Gamila in front of an olive tree

Today is International Women's Day and the theme is #BreakTheBias. I've never been very good at fitting into a box, and probably most of my life has been spent #BreakingTheBias, so I guess it's no real surprise I ended up as a farmer, especially as less than 9% of farms in Australia are fully owned and run by women.

 

Why? It's a question I ask myself often, and will probably be a daily occurrence over the next 9 weeks as I drag my arse through harvest.

Why can't I do that?

Why shouldn't I be that?

Why do you care so much?

'Why' is the antithesis of 'bias'!

Bias must be acknowledge when it's consequences are questioned, and that acknowledgement is the first step on the journey to #BreakTheBias.

 

So I ask...

Why be a farmer?

Why saffron?

Why isn't the irrigation pump working?

Why is that olive tree looking unhappy?

As an engineer, questioning the status quo is critical to good and effective problem solving.

As a farmer, asking 'why' and finding the appropriate answer is essential to survival and long term viability.

So I ask 'why' pretty often...but now to the first question 'Why be a farmer?'

Gamila in front of a Kubota tractor

I've been a full time farmer for over 2 years, and am now into my 13th year of owning my farm. My 600 olive trees are still maturing, though I can finally say that I've got my head around growing saffron.

I farm because I enjoy the never ending challenge.

I farm because I like growing good food.

I farm because I love seeing the eyes widen with pleasure when someone eats my olives.

We're a farm built, operated and inspired by women. Mum is now 73 and still insists on helping, and I take inspiration from Jewish, Italian and Egyptian mothers for our finished products, while working with many fellow women farmers to source quality ingredients that I don't grow myself. Our business motto is 'Bringing the beautiful to your kitchen,' and I hope that I embrace this philosophy.

It is too easy for food to be taken for granted, and in our rush to produce more food,  we seldom produce better food, both for us and the planet. Here at Gamila at Beechworth, we don't do anything that countless women in villages all over the world do everyday, we just make it a little more sophisticated and hopefully capture the true beauty of nature and good food and deliver it to your kitchen.

Our olives are hand picked, and this ensure they aren't bruised when they get placed into brine. Esther was the lovely Belgian chick who helped with last harvest, she brought care, precision and laughter to what can be a tedious job. She plucked saffron threads from flowers with speed and efficiency and my harvest would not have been as successful without her.

I'm in the process of figuring out how to build a workforce for my farm for the future. Agriculture, and horticulture specifically, have been devalued and de-skilled in Australia, so that farmers have become dependent on low cost overseas workers for critical tasks like harvest. We need to accept that growing food is essential to community survival, both from a nutritional perspective, as well as economic, so I'm investigating the options around production horticulture traineeships. I need to start investing in the workforce I want to see, rather than just accepting the workforce that I have access too. Hopefully this will see more women take up a career in growing good food, with good principles, while being commercially viable. Let's #BreakTheBias