evokeAG. 2025 to offer free on-site childcare
Attendees at evokeAG. 2025, being held in Brisbane on 18-19 February, will for the first time have access to full free on-site childcare services throughout the 2-day event in order to support full household attendance.
Harriet Mellish, with husband Ben Thomas and their two children.
evokeAG. is Asia-Pacific’s annual convergence of agrifood innovation, science, technology and ideas, packed with daring discussions, immersive sessions and game-changing innovations.
General Manager of AgriFutures Global Innovation Network, Harriet Mellish, said the idea behind offering childcare to event attendees was to support the game-changing nature of evokeAG. and underpin the events theme of Common Ground for 2025.
“Family businesses are at the heart of agriculture, despite this it’s rare to see industry events make any accommodations to support household attendance by offering free and professional childcare,” Harriet said.
“Parents should not be penalised, especially those with younger children and we want evokeAG. to be accessible to everyone, regardless of your circumstances at home. We want to do our bit to help level the playing field by offering childcare to all attendees.”
Harriet is herself a parent of young children living in regional Australia with her husband, Ben Thomas, a Portfolio Manager with Growth Farms Australia and Director at Sheep Producers Australia.
“We know firsthand how difficult it can be for professional young families working in agriculture to juggle the demands of a career and a parent – and we know many families like ours that face similar circumstances.
“If we want to attract people to follow a career in agriculture then we need to walk the walk with these young parents to show that we have empathy, we understand the challenge and that as an industry we are forward thinking and taking action.”
At AgriFutures Australia we felt that offering free childcare at evokeAG. was an opportunity to show leadership and take an important step forward, that we hope others will follow.
As Harriet explains, the idea of on-site childcare first arose at evokeAG. 2024’s X-Factor Breakfast which brought together over 70 leading and aspiring women and male champions from across the agrifood tech and innovation sector.
“It’s not often that a room is filled to the brim with inspiring women from the agriculture sector and chatting to attendees in February it was clear that one of the key barriers to this sort of event is childcare,” Harriet said.
This is backed up by WGEA data which shows females made up 100 per cent of manager and non-manager employees in agriculture who took primary carers leave in 2022-23.
“At AgriFutures we’re always striving to help break down barriers in ag, so adding a childcare option to help remove an obstacle to attendance, especially for women, who remain the traditional caretakers, was a no brainer.”
Introducing on-site childcare means both my husband and I can attend, and importantly we can focus on the sessions and building connections and our network with the peace of mind that our children are cared for nearby.”
“I also want my girls to see the event in action. They’re a part of our family farm so why not get them involved with our farm and agtech at a young age. My six-year-old already knows when it rains to check the Farmbot so it’s great to broaden their horizons with the future of science and innovation.”
AgriFutures Australia General Manager, Global Innovation Networks, Harriet Mellish.
Childcare is just one small piece of a much larger obstacle course facing women in agriculture and innovation.
“Women are chronically underrepresented in agriculture and STEM,” Harriet said.
“Currently, women only represent 15% of the STEM workforce, this is despite participation increasing by 68% since 2012.”
“This is reflected in leadership with women making up only 26.8% of agribusiness board members on average lagging well behind the national cross industry average of 34%.”
“We are slowly turning the tide on these statistics with women making up 60% of students currently enrolled in agricultural or environmental studies in Australia.
“If we want to see change, we must offer a helping hand whenever possible to women and other minorities looking to make their way into the sector.”
The recent Pathway to Diversity in STEM Review final recommendations report completed by the Australian Government Department for Industry Science, and Resources highlighted that this gap is largely due to significant barriers to workplace participation in STEM including flexibility and accessibility.
To find out more about what evokeAG. 2025 has to offer visit evokeag.com
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