Vicki's a woman in the driver's seat
From the February 2008 edition of Agriculture Today.
Since Widgelli farmer, Vicki Soligo, joined the Griffith Women’s Discussion group in December 2004, her knowledge and involvement in the farm has increased dramatically.
Now husband, Peter Soligo, says his confidence in Vicki’s experience has "turned our agribusiness into a partnership" in every way.
They discuss all farming decisions and, most recently, the best options for the limited irrigation water they have.
Peter said that it’s now "easier to share the difficult decisions", which is especially important in trying times.
Vicki grew up a "towny" and 15 years after marrying Peter found herself 25 kilometres from town, living on the family farm with three daughters and little knowledge of the physical aspects of the farm or related decisions.
In the early days, discussion about the farm was limited to Peter saying "we have got to buy some urea as the wheat needs topdressing and watering".
All Vicki understood was "buy, wheat and watering".
Now, due mainly to attending discussion groups, Vicki has the confidence and ability to help manage the irrigation of crops and take part in other management decisions.
Vicki’s involvement on farm extends beyond fetching things from town, looking after the financials and doing odd jobs.
"If anything was to happen to Peter, now I know I have other options than just to sell up," Vicki said.
In 2005, Vicki and the other women completed the FarmWise course, which covered a broad range of farm related topics including soils, irrigation management, water use efficiency, financials, farm planning, and vegetation planning.
Co-founder of the group, Department of Primary Industries (DPI) district agronomist, Rachael Whitworth, said the group offered childcare and the timing of sessions was flexible within school hours.
The women involved in the Griffith group also have input into what topics or issues they would like covered, times to meet and dates for future meetings.
In the three years the group has been meeting, a wide range of topics have been covered including drought assistance, agronomy of a variety of irrigated crops (including rice, faba beans, canola and wheat), livestock production, marketing of winter crops, water budgeting as well as growing alternative summer crops to rice such as azuki beans, mung beans and soybeans.
The group has also completed courses such as FarmWise, Chemical User Safety and MaNage rice.
In conjunction with in-kind support from NSW DPI, funding to provide childcare and some catering comes from NSW Partners in Grain.
The group has also been financially supported by Murrumbidgee Irrigation.
