Pioneering farmer wins business gong

WELL DONE: Farmer Lindy Nelson has won the business category of the NEXT magazine Woman of the Year Awards.

An Alfredton farmer has won the business category of the NEXT magazine Woman of the Year Awards.

Frustration about the lack of women in agricultural leadership roles prompted farmer and former nurse Lindy Nelson to spend three years researching how women in rural communities can realise their potential, before founding the Agri-Women's Development Trust in 2010.

Thanks to that work more than 300 women throughout New Zealand have so far completed trust programmes through which they have gained the skills, confidence and support to become leaders in their communities, businesses and industry.

The awards' judging panel - business leader Theresa Gattung, Tourism Industry Association head Martin Snedden and NEXT editor Sarah Henry, were impressed by Nelson's achievements in a sector in which women have historically been under-represented. They praised her determination, passion and clever commercial thinking.

"In the business category we were looking for a strategic thinker with entrepreneurial drive," they noted. "Someone who had overcome obstacles to become financially successful while keeping their integrity and ethics intact.

"Lindy is selflessly driven to empower and inspire others against the odds in an industry which can be resistant to change - she has pioneered a model to enable women in agriculture to realise their potential."

Trust programmes have produced graduates who have stepped up into governance roles in some of agriculture's largest companies and industry organisations, launch businesses, and lead economic and educational development initiatives.

"This award is a great acknowledgement for New Zealand agriculture which remains the engine room of our economy," Lindy Nelson said. "The acknowledgement of women in the sector is exciting because they make up fifty percent of it.

"Women own and manage multi-million dollar farming businesses but often they don't have the confidence or leadership skills required to drive that productivity for New Zealand. The trust was founded for that reason and we've had some great successes.

"This is just the beginning. Industry leaders are seeing the difference our programmes are making for women and for agriculture, and are asking us to help solve problems."

Initially putting in up to 80 hours a week unpaid as the executive director of the trust, the mother-of-three acknowledged the trust's patron, Mavis Mullins, and its founding trustees who got alongside her to establish the trust. Support from by industry partners including ANZ, Beef + Lamb NZ, Agmardt and Dairy NZ has also been strong.

Nelson received her award last Thursday night at a ceremony held in Auckland.

The overall winner of the NEXT Woman of the Year Awards was Julie Chapman, founder of KidsCan, a charity which provides food, clothing and basic healthcare items to New Zealand's poorest kids.