‘From idea to reality’: This grant taps into the creativity of regional Australian women to better the future of rural industries and communities

The AgriFutures Rural Women’s Acceleration Grant is a game-changing opportunity for Australian women with an early-stage idea for driving innovation in rural industries, communities and businesses. It’s awarded with a learning and development bursary of up to $7,000 for professional development, alongside support from a network of fellow powerhouse individuals.

Not to be confused with AgriFuture’s well-known Rural Women’s Award, the Acceleration Grant provides a leadership stepping stone for women who are not quite ready to apply for the larger award.

“The AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award is Australia’s leading Award empowering and celebrating the inclusive and courageous leadership of women involved in Australia’s rural and emerging industries, businesses, and communities,” Jennifer Galloway, the Acting General Manager for Workforce, Communication and Adoption tells Women’s Agenda.

“The biggest difference between the two programs is that the Rural Women’s Award requires applicants to have an existing project, business or program whereas AgriFutures Rural Women’s Acceleration Grant is aimed at women with an idea, cause of vision that benefits rural or emerging industries, businesses or communities.”

This additional offering helps AgriFutures Australia to nurture more women, giving them pathways to opportunity.

“Regional Australia is brimming with untapped innovative and creative ideas that set local industries and communities up for the future,” says Galloway, who manages the Capacity Building team, responsible for investing in leadership, capacity and skills development programs that support those who drive rural industries and regional communities.

“The AgriFutures Rural Women’s Acceleration Grant has equipped 21 women with the skills and knowledge needed to develop their project from idea to reality,” she says, noting that with so many worthy success stories, it’s hard to pin down just one that stands out.

For anyone thinking about applying to the Acceleration Grant, however, Galloway wholeheartedly advises them to take the chance and believe in their abilities.

“We need more female leaders to step up and make a difference to rural and regional Australia,” says Galloway.

“We need you to invest and believe in yourself – because we do!”

Winemaker Samantha Sutherland

One such success story for the Acceleration Grant is Samantha Sutherland, who received the award in 2022– its first year running– for her vision to support winemakers in rural and regional areas.

A winemaker herself, for Gilbert Family Wines in Mudgee, NSW, and business owner of Samantha May Wines, Sutherland applied for the grant to research alternative wine storage vessels called amphora, an ancient winemaking vessel made from clay.

She was inspired by these vessels after traveling to Georgia, the country which is arguably the birthplace of wine.

“They’ve been making wine for a very long time, and historically they didn’t use anything like an oak barrel or a stainless steel tank. They only were using the clay pots. They are kind of like the Motherland for that,” Sutherland tells Women’s Agenda.

“I found that the vessels weren’t very commonly produced in Australia, so I wanted to take that a step further, to [ask] ‘how can this be more normalized, and how can we get production growing of these vessels for winemaking in Australia, with Australian products made by Australian people’.”

Along with the support of the grant money for research, she says AgriFutures’ community of like-minded people has been a long-lasting support for her ambitions.

“You create a bit of a bond in your group,” she says, adding that “to this day, I still will meet up with someone and just fall into talking about AgriFutures.”

“Absolutely, just throw your hat in the ring because you never know” she says to any other women thinking about applying for the grant.

Applications for the 2025 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Acceleration Grant will open on Wednesday, 21 August 2024.

Find out more about eligibility, applications and grants

This article was written by Brianna Boecker and originally published by Women’s Agenda.