group that is working on building the agriculture technology road map. “We want to help companies to build technology solutions for agriculture by using our cloud analytics platform. A lot of that has to do with getting better data, being able to run analytics on massive amounts of aggregated technical data.”

For an industry on the cusp of realizing the advantage of information technology capabilities, and one that is facing an immense need for increased production efficiencies, Roessler says that despite agriculture being a bit of a late-comer, there’s currently a transformation underway.

“We are facing really tremendous challenges—the need to produce more food or get food to where it’s needed. There are massive sustainability challenges, climate is changing, so we need to be even more on our feet to make the right decisions. That’s really the role that technology can play.”

And for women, the opportunities in the digital side of agriculture are tremendous, with far-reaching impacts.

“I think there are a lot of women that are coming to agriculture now,” she said. “I absolutely think that for women, technology is playing an even more important role.”

The significance of ag tech can be felt in all corners of the globe. Roessler says that, in developing areas, women around the world are becoming landowners for the first time, but that they don’t have access to the same historical, tribal knowledge that some of the male farmers have, so they are needing to learn things in a new way—and are therefore receptive to trying out new things. Technology can play an immeasurable role in that.

“What data analytics/artificial intelligence does is that it can process massive amounts of data and see patterns and predict potential incidents which, without technology, it’d be much more than any human brain can identify. We’re not made to process and compare massive amounts of data in time and space. Therefore, I’m absolutely expecting we find patterns and new insight that we would have never seen without. I think it can bring a little advantage that women need.”

But this concept isn’t limited to the developing world. “In general, when you think about technology adoption in developed markets, I think there’s an opportunity for women to become first movers here because of the advantages that come out of it.”

Roessler’s experiences over the years, meeting with various businesses, echo that of so many women working in male-dominated industries: “It’s predominantly men in the room.”

“It’s just the pure ratio of the underrepresentation of women in those key positions,” she says. “I’d love to see the ratio change.”

For women looking to start a career in the agricultural or tech industry, Roessler says being creative and resourceful are essential qualities, along with collaboration and networking. And networking and technology happen to go hand-in-hand.

“Building your network and using technology plays an important role, because you don’t need to be in the same room; you can build a social network. There are tools to be able to benchmark you with others and opportunities to crowd source for ideas. So, getting creative about building your own network and how you can collaborate with others and accomplish things better is important.”

“I feel the agriculture industry is incredibly collaborative by nature,” Roessler added. “There are fantastic tools to get social networks across the world.”

For companies looking to diversify and harness the talent of women entering the space, Roessler says it must be genuine and it must include the executive level.

“I think it starts with company culture,” she says. “You can’t fake it right? If you want to have women in your company, want to attract them, you need to show that.”  Additionally, “You want to have female leaders in leadership teams on the board.”

“I think it starts with company culture,” she says. “You can’t fake it right? If you want to have women in your company, want to attract them, you need to show that.”  Additionally, “You want to have female leaders in leadership teams on the board.”

Roessler is on the advisory board for the upcoming Women in Food and Agriculture event, being held in Amsterdam on December 3-4.

Speaking on the event, Roessler says, “I think the structure is a little bit unique, I’m really excited to see how it’s perceived and the feedback that women are giving, the level of networking that’s going to happen there, and thrilled that I’m part of the advisory board and I have an opportunity to look at and help build this agenda. I think there’s a little bit of me in it as well and I’m very excited to see what’s coming.”

And of course, “Events are the best source to build your personal network.”

SIAN Pritchard, managing director of Kuhn UK and Melanie Gardner, dealer development manager at John Deere, are blazing a trail in the male-dominated farm machinery trade but maintain gender is not an issue in the industry.

From landing a job as an export assistant at one of Kuhn Group’s factories in the West of France,  Sian Pritchard became the first female export area sales manager at Kuhn Group headquarters in the Alsace area of France, before returning to the UK as managing director of the Kohn Group sales subsidiary.

“The requirements are the same for both sexes – you need a willingness to explore new opportunities and to be geographically mobile,” says Sian.

“Linguistic ability can also help to differentiate you, and with the right training anything is possible.”

Sian had an early introduction to agricultural machinery – born and raised in the Herefordshire/Welsh Border, her uncles and cousins farm, and her father is an agricultural machinery salesman.

“Many Saturday mornings were spent at the dealership, and as soon as I was old enough to answer the phone I was talking to my father’s customers.”

However, Sian rates her mother, who was a primary school teacher before having a family, as one of her main inspirations.

Sian adds: “She had to give up her career, so was determined to raise her daughters as independent women.”

Sian took degrees in European Financial Management with French at the University of Wales, Bangor and in business studies at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Rennes, France.

“I was making degree choices at around the time that freedom of movement came in and thought that a French/UK degree would open up opportunities in more job markets,” says Sian.

A tutor’s remark that she would never get a job in agricultural exports set her on a life-changing path: “I made it my mission to prove him wrong,” she recalls.

Sian rates her mother, who was a primary school teacher before having a family, as one of her main inspirations.

Sian adds: “She had to give up her career, so was determined to raise her daughters as independent women.”

In 1998 she was offered a role as export assistant at Kuhn SA’s Chateaubriant facility in the West of France before being promoted area sales manager, initially for Scandinavia and Israel, followed by the UK, Ireland and the Baltics, based near Strasbourg in the East of France.

She adds: “I learnt a lot from my Danish and Swedish customers – how to buy, market and sell to a highly dynamic organisation. They were also very open to working with females.

“Kuhn Group vice president of sales and marketing Roland Rieger took a gamble on me as the first female area sales manager and allowed me to flourish, to make mistakes and ask stupid questions. I regard him as another of my inspirations.”

Britain’s former prime minister Margaret Thatcher was a further influence, although not necessarily her policies: “I grew up in a time when Mrs Thatcher was in power, so it was normal to see a woman in charge,” comments Sian.

In 2009 she was appointed as managing director of Kuhn Farm Machinery and returned to the UK.

“I had always wanted to manage a profit centre, perhaps in a financial role, but experience in sales has also been key, while being an export assistant also meant that I had learnt a lot about administration,” she says.

The company broke the £40m sales mark last year and boasts a newly upgraded parts facility for its extensive product range at the UK headquarters in Telford.

Sian believes that there are no specific challenges in the industry for women, but says that anyone working in the industry needs to feel comfortable with its culture. Kuhn’s expanding team numbers 40 employees in the UK, with several women in senior roles.

“We have never set out specifically to employ women, it is more important that we find the right person for the job.”

Balancing a career with family life is a challenge for both male and female employees, she suggests.

Sian’s partner is returning to work this autumn following a career break to look after their young son.

For Melanie, who has been a single mother to her 17-year-old son for the majority of his life, juggling parenthood with a high pressure job has been a challenge, but one she relishes. She describes her son as a ‘daily inspiration’.

Melanie joined John Deere in 2011 as HR manager for the UK and Ireland business before moving to the dealer development role at the end of 2017, having previously held personnel and HR roles for Morrisons, the Austin Reed group and the London Borough of Bexley.

An advocate for encouraging young people into agriculture, Melanie believes parents and the education system have an important role to play, especially when it comes to young women.

“With any child, if they show an interest in something and they are passionate about it then it is up to parents and schools to support them,” says Melanie, who has been closely watching the work of the automotive and engineering sectors which are also on a mission to attract female talent.

“Even at the age of five, we should be talking to children about agriculture, talking to them about where their food comes from and then keeping them interested throughout their school life.”

However, when women do make it into agricultural businesses, they sometimes face another barrier when they want to progress into leadership roles.

Melanie says: “There are a lot of women who have made that step to middle management.

“The trick then is to get from middle management to senior leadership. In my view that is where there is a gap in some of the career advice being given by professionals.”

She says that while some men are ‘guided’ into senior or board level positions women can often be overlooked.

But she believes change is afoot.

“Some of the men on company boards are now fathers or grandfathers. They see some of the struggles their daughters or granddaughters are dealing with,” she says.

“I think there can be a change of mind set when something is a bit closer to home.”

“There are a lot of women who have made that step to middle management.

“The trick then is to get from middle management to senior leadership. In my view that is where there is a gap in some of the career advice being given by professionals.”

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Companies such as John Deere have been making headway in encouraging a more inclusive culture and diverse workplace.

“As well as a gender gap there is also a race gap,” adds Melanie.

“And that is true across agriculture.

“John Deere has done some tremendous work on diversity inclusion globally.

“In the time I have been with the company I have seen the changes and I am pleased to say there are more women occupying those senior executive level roles.”

The proportion of male to female staff at John Deere is currently about 75/25 per cent.

“HR has got a role to play in this space but the message of diversity in the workplace has to be from the top down and you have to lead by example.

“If board or senior leaders hear comments that are not aligned with the company’s strategy then they should be challenging that thinking and encourage managers to examine their mind sets.”

Women only groups which enable participants to become more empowered and harness their business skills have become more popular in recent years.

But for Melanie, she sees greater value in the best talent, irrespective of gender, coming together to share ideas, knowledge and expertise.

“I would like to see mixed gender inspirational groups, asking what they can learn from each other,” she says.

“While participating in our own, I have always been slightly wary of women only groups, mainly because gender has never been an issue for me at work.

“In addition, I have always been conscious [of positive discrimination] and I did not want any promotion to be based purely on the fact I am a woman.

“Any promotion should be based on having the right person doing the right job, at the right time with the right skills, competencies but also the right attitude – and not just that job but potential jobs beyond that as well.”

Fiona Lake is an agriculture specialist, photographer and writer based in Australia. She sees women as the overlooked key to speeding up the glacial pace of agricultural tech adoption, including the use of drones on farms. And says if you want to be successful, work and tenacity are an essential requirement.

Q: Can you share a little about your background experience as a woman in the food and agriculture industry?

I grew up on a wheat/sheep farm on a state border, where there’s still agricultural and demographic differences on either side, largely due to historic state government policy and programme differences.
This is perhaps why I have a low tolerance regarding parochialism and “siloism” in ag and other industries. On the side I work to reduce wheel-reinvention and spread innovation news via one of my favourite creations: A Twitter account that promotes agricultural events worldwide (@Agri_events).

I started taking photographs in the early 70s and selling them in the early 80s, featuring the million-acre cattle station I worked on. I set my business up to fund a rural advocacy need that wasn’t being met and to simultaneously provide income as I was living more than 100km from the nearest towns, too far for off-farm employment to be an economic option. It morphed into a multi-strand entrepreneurial enterprise – to date I’ve published 3 books (featuring photographs of more than sixty of Australia’s largest cattle stations, the largest in the world), run many photography exhibitions (most recently in Australia’s Embassy to the US, in Washington DC), and run workshops across Australia on photography, best-practice social media use and drones in agriculture. Due to shifting economics and technology I’ve had to ‘reinvent’ myself several times and this was particularly tough because there’s no rule book or role models for what I do. When others have taken up what I’ve launched into, I move onto another unmet need that has been waiting in the wings. I plan years in advance but can take up an unexpected offer at the drop of a hat. I became a speaker regarding drones in agriculture by sheer accident – simply because there aren’t any other women doing it! I keep thinking, “the invitations will dry up soon,” but they’ve kept coming, so there’s still more work to do.

Q: What are some of the challenges you’ve encountered or witnessed of women working within this industry?

Enough challenges to fill a book and these have increased past the age of 50, as in Australian society older women tend to become “invisible.” Added to the fact that agriculture is deemed to be a “sunset” industry run by straw-chewing hicks or worse—just a pack of environmental vandals by many in the position to influence public views, i.e. many urban journalists plus people in creative industries, from film and TV and marketing agencies to the literary, music and art world. Ever since my business began, I’ve loved the challenge of being proof that stereotypes need rethinking.

I’ve taken aerial images since 1988 and I accidentally upped the ante when I took up flying drones a few years ago. And challenging ageism added itself to the list. At tradeshows I can stand in front of my work, with my name all over it, introduce myself and talk about where I’ve visited to take the images – and people still then ask who took the photographs. I am “mansplained” regarding using drones at every turn despite being very experienced, fully licensed and invited to present at drone conferences on three continents, with the fourth in June (in Shenzhen, the global centre of drone manufacture).

Unfortunately – womensplaining is also alive and thriving.

Women as well as men have said to me, “you’re so lucky that your husband lets you travel,” to which I’ve been known to respond, “I wriggled out of the chains in the middle of the night and stole a car.”

Some still say, “who looks after your children when you’re away?” Even though they know my youngest son is nearly 18. Do people say these things to men? Doubt it.

I have an extra layer of challenges because what I do is unique. The art world thinks I’m just a businessperson, the business world thinks I’m an artist and not to be taken seriously, and now I live in town, many in agriculture view me as an outsider—a “townie.” The truth is that what I’ve spent more than 30 years doing is really self-funded rural philanthropy. I love the diversity of my business, but it does cause some teeth gnashing at times. Art is additionally powerful because it is underestimated.

Q: What do you think it takes to be a successful woman in our sector?

In terms of leadership, there’s two streams in Australia: The conventional route—via industry awards and formal leadership roles—and the solitary route, as I have chosen. The latter doesn’t have the high profile but can be even more effective, in terms of influencing, leading and inspiring others—if what you do is unique and useful. Because there’s no constraints and requirements to toe the official line of an employer, if you’re self-employed. I did what I wanted to do, what I thought needed to be done—and became a role model by sheer accident.

Either way, work and tenacity are required. Plus, an ability to identify problems that need solving and original ideas on how to do so.

Being egalitarian and independent by nature, I’ve very rarely asked for help and from the outset I’ve taken care to give before receiving and assist others that I recognise as givers rather than takers.
As I prefer they have a clear field to thrive as they bring others along with them. This philosophy has underpinned my work. I have seen some other women in ag climb to the top by empire building and it’s very disappointing. Along the way, some fantastic individuals have gone out of their way to help me.
Some fabulous women – but mostly men.

Q: Where do you think there are opportunities for women in food and agriculture?

Ag tech. Which is in desperate need of the other 50% of the population to drive development and uptake. Women who are good at STEM subjects and/or humanities are vital.

For the last couple of years, I’ve been on a mission to encourage rural women to fly drones as there’s fantastic regional business opportunities that are ideally suited to rural women. And Australia, like many countries, has the ridiculous situation of having more women flying manned aircraft than drones! We also have a higher percentage of women trained to shear sheep than fully licensed to fly drones! Rural drone businesses can be created part-time and run with flexible hours, with relatively little capital and built up slowly, using agricultural and rural knowledge along with local contacts. Perfect for rural women who are also the primary caregivers for children!

The drone industry desperately needs more female role models. There are so few women flying commercially at present that every single one stands out as an example for others to potentially follow.

Q: What advice can you give to a young professional who is looking to start a career in this business?

Play to your natural strengths and think long-term.

Agricultural youth awards can come with fantastic training, travel, public speaking, networking and leadership opportunities. But if you choose this route, ensure you stay humble and mentor others; and not just “people like you” – a diverse range. I’ve seen many dismayed that accolades don’t last longer than 12 months or so, and struggle to recover when the “honeymoon” wears off. Burnout isn’t uncommon. Building up slowly creates more resilience from the inevitable knocks.

Dedicate yourself to an industry field for years and your tenacity and experience will attract respect.
If you don’t care deeply about what you do, you’ll fall at the first or second hurdle.

Q: What can businesses do to increase diversity and attract female talent?

My favourite quote from last year: “If everyone around the table looks like you, you have a problem.”

So first up, businesses need to look closely at their employment track record. Has bias been exhibited already? Are most employees or members called Peter or Michael? Research has shown that diversity of gender, age and background leads to greater productivity, so there’s sound economic reasons for improvement.

It is generally true that men will apply for jobs despite having large gaps in the requested skills while women won’t apply unless they feel they tick every single box. In the publishing industry, most male authors will submit manuscripts repeatedly to publishers—whereas women are more likely to be put off for good, after just a few rejections. These things apply to women in agriculture, e.g. in relation to employment, running for leadership positions, and speaking at conferences. And women tend to take critical comments regarding their performance to heart whereas fewer men do.

So, for best “results,” feedback needs to be handled thoughtfully and delivered in a way that fits each individual rather than taking a “one way for all” approach. If businesses want women to apply, go and headhunt them, rather than just waiting for them to apply. The very best candidates may not, simply because they’ve been too self-critical.

When advertising, businesses should make it clear that women are welcome to apply. And that training is available to fill skill gaps for the right applicant. To keep women, they must feel welcome—by the workplace, other staff and management. Critical mass is required. If they’re the only woman amongst a group, it feels very much like being the token, and odd.

Modest quotas may be essential in order to reach critical mass. And unless there’s almost no women at all in a field, quotas do not “elevate incapable or unqualified women” (as some unfortunately suggest).
Instead, quotas just remove the bottom rung of male applicants—who, on too many occasions, have only been considered above the best female applicants because of their gender.

Q: You are supporting the WFA campaign, can you tell what this initiative means to you and why is it important?
A lack of diversity means less productivity, creativity and sustainability.

There are campaigns running in several countries to promote the vision of women in agriculture and thus raise respect. Unfortunately, they’re all accidentally helping to foster the stereotype as real farmers meaning working outdoors, driving a tractor or working with livestock, when in reality, the reason why women don’t feature in images is because mostly their roles are indoor and thus, less photogenic.
‘Female farmer’ campaigns are just fostering the stereotype that farming means outside with dirty hands, instead of raising respect for the farm business roles that so many women undertake—administration and communication, financial management, employee care, catering, workplace health and safety management, etc.

So, I’m delighted to support a programme that shines a light on the complete diversity of agriculture-related roles that women are involved in. Every farm-related task is a worthy one and deserving of respect and acknowledgement—not just the photogenic.

Do something you care about says Pilar Cruz, President of Cargill’s compound animal feed and nutrition business

“Over 17 years ago, I selected Cargill because agriculture is so universal and fundamental to people’s lives – whether you’re in the poorest country or the richest. One can impact so many lives in a positive way. Furthermore, once I learned that Cargill’s purpose is nourishing the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way, I really felt that this was the place for me. Over the years, I’ve only grown to appreciate the people who grow our food more as I’ve got closer to our customers and suppliers. I’ve worked in many areas of Cargill – in numerous locations around the world – but it’s animal nutrition that I feel allows me to get closest to the farm and make the biggest contribution to helping farmers improve the performance, well-being and sustainability of their animals, operations and communities.”

Support others in a similar role

“We should also continue to set the example we want others to follow. We should lead with courage as companies and as individuals: hiring and nurturing people who look, sound and think differently so we can offer vibrant, inclusive, attractive workplaces that give everyone a chance to participate. And we should support our female team members and colleagues. There will always be times when gender bias puts us to the test. But we can meet these situations with resiliency – seeing such encounters as opportunities to enlighten and educate. “

Don’t change who you are to fit in, says Christine Tacon, CBE Groceries Code Adjudicator

“We can all learn a lot from what we don’t like that happens around us as well as that which we like. I resolved that I didn’t want to change the person I was to fit in, we need women at senior levels to change the dynamic, not to become men in skirts. Coming at the job in a different way is what diversity is all about.”

Be confident in your ability and own methods of working

“My way is not going straight for my powers but starting with a measured, business-like collaborative approach. There could of course be some correlation here that women prefer non-confrontational styles. I have only done two investigations in five and a half years. But I have achieved significant change through what I deemed as a collaborative approach. “Don’t try to be something else or conform to how others behave, however tempting it is if you are a lone female,”

Don’t be afraid to fail, says Amy Cornell, President of Agribusiness Council of Indiana and Vice President, Bose Public Affairs Group

“I think you have to create some level of a culture of honesty. Everyone’s trying to do their best all the time, but not everything that we do is a raging success. And helping people understand that that’s okay, right, it doesn’t mean you have to take yourself out of the game. If you’re a committee chair, and something didn’t go well for the organization, that doesn’t mean you can’t run for the board later. As long as you’re demonstrating that you learned from that opportunity, and you’re moving forward and continuing to be resilient, that’s what’s important.”

Be open to every opportunity

“I think opportunities are everywhere. It’s about inserting yourself into the opportunity that you want to have. I don’t think gender should be limiting in agribusiness. You may look at leaders and see all of these skills that they have and feel totally intimidated by it, but know that those leaders didn’t come into the workforce with all those skills and talents. They built them over time. So, look for opportunities, be open to opportunities. Don’t necessarily turn something down because it’s not in your normal skillset, be willing to stretch yourself, and you will find the opportunities. And pay it back! I got to where I am and am continuing to grow because people are continuing to invest in me.”

Assert your worth, says Frédérique Clusel,  General Manager Phileo Lesaffre Animal Care

“There are a lot of limits placed on women, particularly those of older generations, by themselves and their own internalized beliefs about their worth and capabilities. When you propose another job or a different mission to a man, he will immediately [respond] ‘yes, interesting, how much [does it pay]’ but not as many women do that. But why? It’s true it’s a new mission, so why should you not [dare to ask for a raise]?”

Dream big!

“When I was young, I was asked where I wanted to be…in fact, I dreamt too small; at 35 I was already in the position I imagined at age 50. I could have maybe dreamt larger….Whoever we are, we can dream much bigger.”

William McClain on supporting the Women in Food and Agriculture campaign 2019 

William McClain is Vice President Human Resources, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia for Bunge, a food and agribusiness company. In addition, McClain oversees human resources and related strategies for the company’s global agribusiness and trading product lines. With a unique view on leadership and diversification within the industry, McClain volunteered to serve on the advisory board for the Women in Food and Agriculture initiative, hoping to be a part of the discussion and the solution.

“I think that by doing this I can help bring a bit more awareness to myself, first of all, so the conversation is more constant and regular,” McClain says. “The other important thing that comes from it is engaging my colleagues around that, keeping the focus on that dialogue a little more often.”

McClain’s resume also boasts impressive experience in the area of talent acquisition. The food industry is currently faced with the mounting challenge of feeding the growing population of the world while putting increased emphasis on sustainability and corporate responsibility. More than ever, the industry is craving qualified, passionate and determined individuals to guide the industry into its next phase through innovation and ingenuity. With women representing only 22 percent of board seats for Fortune 500 companies—there remains untapped potential.

“The pool of women talent is bigger than that of males and, you know, we’re still not tapping into that,” McClain says. “So if there’s a way we can start really making an impact in doing that, that’s why it’s important.”

With opportunities available, what traits are hiring managers looking for when sourcing new leadership? McClain says that finding talent can often be one of the harder aspects in this niche industry.

“A lot of what we look for in leaders are people who are agile and, I think, very entrepreneurial,” he says.

In addition, career advancement isn’t always an upward linear motion. Candidates with a diverse background and a willingness to take on new challenges and learn new things are sought-after.

“Typically, organizations aren’t flat. A lot of people think of what might have been called the ‘career ladder’ and think of career progression as always kind of moving to the next level. I think when it comes to a career, I think it’s a bit of understanding that it can also be you expanding roles and gaining experience in other ways.”

In addition, in order to maximize the potential for finding these individuals, companies should make sure they’re looking at a balanced pool of candidates, McClain says. “I think there’s work to do in helping folks understand that there is unconscious bias.”

“We need to ask ourselves, are we going to the places where women are at—are we in front of them?” And it’s not all factories and combines—”it’s important to showcase your company’s core values” and what we do to serve the value chain in order to attract the right people.

And flexibility is key when attracting and retaining female talent as well as the younger generations. “We [as companies in the industry] can start thinking a little more outside of the box and adapting ourselves in terms of the policies we have—centered around flexibility in terms of work hours, flexibility in terms of work location, and maybe flexibility in how I use my overall benefits package.”

On supporting the upcoming WFA Summit, McClain says “If there’s a little something that our part of being on the advisory board or any comments or ideas I might have that might actually start making a difference, I think it’s the right focus.”