Nuffield Scholar Katrina Sasse’s goal to challenge the status quo of family farming

Geraldton-based Katrina Sasse wanted to challenge the status quo in family farming through a Nuffield Scholarship, looking at how businesses can encourage their daughters through farm succession. Ms Sasse, who completed the program in 2017, is among a growing cohort of West Australian Nuffield Scholarship alumni who have received a Grains Research and Development Corporation sponsored scholarship. Each has completed the 14-week program, which offers opportunity to travel the world purposefully and meet a diverse range of people in food and fibre production. GRDC sponsors Nuffield Scholarships to support the development of agricultural leaders to identify, share and implement new knowledge, management skills and farming practices. The scholarship, which is open for applications until June 9, is an opportunity for people working in the grains industry to identify a topic for research relevant to them and the broader industry and then travel to study in Australia and internationally. Hailing from WA’s northern grain belt, Ms Sasse returned home after 15 years of school, university and a career to work on the family farm. After going through the early stages of succession with her family, she discovered a need for succession resources tailored for daughters. “I was concerned to hear people say that you needed a son to take over the farm,” Ms Sasse said. “I thought that perhaps there was some gender bias going on, so I decided to take on this subject as a Nuffield Scholar.” Her Nuffield Scholarship took her around the world, which allowed her to meet other farmers’ daughters making a career on the land. Ms Sasse says women offer different ways of looking at the farm business, which is essential given the many challenges facing farming families today. “We need people with different skills and perspectives to keep farming viable,” she said. “Women bring different leadership styles to business, and their different viewpoints and breadth of experience offer a guard against group think.” In her Nuffield Scholarship travels, Ms Sasse said many of the women she visited who were taking on farms had up to 10 years of experience working in other businesses before returning to the farm. Most had been involved in the business at an earlier age. “The most critical time to encourage women to take an interest in farming is when they are young,” she said. “Ask young women regularly from when they are children to when they are teenagers if they want to farm so that they realise that running the farm could be part of their future.” The women she met overseas who ran farms had often returned to the farm on weekends and holidays while they were at university because they loved the work. “Some of these women had studied robotics or ecology, were highly employable in many fields, offered a diverse skill set, and could define their value to their parents.” After women return to the farm, Ms Sasse said, they need time to settle into their role, gain confidence and determine what part of the business will be their focus. The next step, she said, is finding balance between running the farm and personal life, which may include raising children. “I asked the women running farms how they managed to balance farm and family, and all of them said they just did it,” she said. “Many daughters said they had childcare options, such as grandparents who helped or they had employed a nanny. “Additional managers or workers were employed if the daughter needed to be away from the farm at any time.” Ms Sasse said farm succession discussions require parents to understand that women can be farmers as well as men. “One of my favourite insights came from Jenny Rhodes, who I visited in Delaware in the US,” she said. “She talked about the importance of opening the conversation and showing your worth. “It is about gaining parents’ support for alternative options such as buying into another farm, leasing another farm, starting a different venture, or finding another career path.” She encourages women to look locally for a support network. “Focus on what you need in farming, such as confidence or leadership. I go to everything where women in agriculture are encouraged. “Locally, I’m involved in the Morawa Farm Improvement Group, which I chaired for six years and am now a committee member. “Although the Morawa Farm Improvement Group isn’t a women’s group, it gave me the confidence and ability to speak up about who I am and share my farm experiences with my local peers and learn from them. “There is a range of skills that women could bring to the farm business if given the opportunity.”