Climate change can be one of those topics that people either avoid, argue about, or feel completely overwhelmed by. Meanwhile, climate policy is often a political football.

So how do we have better conversations about it,  especially in rural and regional Australia, where the impacts are often felt first and hardest? And why is it still considered by some to be a ‘leftie inner city issue?”

We’re joined by two brilliant minds: Social researcher Dr Rebecca Huntley and climate scientist,  Emeritus Professor of Biology Lesley Hughes have dedicated themselves to raising awareness about the impacts of climate change, including supporting regional communities. 

Together, they unpack the science, the politics, the psychology, and the opportunities that come with climate action in Australia.

This is not a doom-and-gloom climate chat.

Lesley and Rebecca share how both the scientific and social sides of the issue are intertwined and the tough balance of motivating people to act on climate change without losing hope that the situation is impossible. 

Thank you to Weighting for Happiness for Sponsoring this Season of Ducks on the Pond.  Listen to the Before Dieting podcast, by founder Brownyn Fletcher

Send us Fan Mail

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

This is a big, honest, and deeply human conversation.

In this episode, Kirsten sits down with Warrnambool mother, Amanda Gaudion, who shares the story of her former husband Troy — a devoted dad, police officer, and someone who experienced a severe mental illness that ultimately led to his death by suicide.

It’s a conversation about love, confusion, systems, stigma and what it’s actually like to live alongside complex mental illness that doesn’t fit neatly into the categories we’re more comfortable talking about.

This episode gently but powerfully challenges the way we think about mental health — especially the conditions we don’t talk about.

If this episode raises anything for you, support is available:

Lifeline (Australia): 13 11 14

Send us Fan Mail

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

When was the last time you had a difficult conversation? Maybe it was with a family member, at work or even within your community. While it can be easy for us to shy away from hard chats, our next guest considers her ability to have “crunchy” conversations a superpower. 

From a young age Liz Brennan had these conversations role modelled within her family. So by the time she found herself in Papua New Guinea working alongside cultural leaders in a tourism role, she felt well prepared to put in the hard yards to build trust, find community and have “crunchy” conversations. 

Now living in Kunnunurra but originally from WA’s wheatbelt, Liz works as the managing director for AgDots, an organisation connecting people in rural Australia to make things happen. 

Liz speaks about how she first became interested in food systems while living in Papua New Guinea, the importance of diversifying and how to feel empowered by your choice to live regionally, instead of feeling hindered by it. 

Send us Fan Mail

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

Ducks on the Pond is back with Season 8!

Hear what's coming up on this powerful 10 episode season and meet Bronwyn Fletcher, founder of Weighting for Happiness.... and Ducks Season 8  sponsor.

Bronwyn is working to change the conversation around women and weight through a systems-thinking approach to health and wellbeing. She unpacks why rural women often face different barriers to support and services, and why addressing complex challenges requires moving beyond simple fixes.

Bronwyn also has a fabulous podcast called Before Dieting.

Season 8 of Ducks on the Pond launches soon, with a new lineup of powerful stories, fresh perspectives and thoughtful conversations.

Follow the podcast now so you don’t miss the first episode of the season.

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production

Send us Fan Mail

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

“If farmers don’t have a voice, they’ll be dealt a poorer hand.” That’s the simple mantra that motivates Rebecca Reardon to be involved in advocacy with NSW Farmers.

Rebecca is a mixed farmer from Moree in NSW, an agricultural economist, board director and Vice President of NSW Farmers.

Her path into agricultural leadership wasn’t linear. After 20 years working post–farm gate in the grains industry, including stepping into a CEO role during one of the most personally challenging periods of her life, she made the conscious decision to step back and prioritise family when one of her children became seriously ill

What followed were two phone calls that changed her trajectory; one inviting her onto an industry board, and another encouraging her to join the Grains Committee at NSW Farmers

 That “gentle push” led her into policy, advocacy and leadership at a state and national level.

In this collaboration episode with NSW Farmers, Rebecca reflects candidly on:

• How family crisis reshaped her perspective on leadership and success
• Why advocacy isn’t just about what farmer groups win; but what they stop
• How NSW Farmers develops grassroots policy through branches, committees and annual conference
• The mounting pressures facing agriculture; from telecommunications and biosecurity to land tax, diesel rebates, insurance and renewables
• The widening city–country divide and the fight to maintain farming’s social licence
• Why we need more women and more young farmers stepping into advocacy roles

If you’ve ever thought about getting involved, but worried you didn’t know enough, weren’t qualified, or might upset someone… this episode is your nudge.

Learn more about NSW Farmers or become a member HERE

Send us Fan Mail

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

What if the difference between a struggling farm and a thriving one isn’t the cows, the land or the milk price… but the systems?

When Jana Hocken and her husband returned to their 1,000-head dairy farm in New Zealand, they were facing two seasons of low milk prices, a $500,000 overdraft and long, exhausting workdays. Something had to change.

In this practical and eye-opening live recording from the Australian Dairy Conference, Jana shares how applying Lean management principles,  developed by Toyota,  transformed their business.

The results?

• 15% reduction in costs
• 72% increase in labour productivity over 10 years
• Major gains in production 
• Overdraft eliminated — and cash surplus at season start

Same herd. Same genetics. Same infrastructure. Different management.

Instead of hoping milk price rises to improve profit, Jana explains why the real opportunity lies in controlling what you can; cost, systems, communication and culture. Jana has now founded The Lean Farm Project, to help others.

Hosted by Kirsten Diprose, this episode captures Jana’s keynote on how Lean tools; from weekly team meetings and visual management boards to root-cause problem solving and radical financial transparency, can dramatically reduce stress, lift productivity and build a farm that lasts generations.

This is the final collaboration episode with the Australian Dairy Conference. Go back and listen to earlier episodes, to hear more wisdom from the fabulous speakers and leaders involved in the event.

Produced by the Rural Podcasting Co… can we help YOU tell your own story?

Send us Fan Mail

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

What happens when you don’t make time for your wellness?

For wellbeing researcher and speaker Carli Phillips, the answer was confronting: double pneumonia, a heart infection and total burnout in her late thirties... all while juggling two jobs, a masters degree, young children, farm life and caring responsibilities.

In this powerful live recording from the Australian Dairy Conference, Carli, the founder of the Corporate Wellbeing Hub, shares the lesson that changed her life:

If you don’t make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness.

Hosted by Kirsten Diprose, this episode captures Carli’s keynote address to more than 900 people, followed by a practical and heartfelt Q&A focused on rural workplaces, leadership and psychosocial safety.

This is a collaboration episode with the Australian Dairy Conference. Produced by the Rural Podcasting Co... can we help YOU tell your own story?

Send us Fan Mail

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

 Where did the anti-farming sentiment begin, not just in Australia, but around the world? And most importantly, what can we do about it?

Claire Taylor brings a genuinely global perspective to this conversation. Originally from Scotland, she travelled across multiple countries as part of her Nuffield Scholarship, exploring how farming is portrayed, discussed and defended in different cultural contexts.

That journey eventually led her to Australia—where she fell in love with a farmer  and now lives just outside Orange, New South Wales. Having only been in Australia for a year, Claire speaks candidly about what it’s like to miss your old life while navigating a major career pivot.

Once an agricultural reporter working across TV and newspapers in the UK, Claire is now the founder of her own consultancy, Agvocacy Consulting, focused on helping agriculture tell its story better.

This episode is has been made in collaboration with the Australian Dairy Conference and is packed with practical, accessible advice on sharing positive stories about farming—and you don’t need to be an influencer or media professional to do it well.

The Australian Dairy Conference is on in Melbourne from February 11 to 13, so make sure you're getting quick to book your ticket!

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production

Send us Fan Mail

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

Farmers are often portrayed as being lone operators, but we know that working in agriculture, or any rural business, is a team sport. No matter what specific industry you’re in, you’re not going to get far without the ability to get people working together towards a shared goal.        

None of this is possible without effective leadership, and that’s the topic we’re going to be tackling in this episode. How do you define your leadership?

And who better to ask than two women in leadership roles within the massive event that is the Australian Dairy Conference. 

• Rose Philipzen is the first woman to act as president of the Australian Dairy Conference. With a lifetime of experience in the industry in New South Wales, Rose shared what her trailblazing journey has taught her about the benefits of leaning into a collaborative leadership approach. 
• Ella Credlin is working in Rose’s team as the conference’s programming chair. As a passionate dairy farmer from south-west Victoria, Ella was tapped on the shoulder to work for the ADC, and told me all about her hope to create positive change within the industry she loves.     

Also in this episode we discuss the Australian Rural Leadership Program. The ARLP is a 15-month program that helps rural people develop their skills as leaders in their field. 

This episode was brought to you in collaboration with the Australian Dairy Conference, Australia’s premiere conference. Next year the conference will be held in Melbourne in February at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. You can register for the conference or explore the program at this link.    

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. podcast. Check out our other podcasts and how we can help you create your very own podcast too!

Send us Fan Mail

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

Nikki Davey is well known in the rural women's community as an entrepreneur, flower farmer, speaker and absolute go-getter. She founded Grown Not Flown, an app connecting customers with local flower growers. This startup business had a great cause in directly challenging the lack of sustainability in the flower industry, where many flowers are flown to Australia from countries in South America, Africa and Asia. Which is a crazy amount of unnecessary flower miles... given the amazing flowers we have right here in Australia. 

As a business and a movement, Grown Not Flown was kicking goals. Nikki won the National Agrifutures Rural Women's award in 2023. She fostered a large social media following and most importantly, created a platform that was popular with both growers and customers. But a couple of months ago, Nikki posted online about how she was winding up Grown Not Flown. This came as quite a shock to many.

But the reality of any startup is that most fail. Sometimes you can even have the market fit, a brilliant founder and a popular platform... and things don't work out.

So you're about to hear an interview with Nikki Davey that she did on another podcast called Agtech.. So What, who have kindly shared it with us. Sarah Nolet is the interviewer and dives into the business side of things, from what it's like being the founder of a startup, the challenges of finding funding and how difficult it is to make the final decision to wind up the business.  

Nikki is still doing amazing things of course too, including a new role in the sustainable flower industry, her new startup AI business, Stratlas and she just released a book for business owners about collaboration... called "The Pie Gets Bigger."

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Check out our other podcasts and how we can help you create your very own podcast too!

Send us Fan Mail

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!

It can feel very murky when diving into measuring things like nature, biodiversity, carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.  Essentially, how do you know what you’re doing is working? And while the tools are still improving there are many reasons why it’s worth giving it a crack. 

In part 3 of our collaboration series with Farmers for Climate Action, we dive into ways to help you account for all the good environmental work you do on farm. We also get insights directly from the bank, including what financial tools are out there and how to best communicate your vision with your bank manager. 

Hear from:

• Carmel Onions, Executive Manager Agribusiness Sustainability at Commonwealth Bank
• Leah Garnett, dairy farmer at Mohyu, VIC and science researcher on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in dairy.

We also discuss some of the latest scientific developments in greenhouse gas reduction, including a ‘methane vaccine’.

Please note - this episode does not contain any financial advice. All financial discussions are general in nature.

Quack! Are you interested in sponsoring the next season of Ducks on the Pond? Contact us at Rural Podcasting Co.

Send us Fan Mail

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Interested in making your own podcast? Let us help you tell your own story!