Leading the Land. Celebrating the International Year of the Female Farmer.

Published 2nd October 2026. Written by Helen Gilmour

Event: Saturday 28 November 2026 | Lowe Family Wine Co, Mudgee | 9am – 5pm + Networking Drinks

This November, regional women in agriculture are invited to down tools for a day and gather at one of Mudgee’s most iconic properties — Lowe Family Wine Co — for Leading the Land, a full-day conference built for women who are running farms, raising families, and carrying the load of regional life, often all at once.

To be held at Lowe’s certified organic, biodynamic property, the day brings together four exceptional speakers, a live panel discussion, and structured networking designed to turn a room full of strangers into a room full of contacts — finishing with drinks as the sun goes down over the vineyard.

Who You’ll Hear From

Dr Aurelie Quade opens the day as keynote speaker. Founder of Soil Resilience, Aurelie holds a PhD in plant pathology and has spent two decades turning soil science into practical, on-farm action — helping farmers read their soil data and translate it into real productivity and resilience gains. She’s known across regional NSW for making complex soil biology make sense in a paddock context.

Anna Hughes is the operations manager on the Hughes family farm at Dulacca Downs on Queensland’s Western Downs, using regenerative agriculture principles. Anna is an integral part of the Lachlan Hughes Foundation, which has now helped educate scholars from around the country, in regenerative land management. Anna has recently completed Nicole Masters’ CREATE program, the intensive agroecological coaching course behind some of the world’s leading soil health practitioners.

Martha Lindstad brought her farming life from a small guest farm in Norway to the Australian outback, and now runs a large-scale cattle operation at Enngonia, NSW. Her path — from backpacker to running thousands of head of cattle across 75000Ha of grazing country — is a reminder that a life in agriculture can start from anywhere.

Kristen Hegarty, a 2026 Nuffield Scholar from Cassilis, NSW, is backed by the Future Drought Fund to investigate ways to add value to traditional livestock enterprises, with a focus on business and climate resilience. Over the next 18 months her Nuffield study will take her around the world — and she’ll bring that thinking straight to the Mudgee stage.

Why This Day Matters

Regional and rural women carry a disproportionate share of the invisible work in Australian agriculture — on the land, in the books, and at home — often with fewer chances to step away and connect with peers who get it. Leading the Land is one day, set aside, to learn from women who’ve built real expertise and real resilience in their own operations, and to build a network that outlasts the day itself.