Women in Ag Awards International 2024
The role of women in agriculture, in the agribusiness and in the agricultural sciences is changing worldwide. The Women in Ag Awards pay tribute to this commitment and tell the stories behind these inspiring women.
Applications can be submitted for women around the world who work in the fields of agriculture, agribusiness, agricultural machinery, research and development, education and journalism or who are active as bloggers and influencers.
An increasing number of women are often shaping agricultural dialogue as journalists, bloggers or influencers.
The international award is jointly presented by the „Women in Ag“-Magazin and DLG. This year’s award ceremony will be taking place on 13 November 2024 at EuroTier.
The Women in Ag Awards will be presented in four categories (to the top three participants in each category):
The ‘Women in Ag Award’ is organised by DLG (German Agricultural Society) and the ‘Women in Ag’ magazine in order to foster the role of women in the agricultural sector as a whole. The competition participants shall accept these conditions of participation. Incomplete applications or those that fail to comply with the rules and criteria of the competition shall not be taken into consideration.
- The award shall be presented by an international jury in the four categories of ‘Agriculture’, ‘Agribusiness’, ‘Education’ and ‘Technology and research’. It pays tribute to the work of women who are employed in agriculture, in the agribusiness and at schools, universities, research institutes, media and organisations within the agricultural sector.
- Women from all over the world can take part in the international competition insofar as their profile matches one of the categories.
Participation in the competition is free of charge.
Each candidate may only apply for one category. Multiple submissions are not permitted. In the event of contraventions, the participant shall be excluded from the competition.
The application may only be submitted by the person herself.
The closing date for applications is 31 July 2024.
Only complete applications shall be taken into consideration:
- Online form
- At least two high-resolution photos
- Video: short portrait
The competition participant expressly consents to the use of her submitted profile texts, images and videos for communicating and advertising the competition in printed and online media.
Applications that are still incomplete by the close of applications shall be automatically excluded from participation.
All properly registered participants shall receive an e mail confirming the receipt of their registration.
The participants undertake to provide the jury with truthful facts only and to avoid any inaccuracies or omissions that could lead to an incorrect assessment. If an irregularity if determined, the jury reserves the right to revoke any award that has been presented.
The jury for the competition shall be composed as follows: a chairperson and experts from the agricultural sector.
The committee chairperson can delegate his/her tasks in whole or in part to another member of his/her choosing.
The jury’s consultations shall be strictly confidential and its decisions shall be final. If a contribution is rejected, no reasons shall be required. Under no circumstances can a rejection entitle the participant to compensation.
All information that is provided to the jury by the participants is confidential and shall not be passed on or published without the express consent of the parties concerned. As mentioned in "Submission", the profile texts, images and videos that have been submitted shall constitute an exception to this rule. The members of the jury and the appointed experts shall be obliged to maintain professional secrecy.
The jury shall select the contributions and winners according to the final criteria:
- Overall presentation of the professional work
- Innovative approaches to work
- Contribution to the improvement of agriculturally relevant topics in the future
- Positive effects on the farming community, locally or globally
The jury shall give consideration to differences between regions, countries and continents.
The award winners shall be selected in the following steps:
1. The jury shall evaluate the short video portraits.
- The eight best short video portraits in each category shall be nominated.
- The nominees shall be published in the DLG and EuroTier printed and online media, in press releases and on the ‘Women in Ag’ magazine’s website.
2. The jury shall select the Women in Ag Award winners from the nominees: first prize, second prize, third prize.
3. The winners shall be announced at the official award ceremony on 13 November 2024 during EuroTier in Hanover.
Participants who win an award shall be encouraged to publish this on their own communication/social media channels.
Publication as a nominee on the shortlist or as the winner in a category (1st, 2nd, 3rd place) may only take place following the official announcement by DLG and the ‘Woman in Ag’ magazine.
The personal data that is collected with respect to each participant both during participation in the competition and possibly for the presentation of an award shall be collected and processed pursuant to the regulations concerning the protection and the collection of personal data. The collected data is intended exclusively for DLG and the ‘Women in Ag’ magazine. It can be transferred to media partners, service providers and subcontractors which the organiser may use for the requirements of the organiser and/or to conduct the competition.
As the data collected from each participant in the context of the competition is essential to give consideration to their participation and for the presentation of any award that is won, exercising the right of withdrawal prior to the end of the competition shall automatically lead to the termination of participation in the competition.
Each participant shall have the right of access to their data and to its rectification as well as the right to erasure if necessary, the right to object to the processing of this data, the right to erasure and the restriction of processing as well as the right to data portability, which they can assert at any time by electronic means or by post by writing to the following address: DLG e.V., Eschborner Landstrasse 122, 60489 Frankfurt am Main (Germany).
Jury and criteria
The international jury is made up of women from the fields of agriculture, agribusiness and related areas. It will evaluate the submitted applications based on the following criteria:
- Innovative work, projects and initiatives
- Impacts on agriculture in general, on processes or specific areas (regional, national, international)
- Personal presentation in general
Members of the jury
The stories of successful female professionals in agribusiness empower, inspire and set a vision for other female colleagues and especially for women starting their careers. With the WomeninAg Award, we give them a voice!
CV:
Born in Kiev, Ukraine, graduate of the National Agrarian University of Ukraine and Leibniz University of Hannover in Germany in the field of international agribusiness. Yuliya has about 15 years of experience in Ukrainian and international companies in agricultural marketing, communication and project management. Since 2016, she has been the Managing Director of the Ukrainian subsidiary DLG Ukraine and successfully developed several exhibition platforms for arable farming and potato production such as the International Field Days and Potato Day. Since 2022, Yuliya Bondarenko has been working for DLG Service on the development of new exhibition areas for vertical agriculture and new food systems.
As a journalist since 2011, I specialised in the agricultural press in animal production in 2018. Especially in the field, I value the exchange of experiences with farmers and technicians, both men and women. I engage all year round to represent their voices. For me, the promotion of women in agriculture is part of an egalitarian approach at the level of society and nations. I share WIAG's ambition through its will to "contribute to a future where prices specifically for women will no longer be necessary". Against the background of a worldwide weakening of women's rights, it is more important than ever to take action.
I come from a farm in Lower Saxony (Westertimke) and studied agricultural sciences at CAU University in Kiel.
For over 23 years I worked at NORD/LB, formerly Bremer Landesbank. There I implemented and built up commodity futures trading for the bank in the area of risk management for the agricultural and food industry. I was also responsible for event management in this area, such as the Dairy Industry Day and the Food Industry Day. Currently, I work for the bank in the area of real estate financing.
Since June 2021, I have also been working for AGRAVIS in the area of agricultural products. Here I am responsible for event management. I created the ACD AGRAVIS Commodity Day and moderate this type of event for the company. Since the beginning of this year, I have been involved in the "Women at AGRAVIS" project.
Since March 2018, I have been a member of the board of the Bremen Grain and Feed Association. There, I take care of their two stock exchange events. I also moderate and plan events for the association.
In October 2017, I founded the WiA - Women in Agribusiness network. In Bremen, 20 women came together for the first time to "network". Today we are over 100.
After I moved to the countryside as a city girl, a whole new world opened up for me. A world filled with strong women, each one living up to their role on the farm or in the field. These women around me motivated me to start Women in Ag Magazine, sharing their stories. In a positive way, I want to share their knowledge and experiences, inspiring other women in the sector to take steps, implement ideas and bring our sector to life.
In Zambia and in most parts of the world, women make up more than 40% of the agricultural labour force. The work of rural women in agriculture is often underestimated and invisible, especially among smallholder farmers. Women mainly play support roles for men and do not own property or land titles.
If more women are involved in agriculture, their awareness of the nation's contribution will be raised and gender norms and stereotypes will be broken down. A higher number of women in agriculture would lead to higher productivity, a reduction in the gender gap in the sector and greater gender balance, especially in rural areas. Once women are more involved in agriculture and run it like a business, they own and have control over resources such as land, credit, inputs and other innovations. Moreover, women have a natural strength that facilitates access to markets for agricultural products. Women are always innovating, so a higher proportion of women would encourage the creation of rural women's organisations or platforms such as Women in Ag where achievements, successes and concerns can be voiced.
It is important to promote women and their achievements because it opens the doors for many women to do amazing things to rise above gender norms and shine in the world. Promoting women spurs them to do better because their work and efforts are appreciated.
CV:
Sheila Zulu is an agronomist and agricultural solutions specialist working for AGCO Corporation at the AGCO Future Farm in Zambia. She is also a certified agronomy trainer and a public speaker who is passionate about raising awareness about farming as a business and other interventions that help develop farmers' capacities.
She specialises in crop production, crop nutrition, crop protection, harvesting and storage techniques. She has more than 15 years of experience in practices and programmes aimed at developing best agricultural practices to improve the profitability of agriculture and safeguard farmers' livelihoods.
Sheila is a member of the Advisory Board of the Alliance for Modernising African Agri-food Systems and a member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE).
Sheila has previously worked in the agricultural insurance industry, in the seed industry with strong involvement in seed production and marketing, and in agricultural conservation programmes for smallholder farmers.
Academically, she holds an MSc degree in Agricultural Science and Production Systems from Harper Adams University (UK), a BTech degree in Agricultural Management from the University of South Africa, a National Diploma in Agricultural Crop Science from the Natural Resources Development College and an Insurance Diploma from the Zambia Insurance Business College. Sheila has completed courses in conservation agriculture and tillage techniques, seed inspection training, farm management information systems at BayWa and tractor driving and operation under the AGCO mechanisation training programme.
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