“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

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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?

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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?

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 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

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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!

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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!

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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.

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“Climate smart farming” has become somewhat of a buzz word (or buzz phrase, rather!). But what does that even mean? Instead of becoming caught up in definitions, we hear from two women who are each running farming operations in two very different landscapes...but are both proudly, climate smart farmers. 

At its essence, climate smart farming is about lowering inputs where you can, making decisions for your soil and grass, and in some cases, tapping into opportunities such as renewable energy or carbon sequestration. It’s going to look different, depending on your property.  However, it's often thinking about farm productivity from the soil up, and yes, it also means making a profit too.

Hear from:

• Ellen Litchfield -  runs a cattle and sheep station in remote South Australia. She’s also a vet, and has a Masters in Sustainable Agriculture and works part-time for Farmers for Climate Action.
• Dimity Taylor - runs a sheep farm near Crookwell in NSW. She is implementing regenerative agriculture practices on the farm and also works part-time as a physiotherapist.

Both Ellen and Dimity talk about the challenges and successes they’ve had in getting others on board their climate smart farming journeys. 

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Behind every good Ag business, is a good woman. Well, a smart and caring one.

There are many women doing innovative things on farm and in the broader agriculture industry. From cracking a value added business, to finding more sustainable ways of producing food. In this episode, you’ll meet two women who think strategically about their own farming businesses, as well as broader issues around soil science, national food security (such as a national food plan) and how to bring more diversity into industry board rooms.

Hear from:

*Fiona Marshall -Chair, Grain Growers National Policy Group Member. Chair, Riverine Plains Farming Systems Group.  Grains producer and advocate for agriculture. Based in Mulwala, NSW.

*Cressida Cains - President of Australian Women in Agriculture and founder of Pecora Dairy, a raw-milk sheep cheese dairy. Based in Robertson, NSW.

This is episode one of a 3-part collaboration series with Farmers for Climate Action. Come to their national summit - and receive 20% off! Listen to the episode to find out how!

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production

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How do you create systemic change, especially when it involves changing the culture and attitudes of not just a workplace, but an entire society? 

There is no specific playbook for systemic change. But there are a number of tools you can try. In this final episode of our three part series with Rural Women Lead, we explore this adaptive process by looking at space of women’s health and wellbeing - including reproductive health, family violence and menopause - which are all areas that have been overlooked, misunderstood and mischaracterised throughout history.

Hear from:

• Jodie Hill - CEO at Women’s Health and Wellbeing Barwon Southwest, from Crossley, VIC.

In her role, Jodie is tackling multiple systemic problems. To do this, she says you need to have conversations with people with very different attitudes and ideas to you. This inevitably comes with discomfort - but if you want to create change, you need to have the courage to be able to sit with that discomfort and do it anyway. Jodie tells the story of having to speak to a room full of tradies about gender equity, when it was clear they hadn’t really chosen to be in the room. She adjusted her talk to better fit the audience..but summoned the courage to speak!

This series has been made in collaboration with Rural Women Lead, lead by Leadership Great South Coast. Other members includes: O2 Advisory, are-able, GenHealth, Wannon Water and Rural Podcasting Co.

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production.

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Storytelling is so important for connection and information retention (there are several studies that prove this!) But have you ever stopped to think how important knowing YOUR OWN story is?

Hear from Sherry Johnstone, a Keerray Woorong woman, based in Warrnambool who didn’t feel confident in embracing her indigenous heritage, because she was so tired of people questioning it. But when she finally did acknowledge her culture, it markedly changed the direction of her life, giving her greater purpose and re-awakening her passion as an artist.

In this episode hear from:

*Sherry Johnstone - Artist (Spirit and Soul Connections) and educator and Kerray Woorong woman based in Warrnambool, VIC.

*Trudy Marr - Head of Strategy of Strategy and Projects at are-able, a not for profit organisation, which helps people with disabilities find meaningful employment.

Connection is also a strong theme of this episode, and the link between sharing your story and connecting with others. Trudy moved to Warrnambool from Scotland in her early 20s and had to quickly learn how to forge meaningful relationships.  Since then, she has reimagined what networking means. For her, it's not about starting with an intention to climb the corporate ladder,  but rather form a genuine connection - and through this, wonderful opportunities will emerge.

This episode has been made in collaboration with Rural Women Lead - an initiative led by Leadership Great South Coast. It captures some of the insights shared at recent workshops, funded by a community projects grant, from Elders.

Would you like to collaborate with us? Or sponsor a full season? Get in touch! [email protected]

This is a Rural Podcasting Co production

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