MUNGLINUP farmer Michelle Barrett is the new chairperson of the CBH Grower Advisory Council (GAC), the first woman to be elected to the position in the GAC's history.
Ms Barrett, who farms 4700 hectares with husband Kieran and daughters Emma and Eadie, said it was a "great honour" to be selected, after serving as deputy chairperson and taking over from Andrew Todd as current chairperson.
Lake Grace grower Royce Taylor was elected as the new deputy chairperson at the GAC meeting held last week.
"I am extremely honoured to be making history, I think it is a reflection of the important role women play in our farming and grain growing businesses today," she said.
"Their contribution may not be front and centre but without them a lot of our businesses wouldn't run."
CBH chairman Wally Newman congratulated Ms Barrett on the appointment and said her commitment and dedication to the GAC had been "exemplary".
"We actively encourage women to participate on the GAC as we believe it is important to have balanced representation from our member base.
"It is now only a matter of time before our growers elect their first female director."
Ms Barrett said the GAC acted as a "conduit" between the board, CBH management and growers and had very broad representation of growers from across the different regions.
"On a tangible level, we help management nut things out before they roll out programs to growers at large, such as the implementation of the grower identification system GRID for LoadNet," she said.
"We have also been quite involved with the Australian Grain Institute capacity building project and that is about attracting and upskilling people into the WA grains industry."
Ms Barrett said the evidence was there that women at executive and board levels made a valuable and worthwhile contribution to businesses.
According to a report released by the Australian Institute of Company Directors in December, women now accounted for 25 per cent of board positions in the top 200 of ASX-listed companies.
"Different personalities, whether male or female, bring different qualities to a role but it does seem multitasking and different ways of thinking come out of having women on boards," she said.
"The evidence is there that we contribute and play a really important role not only in our farm businesses but also at the strategic level as well."
Ms Barrett said she encouraged other women to look into taking on more prominent roles in the agricultural industry but acknowledged that there needed to be more effort in understanding the barriers women faced.
"Is it childcare, is it distance - what are the barriers and what can we do to encourage and support women to perhaps take on these roles because what they contribute when they do contribute is amazing?" she said.
"When you look at local community involvement then it is almost the complete opposite - women are running the P&C, the school councils, - they are very involved on the ground in their local communities and I would like to see CBH and other organisations look at what those barriers are so we can come up with strategies as to how we can improve on participation at a board and GAC level.
"If by me making a little bit of history here any way encourages other female growers to look at applying for the GAC or even better still having the confidence to stand in their local director elections then I am all for it."
CBH GAC nominations for the council opened this week, with five roles on the council available.
Former chair Andrew Todd said being part of the GAC had been an invaluable experience.
"It's been fantastic professional development for me; when you get into a boardroom of an organisation of that scale it's exciting and it can be inspiring as well," he said.
"I'd really encourage anyone thinking about nominating for the GAC to do it - it's not a massive time commitment and you will get as much personal development out of it as you will be able to contribute with your thoughts and ideas."
Mr Newman said the GAC provided an invaluable contribution to the co-operative and had helped CBH continually improve its services.
"This is a unique chance for growers to get involved in their co-operative and have direct input into CBH and its continued development," he said.
"It's extremely important for CBH to have a council comprised of growers at the coal face to help us understand grower sentiment around potential strategies and plans.
"I strongly encourage growers of all ages and agricultural interests to get involved."
Nominations for the GAC close on March 31.
