This month, Rural New Zealand will firmly focus on thousands of rural women whose vital contributions often go unseen.

To mark International Rural Women’s Day on October 15, Women in Horticulture (WiH) and United Fresh New Zealand Inc. sponsored the Inspiring Wāhine Conference 2025 – Thriving Together: Cultivating Inspiration and Resilience, a three-day event held in Gore, which celebrated the strength and stories of women working in agriculture and horticulture.

The conference opening purposely coincided with International Rural Women’s Day, which was celebrated globally to recognise the critical role and contribution of rural women in agriculture, food security, rural development, and poverty eradication.

WiH Project Manager, Stephanie Wrathall, said wāhine were central to the sector’s success – from small family-run producers to large multi-million dollar growing operations.

“Women were often at the heart of these businesses and post-harvest workforces, yet they flew under the radar, juggling family priorities with business success and not always receiving the support and acknowledgement they deserved.

“United Fresh and Women in Horticulture didn’t just celebrate rural women – we backed them in the places they lived, grew and led.

“Through our sponsorship of the Inspiring Wāhine Conference, we championed the voices of wāhine in horticulture and supported initiatives that empowered them at the grassroots level.”

WiH Communications Group member and Inspiring Wāhine Conference organising team member, Whitney Conder, said it was important to shine a spotlight on the role thousands of rural women played in horticulture as growers, leaders, innovators and kaitiaki of the land.

“This conference was a chance for wāhine to connect, reflect and grow.

“Whether you were hands-on in the fields, behind the scenes in horticulture or supporting the sector from another angle, this three-day experience in Gore was all about supporting each other and celebrating all that we did.”

Alongside practical workshops on topics such as investment, nutrition, managing stress and strengthening advocacy skills, inspirational speakers included Nadia Lim (celebrity chef and entrepreneur), Dr Denise Quinlan (Director of the Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience), Tori Moorby (Olympian), Pauline Smith (award-winning author and educator), and Dr Jo Cribb (leadership and governance expert).

“It was a chance for rural women to fill their own cup and be part of a community that understood the unique challenges and triumphs of rural life,” Conder said.

The United Nations’ theme for 2025 was ‘Rural Women Sustaining Nature for Our Collective Future’, which invited everyone to celebrate rural women’s essential role in building climate resilience, conserving biodiversity and caring for the land.

Here at home, United Fresh led the Women in Horticulture initiative, and Wrathall said WiH’s advocacy and support in person and online made a real difference to how women perceived their value and role within New Zealand’s $6.85 billion horticultural export industry.

“Sponsoring the Inspiring Wāhine Conference was a real-world example of how United Fresh and WiH celebrated, empowered, and amplified the voices of wāhine across the sector,” Wrathall said.