Beef + Lamb New Zealand chair Kate Acland has won the inaugural Rural Woman of the Year award, saying her path into leadership was made easier by a generation of women who had to fight for theirs.

“I feel like my pathway to leadership’s been very easy, very straightforward,” she says, “But I know that it hasn’t always been the case.

“There’s a generation of women who went before me who actually had a really hard time, and they had to fight for their seat around the table or their right to be in the room.”

Acland was named ahead of fellow nominees Sandra Faulkner of Federated Farmers East Coast and Sarah Donaldson of the Rural Support Trust.

“They are two absolutely worthy recipients as well,” she says.

“So as much as I’m delighted to win, you sort of look at those two and think, they’re incredible and really, really deserve the accolade as well.”

She rejects the idea that farming is a male preserve.

“It’s a perception that a lot of urban New Zealand has, that the rural sector’s very male-dominated, but I would argue the complete opposite.

“I think of myself as a bit of an accidental leader.

“It wasn’t something I ever really aspired to do, but when we needed a chair of Beef and Lamb, I was the right person for the job at that time, and I was willing and keen to take the challenge on.”

Acland credits former Federated Farmers president Katie Milne and others in normalising sector leadership.

“You have to see it to be it, and so having a woman like Katie in that role then, and you’ve got Tracy Brown and Kate Scott in horticulture, Anna Nelson, there’s a bunch of us holding roles now, and the generation of women below us, they just see it’s possible.”

Her goal coming into the role was to rebuild farmer trust.

“It was to take a big step back, a big deep breath, and start listening.”

She says farmer engagement with industry is climbing.

“Farmers made up 70% of the room at our Out the Gate conference.

“That’s what’s great, is that farmers are getting out, going to things, and thinking about what we can do in our businesses.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.