Margo Duncan owes just about everything to a vast, fertile patch of Wonnarua country.
“Fifty years ago, I wouldn’t have thought that agriculture would be anything like it is today,” she said.
“I know when I was here as a student, there was only a handful of us compared to the boys that were here.
“It was something that was new and trying to break through that barrier was difficult.”
Mrs Duncan was one of the first women to be permitted to study at Tocal Agricultural College in the NSW Hunter Valley after it began accepting women in 1972.
Before that it was a male-only Presbyterian-run college.
“But once we did break through, things really improved,” she said.
Since then Mrs Duncan has established and run her own successful stud and family farm nearby, which is becoming an heirloom of sorts.
“I’ve got four granddaughters and they’re all interested in the farm, they all live on the farm.
“I think women in agriculture has been a real plus for the industry, and it’ll keep being a plus for the industry.
“In 50 years’ time, I think it will be vastly different again.”
From no phones to drones
Tocal is the Wonnarua word for plenty, a fitting name for a college that rolls over 2,200 hectares of prime farming land on the outskirts of Paterson, north-west of Newcastle.
Fifty years after her grandmother Margo Duncan, Emilia Lieb is studying in the same classrooms, on the same paddocks and walking the same halls.
Mrs Duncan is thrilled Emilia is pursuing ag and that she’s a bit more clued up on all the new tech.
“They understand it really really well. You know back then, we didn’t have mobile phones, and now it’s just part of the routine that we take a mobile phone with us, more as a safety thing,” she said.
“Everything has improved out of sight, you know, your machinery, just how you approach things. Technology has been absolutely huge.”
Drones are a game-changer on the farm and a key part of Astynn Kearney and Eden Barnett’s lessons.
“The drone goes up with its multi-spectral camera and can take pictures of our crops so we can better manage them for fertiliser rates and chemical sprays,” Ms Barnett said.
“[Learning tech like this] means we can save time and money and keep an eye on how our crops are doing really easily.”
Two-thirds of the full-time students at Tocal this year are women, and 94 per cent of the dedicated horse course are female.
Meg Williams from Sydney is one of those in the saddle.
“I’m not only just learning about horses, I’ve gotten to learn about ag skills too,” she said.
“I’ve learnt how to put a fence up, how to drive a tractor, drive motorbikes … which is really good considering I’m not from a property.”
Changing faces
The number of Australians working in the agricultural sector has dropped sharply over the past five decades.
The 1971 census, taken the year before female students started at Tocal, showed more than 400,000 people were employed in farming and ag.
The most recent census shows that a little over 200,000 people work in the sector, down from 228,000 in 2016.
However, the ag space has never been more diverse and the number of women has doubled since 1971, growing to a 30 per cent share of the industry.
For former student and head of alumni Danielle Fordham says it’s exciting to see so many women becoming part of the college’s history.
“We see women coming from different backgrounds and it’s really just that passion for agriculture that’s driven them to the college and driven them through times of challenges.”
Mrs Duncan says she is thrilled to watch her four granddaughters work in the industry.
“It’s a very interesting time I think to be in agriculture; we’re moving forward in leaps and bounds … and to be around what is happening is just fabulous.”
For Ms Lieb, she knows exactly what she wants to do.
“[Work] on the family farm. Keep it running, don’t let it down.”
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