After graduating from university not once, but twice (with two teaching degrees), Rachael McInerney only ever had her mind set on a career which would see her guide and develop the minds of her young students. Fast-forward a few years, and yes, she’s still teaching the kids in her hometown of Riverton, but she’s also forged her own path as a new farm business leader in South Australia’s Mid-North.

Working alongside her husband Mark and his parents, Rachael has spent the last two years establishing new systems in HR, administration, WHS, budgeting, finance, compliance and business management and structure, ensuring her fifth-generation farm is using best practice principles when it comes to daily business management operations.

It all began when (unsurprisingly), between raising her three kids and working part time as a teacher, Rachael was also handed the task of taking on the farm’s bookwork. A story we hear all too often. However, it was when she saw an email from their agronomist, sharing a flyer about a WoTL two-day HR masterclass on the Yorke Peninsula that she thought: “that’s exactly what we need”.

“So I signed Mark and I up for the session, thinking we could both get something out of this. I’d never attended a WoTL event before and didn’t really know what to expect. I left that event full of new knowledge, yet still had so many questions and unknowns, so I launched myself into learning,’ Rachael says.

“What I quickly found was that this session was a game-changer for us, and that we could be doing so much more on the farm in regard to administration and business management. I never really expected the professional development journey I was about to take.”

Opening up to opportunities

So, Rachel began her new (additional) career as a farm business and administration manager. She asked “thousands of questions” as she puts it – and dove head-first into all of the PD opportunities that came her way. Prior to this, Rachael had been at a crossroads in her career and worried that her teaching career had to get put on hold while she helped on farm.

“I love teaching, and was about to start moving into more leadership roles, but the farm needed someone with the skills and close understanding of its own dynamics to guide it through these changes, so I took it on,” she said

“It didn’t take long before I could see just how important my role was in the business, and I became quite passionate about continual reflection and management improvements – so Mark and I set a goal to aim for best-practice when it came to managing the family farm.”

The other thing Rachel quickly began to notice was that her story wasn’t uncommon. Women – and specifically those who married farmers – were taking on roles they had no training in. Furthermore, the farmers were often taught everything they knew from the generation before them (a wealth of practical knowledge nonetheless) – but times had changed, and so farming practices, regulations and legalities were all dictating how the family farm businesses had to operate. We as the new generation have had to learn to manage this and need to change with it.

“I feel like farming is becoming a lot more adept now when it comes to business management skills. As an industry, we’re so lucky we have groups like WoTL in SA that can help guide us with learning, and also provide networks that we can seek advice and support from.

“I also wanted to make sure that the partners were gaining from these PD opportunities as well though, so we ended up encouraging another WoTL workshop in Clare that promoted both partners of the farming team to take part, and what we saw was that there were a lot of husband and wives doing it together. This was certainly the first time Mark and I had done any training together. A shared and collaborative vision with Mark was exactly what I needed to finally take ownership of my new role and understand my new why.”

And all of the training was paying off.

Not only did Rachael notice that her farm management practices were improving, but that other women in her same role within the area were seeing what she and Mark were doing, asking questions and taking part in the workshops too.

“When I spoke with other women in similar roles many asked for advice on what they should be doing. Some people even asked me to come to their farm and set things up for them. I didn’t have time for that, so instead I supported the need to bring some workshops to our Mid North region that anyone could attend. I just wanted to help show that there’s great information out there if you’re willing to go along to the sessions,” Rachael says.

“Mark will say how thankful he is that I went to that first WoTL workshop and started us down this path. We joke now about how I don’t think I could replace myself on the farm because there’s no one who could take on the roles I do…just yet!

“We just figure if we can set this place up with all the right systems and structures, then I can leave the farm in a good place for our kids one day if they choose to pursue it.”

Rachael also described how lucky she was that Mark’s parents were organised and prepared for succession and open minded to the new generation to come in and make changes in line with new farming business practices.

Above: Rachael and Mark at a professional development session.

Extending the impact 

She also talked about the legacy of WoTL training in the Mid-North area. She believes it has been a catalyst for creating a new women’s ag cohort, which comes together around once a month to share farming challenges, provide top quality speakers, share advice and support and work through some of the trickier topics that you can’t just ‘go and ask your next door neighbour’ about.

“I think this is the kind of impact that will improve our whole district’s understanding of farming best practice, and especially it shines a light on the areas that women have traditionally had to deal with on their own.”

“The ripple effect of programs like WoTL are invaluable. It helps people form relationships and support networks off the farm, which are critical to progressing this industry. The younger generation coming onto farms, particularly the young women can now see their role on the farm more clearly and with more respect and acknowledgement for the pivotal role they play in supporting farm business.”

So what is Rachel’s official title on the farm these days?

“There’s plenty of names we give each other, but I think for now we’ve settled on something like Farm Business Manager,” she says.

After working in retail for most of her life, Shannon Pearson never imagined she’d become a fulltime dairy farmer. It was a transition that started off small. At first, she helped her mother-in-law with the business bookwork. Then there was a season helping out with calving on the property near Mt Gambier in SA’s South East. The more she did, the more she realised she enjoyed farm life. The only thing holding her back from taking on more was a lack of confidence in her skills. Now, thanks to WoTL’s Stepping Into Leadership Program, Shannon has found the confidence and a network of supportive connections which led her to embrace fulltime farming.

Shannon met her husband Adrian, a third-generation dairy farmer, in the late 1990s and the couple built their home together on his family’s farm in 2003. “I’d worked in retail forever and when I moved onto the farm people asked if I’d be milking cows soon and I always said ‘no thank you I have my own fulltime job’,” she said.

“I had my own job in retail management, and then I took time off when I had my two boys, but I went back parttime afterwards. Every year my husband asked if I wanted to help with the calving, and I always said ‘no thank you’. “After about six or seven years of him asking, I said yes. I went out and helped the woman we had doing it back then and I found I really enjoyed it. After a couple of seasons, she left and I was thrown into it. “Around that time, I also took on a bigger role with the books as my mother-in-law was wanting to do less.”

When her husband needed shoulder surgery, Shannon took on more farm work, helping out in the dairy with milking cows. With every new farm challenge she took on, Shannon looked for ways to upskill. She completed online training with Dairy Australia, but wanted to build on her knowledge further.

WoTL’s Stepping into Leadership Program

“I do love learning new skills and I love being challenged. A neighbour sent me some information about the WoTL Stepping Into Leadership Program and said ‘you should apply for this’. She said she’d done it in the previous year and she’d learnt a lot from it. So, at 10pm one night I sent the email off and then forgot all about it, until I heard back that I’d got in.”

While she was initially nervous about joining the program because she wasn’t a born and bred farmer, Shannon soon realised she was in good company.

“I walked in there thinking ‘I’m way out of my league here’ after listening to some of the others tell their stories. But you very quickly realise that just because you all did different things, nobody had a lesser voice. We all had our own strengths and things to bring to the table.

“I was the only dairy farmer there, but while we were all so diverse, our experiences were quite similar. We all connected very quickly.

“The biggest benefit for me through the program was by far the personal development aspect. I’d gone into it wanting to build my skills and knowledge, and I did do that, but I also learned so much about myself and that I already have so many skills. The whole process was a huge confidence builder.”

It was a section of the program focusing on individual values and strengths that helped Shannon understand and appreciate the value of the knowledge she’d already acquired, and how her unique skills could benefit the family business.

“The training we did on those personal value and strengths was fantastic,” she said.

“I’d done something similar in my retail training years ago, but revisiting it in the ag industry context was so helpful in understanding what I know and can bring to the table, and how other people think and work. It really does help you refocus the way you look at things on a personal level, on a family level and on a work level as well.

“There was lots of practical training as well – the section on being on a board or governing council was definitely relatable and very helpful not just from an industry perspective, but also with work at a community if you’re volunteering at local clubs or other organisations.”

During the program, Shannon was paired with fellow Limestone Coast dairy farmer Michelle Hamilton as her mentor.

“I’d never really had a mentor. I was still building my networks within our dairy community, so WoTL paired me up with Michelle. It was invaluable, I could ask any random question and she would share her knowledge and experience in such a friendly, casual way. It was great to have someone’s different outlook on things, and different ideas.”

Above: WoTL Chair Susie Green, Shannon Pearson and Minister Clare Scriven at the 2023 Stepping into Leadership Graduation.

Becoming a WoTL Ambassador 

The confidence and connections she gained through the program led Shannon to become a WoTL Ambassador and she’s now hosted two Regenerate Rural Women programs in the lower Limestone Coast.

Shannon was also invited to join Dairy Australia’s training program to become a Dairy Ambassador – something she admits she wouldn’t have had the courage to do before completing SIL.

She credits the program and WoTL’s focus on educating and connecting female farmers with her newfound confidence.

“With WoTL, the unique thing with their programs is it’s women only learning together and it creates a comfortable environment. It allows a bit of vulnerability to let your guard down and make the most of a situation,” Shannon said.

“For anyone considering the program, I’d say absolutely give it a go.

“Whether you go in for the professional development, to build on your own personal development or to create new connections and friendships, it’s all worthwhile. Everyone walks away with something from it.”

Back on the farm, Shannon is putting her new skills into action regularly – and she is continuing to upskill and grow.

“I’m still learning farm skills, I don’t know all the ins and outs of all of it, but I have now built that confidence to say that the things I have learnt and the skills I do bring to the farm and the industry are valuable,” she said.

“I’ve absolutely loved my change to working on the farm fulltime. I love the flexibility it created for our life with our boys, working with the cows and calves, working with family and a great team and I love the challenges because I’m learning new things all the time.

“I’m embracing the change and I’m loving the change.”