Farm safety and small-scale growers celebrated at Community Achievement Awards
Regional Victoria shone at a recent awards ceremony, where the efforts of small-scale farmers and farm safety advocates were celebrated. See all the pics.
Agricultural leaders with a focus on farmer safety and the role of small-scale horticulture were celebrated at a recent community achievers awards ceremony, with two Victorians awarded for their efforts in the field.
Grown not Flown founder Nikki Davey was just one of the many winners of Friday’s 2024 Victoria Community Achievement Awards, at a gala presentation dinner in Melbourne that celebrated the efforts of individuals and businesses across the state.
The Glenmore-based cut flower producer was awarded the Fonterra Agriculture award for her efforts in connecting consumers with locally-grown cut flowers while also advocating for a more sustainable agriculture sector for micro and small-scale growers.
“It’s an amazing thing, to have this spotlight on the flower community and flower farmers who are often overlooked. It’s really exciting that our industry is being recognised in these public ways,” Ms Davey said.
“If we look at the flower industry within Australia, 70 per cent of the industry is made up of micro and medium-sized growers. Collectively they’re the majority of the industry. I think we do need to start helping and focusing on micro and small-scale growers to help close things like the technology gap, access to education to help growers have really successful small businesses that are feeding and providing for their local communities and local economies.”
Winner of the Regional Development Victoria Business Achievement Award, AirAgri, deploys digital technologies and resources for farmers, such as automated safety tools, emergency alerts, and digital farm maps to help navigate the challenges of remote farming, with the aim of keeping producers safe.
The company’s founder James Diamond said AirAgri technology was designed to help farmers live a long and safe life on farm, and avoid dying a tragic death with enduring consequences.
“I want to make sure you don’t die tragically, or that your family can’t bear to be on the land because something tragic happened,” Mr Diamond said.
“There’s of effort where people from outside of agriculture are trying to apply technology for productivity and efficiency gains. But looking at how productive the industry is, our problems don’t lie in productivity and efficiency – what we’re not great at doing is keeping our team safe, and keeping individuals coming into the industry.”
The eight category winners were:
• Soap Aid – Awards Australia Community Group Award
• Zach Greig – Awards Australia Foundation Mental Health and Wellbeing Award
• Wildlife Coast Cruises – Best’s Wines Tourism and Hospitality Award
• Nikki Davey – Fonterra Agriculture Award
• Twelve South Bridal – Konica Minolta Customer Service Award
• Boort District Health – Nectre Regional Service Award
• AirAgri – Regional Development Victoria Business Achievement Award
• Heather Baird – Regional Development Victoria Leadership and Innovation Award
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