Women in Ag Award 2023

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!

Vita:

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.

It is crucial to have more women in our industry, as their perspectives and experiences are irreducibly useful for seeing things from all angles and also encourage innovation.
Women enrich the talent pool, improve teamwork and drive processes with competence and precision.

Promoting women and recognising their achievements not only creates a more inclusive and equal working environment, but also sets inspiring examples for future generations and promotes diversity and equality across all sectors.

Vita:

As CEO of DLG Holding, Freya v. Czettritz drives the dovetailing of agriculture and food internationally. With the knowledge pool of the 30,000 DLG members; the established formats, such as the leading trade fairs AGRITECHNICA and EuroTier and her international agricultural network, she works with heart and soul for modern and sustainable agriculture.

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.

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.

Vita:

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.