• Charles Sturt PhD student seeks participants for research project
• Student’s project investigates how to incorporate female perspectives into farm management
• Farmers from the Eyre Peninsula will participate in an hour-long phone interview, to be conducted by the end of April

The notion of a woman farmer is deeply ingrained into PhD student Ms Linda Wirf’s history and she is dedicating her research toward ensuring it becomes the norm for society too.

Charles Sturt student Ms Wirf is completing her PhD ‘Beyond adoption: gendered knowledges in agricultural practice change in Australia’ with assistance of a scholarship from the Cooperative Research Centre for High Performance Soils, known as the Soil CRC.

While working on her master’s degree with Anmatyerre women in Central Australia, she deepened her knowledge of gender roles and the importance of including men and women’s opinions on conservation and resource management.

Her mother grew up on a dairy farm in Orroroo, South Australia and Ms Wirf has lived most of her life on the land, so she said the concept of a female farmer is part of her history and psyche.

“I have experienced many of the phenomena that impact farmers and their land management decisions, including bushfires, drought, floods, isolation, feral animals and invasive weeds,” she said.

“My interest in this research is shaped in my belief in the need to change agriculture to be more regenerative and environmentally sustainable and I believe that women farmers have a key role to play in this transition.”

Ms Wirf’s research will assist farmers with creating a space for transformation in agriculture practice by including women’s knowledge and perspectives, but she is calling on participants for her study.

She is seeking male and female farmers from the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia to participate in a one-hour phone interview by the end of April.

Participants will be interviewed about how they farm and how they make decisions about farm management. They will also be asked about participation in agriculture events and what types of activities farmers attend.

“Farmers are increasingly challenged by environmental issues, like climate change and soil degradation, resulting in a loss of agricultural productivity,” she said.

“Co-creation of knowledge with women and men will promote innovation and expand the framework for practice change.”

Interviews will take place by telephone or Zoom, and all information will be confidential.

Ms Wirf is based at Charles Sturt with co-supervision from Southern Cross University.

For more information or to be a part of this study, contact Ms Wirf on lwirf@csu.edu.au.