Mary was recently featured in the Pakenham Gazette and Star News following her attendance at the 2025 AgriFutures Stakeholder Summit in Canberra as a Victorian finalist for the Rural Women’s Award.
The Summit brought together more than 150 participants from across Australia, including Rural Women’s Award finalists, Horizon Scholars, industry innovators, and key representatives from AgriFutures Australia’s levied and emerging industries.
Speaking to the media about the experience, Mary said: “It was the first time the Rural Women’s Award state finalists, summit for new and emerging industries and the Horizon scholars were all together and interactive for the week. The horizon scholars are young leaders in their fields in university still studying some aspect of agriculture. Brilliant young minds. The future of Australian agriculture will be in good hands.”
Mary described the event as “a very well organised but exhausting week” and noted that the Rural Women’s Award state finalists made their pitches for the National Award on Tuesday, with the national winner to be announced at the gala dinner at Parliament House on October 28th.
The AgriFutures Summit was deliberately positioned in Canberra to elevate the reach and influence of rural leadership, connecting emerging agricultural voices with national decision-makers and policymakers.
Coverage appeared in the Pakenham Gazette (20 August 2025) and Star News (21 August 2025).