The AgriFutures Australia Rural Women’s Award national finalists have been announced, recognising their leadership in their respective states and territories
Women in rural areas can often face unique challenges which prevent them from being able to grow their businesses, projects, or programs.
The AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award has aimed to buck this trend over the past 25 years by empowering and celebrating them, while providing grants which help rural women gain new skills and knowledge.
Each year, a woman from every state and territory is named as a national finalist of the award, receiving a $15,000 Westpac grant for their project, business or program, access to professional development opportunities and alumni networks.
The national winner also receives an additional $20,000 grant, while the runner up receives another $15,000 grant.
This year’s winners will be announced on September 8, at a Gala Dinner held at Parliament House in Canberra. Below are the finalists of the 2026 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award.
Northern Territory – Kelly Shotton
Kelly Shotton is a station hand, qualified pilot and founder of BoreWatch – an app transforming how remote cattle stations monitor and manage their water infrastructure.
The reporting platform enables station staff to document and monitor tanks, bores, troughs, fuel usage and infrastructure across large-scale properties.
It collates data into automated reports, identifying critical issues and trends without the cost of automated monitoring equipment, while capturing historical records to support long-term planning and retention of operational knowledge.
Raised on a sheep and cropping farm in Rochester, Victoria, Shotton completed an electrical apprenticeship before taking a station role with Consolidated Pastoral Company (CPC) at 25.
She found her calling in the industry and never looked back.
Now based in Darwin as senior head pilot for CPC, she developed BoreWatch from a practical need to streamline bore run reporting on remote stations – and recognised its potential far beyond her own operation.
With the support of the $15,000 Westpac grant, Shotton is investing in app development to commercialise BoreWatch and make it accessible to stations across Australia.
Shotton says BoreWatch was born from her firsthand frustration while working on the land.
“When you’re on a station, there’s so much critical information getting lost in notebooks, radios or just in people’s heads. I just kept thinking, there has to be a better way to keep track of it all,” she says.
“Water is everything on a station. If something goes wrong and you don’t catch it early, it can have a huge impact. BoreWatch is about making sure people have the right information at the right time to stay ahead of those issues.
“It’s pretty surreal to be recognised like this. I’ve just been focused on building something that works and helps people on the ground, so to have that acknowledged is really exciting.”
South Australia – Narelle Zanker
Narelle Zanker is a teacher turned dairy farmer and the co-founder – alongside her husband Joel – of Dairy Adventures, an agritourism venture on the family’s 4,000-acre mixed property.
Based in Mannum, Dairy Adventures invites people of all ages to experience the heart of dairy farming by providing immersive and hands-on experiences to visitors, while delivering powerful lessons about food safety, animal care and where food comes from.
Launched in 2024, Dairy Adventures welcomed more than 1,200 visitors in its first year – from preschoolers to retirees, schools, aged-care and disability groups – running up to four tours a week and earning a silver medal in the New Tourism Business category at the 2025 South Australian Tourism Awards.
Sharing the love of dairy with people of all ages, Zanker was also named South Australia’s 2025 Young Farmer of the Year.
The grant will support her in publishing a children’s book about life on a dairy farm for schools, libraries and homes across Australia, and creating educational resources with Dairy Australia to extend learning beyond the farm.
Zanker says Dairy Adventures is about more than showing people a farm.
“When people see the science, the systems and the care that goes into every bottle of milk, something clicks,” she says.
“We’re not just a farm, we’re a food production facility, and we want people to understand and value that.”
Queensland – Angie Nisbet
Angie Nisbet is a fifth-generation beef producer from remote north-west Queensland and co-founder of FarmHer Hands, an initiative focused on improving sun safety and skin health outcomes in rural Australia.
FarmHer Hands was established following her sister’s melanoma diagnosis and the loss of a close friend to skin cancer.
In response, Nisbet and her sister developed UPF50+ sun-protection gloves designed for life on the land.
FarmHer Hands is leading the AgriSkin Project – a national initiative focused on early intervention and improving access to skin health services in rural Australia, including the ‘Protect the Hands that Feed the Nation’ campaign and virtual skin check pilots for remote communities.
With the support of the grant, FarmHer Hands will be able to grow beyond physical products, with the development of school and workplace education resources, new retail partnerships and an online resource aimed at making preventative skin care more accessible in the bush.
Nisbet says the award highlights the importance of changing the conversation around health in agriculture.
“People working on the land spend long hours outdoors under some of the harshest conditions in the country, often in remote environments, and don’t always have the same access to health services as those in metropolitan areas,” she says.
“That makes prevention critical. By raising awareness and normalising conversations about skin health, we can support better outcomes for today’s agricultural workforce and help protect future generations growing up on the land.”
Victoria – Becky Dickinson
Becky Dickinson is a mixed-animal veterinarian and founder of Veterinary Support Services (VSS), an initiative dedicated to strengthening the future of rural veterinary practice in Australia.
After working in regional mixed practice since 2007, with a strong focus on dairy cattle, Becky recognised the urgent need for structured post-graduate support for early-career veterinarians entering demanding rural roles.
In response, she established VSS to deliver mentoring, training and professional networking pathways designed to improve confidence and drive retention of graduate vets.
Through the $15,000 Westpac grant, Dickinson will continue developing innovative, financially sustainable models of post-graduate training that support young veterinarians and help secure a resilient rural veterinary workforce for Australia’s livestock industries.
“In rural communities, veterinarians play a critical role in livestock health, welfare, biosecurity and disease response,” she says.
“We know that structured supervision, education and mentoring significantly improve job satisfaction and retention.
“My goal is to use the $15,000 Westpac grant to create financially viable, scalable models of post-graduate support that strengthen both individual veterinarians and the rural clinics that employ them.”
Tasmania – Amy Vickers
Amy Vickers is a 26‑year military veteran and founder of Well Beyond Service, a program supporting women who have served in defence, emergency services and volunteer emergency roles.
Through five‑day rural retreats in Tasmania, she creates safe, restorative spaces for reconnection and recovery, combining equine interaction, art, yoga and structured wellbeing sessions to help participants rediscover wellness, belonging and life beyond service.
They also foster meaningful connections with rural communities through farm‑based activities and lasting regional ties that support both individual recovery and community cohesion.
Vickers brings lived experience and compassionate leadership to her work, having trained as an aviation technician and later an aircraft maintenance engineer in the Australian Navy.
The grant will allow her to expand the reach of Well Beyond Service and support more women across regional Australia, while also undertaking a professional development course of her choice.
Vickers says the program is grounded in creating space for women to heal, reconnect and rediscover their identity beyond service.
“After years of service, many women face challenges in reconnecting with themselves and finding a new sense of identity,” she says.
“Well Beyond Service creates a supportive environment where women can step away, rebuild their confidence and reconnect with community, so they can move forward with strength and purpose.”
New South Wales & Australian Capital Territory – Kristie Ivone
Kristie Ivone grew up on a beef cattle farm in Whorouly, Victoria – and after a cancer diagnosis, she did what many wouldn’t – founded a social enterprise.
That enterprise became Boas Language Academy, born from her belief that regional communities thrive when diversity is celebrated and everyone has the opportunity to contribute.
Based in Albury, Boas Language Academy trains migrants to teach their languages and share their cultures, turning language from a barrier to a connector.
With 13 migrant teachers and more than 80 students in its first year, Boas has delivered over 29 language courses since commencing in September 2024.
Ivone will use the $15,000 Westpac grant to expand Boas’ language offerings by training more migrant teachers and running pilot courses in languages including Swahili, Japanese, German and Hindi, and build an impact measurement framework to track and communicate Boas’ community impact and support longer-term replication across the country.
Ivone says Boas is grounded in creating connection, belonging and opportunity.
“Language has the power to bring people together and create a true sense of belonging – by supporting migrants to share their language and culture, we’re building stronger, more connected communities where everyone has the opportunity to contribute and thrive,” she says.
Western Australia – Angela Teale
Angela Teale is strategic advisor and co‑founder of Starsite Pty Ltd, where she combines aerospace engineering expertise with a deep commitment to regional development.
In 2024, Starsite partnered with a major international space company to build, operate and maintain a 20.2m Lunar‑class antenna in Mullewa, a world‑leading ground station supporting NASA’s next missions to the Moon.
Raised in small‑town Iowa, USA, and shaped by a global career, Teale knows that rural communities possess the ingenuity and resilience needed for transformative industries.
Through Starsite, she is proving that advanced technical careers can thrive in regional Australia – stimulating local economies and creating STEM pathways for young people close to home.
The grant will enable Teale to further her work expanding STEM engagement and satellite communications capability in rural communities.
Teale says the antenna project is about more than infrastructure.
“It’s about showing regional women and young people that there is a place for them in industries like space and advanced technology,” she says.
“We want to make sure these opportunities aren’t just seen from afar, but are accessible to the communities they’re being built in.”
