Karen Harrington

West Arthur

General Committee Member

Karen married Clinton in 2007 and settled on his home property - a sheep and cropping enterprise in Darkan. They have one son. Karen's background is in agribusiness finance, having worked as an agribusiness manager for ten years. Currently Karen does the farm books and sits on various committees within the community. She enjoys being part of WIFE. "It brings that 'professional' element to my varied duties as a farmer's wife!"

Sarah Frost

Varley

Treasurer

Sarah farms with her husband Andy on their continuous cropping property at Mount Madden. Managing the farm office, Sarah often ventures out to the paddock whilst also raising their two children. Sarah is an active community member, has studied for her Level 2 ambulance officer volunteer role and coaches junior hockey. A member of Varley WIFE and being able to professionally network with other women in similar farm business situations, Sarah has found it a real bonus in joining WIFE as she now has a number of women she can connect with and learn alongside, in improving all aspects of farming businesses.

Simone Lansdell

Dryandra

General Committee Member

Simone and her husband Kevin, have been farming at the family home property since 2000 and have three teenage children. With a professional background in child care, having worked as an educator, centre coordinator and most recently as a TAFE lecturer, Simone has currently taken a break from external work to concentrate on the family business. She has many years experience serving on various local community committees, school boards and P&Cs.

In 2017, as succession plans came to fruition, the farming enterprise underwent a split with her husband and his brother and their families. Simone's family started work immediately on a new succession plan to ease the process and encourage open conversation for the next generation. Simone enjoys physical work on the farm, learning new skills, has a keen interest in understanding technology, a keen eye for detail and strives to be compliant with all aspects of the family business.

Yvette Downey

Lakes

General Committee Member

Shaun and Yvette farm 35km North of Lake Grace on their total cropping property. Emigrating from the UK with their three boys in 2002, they settled on the farm with their first crop in 2003. Although not born into a farming family, Shaun was always going to be a farmer! He worked on farms in the UK and studied agriculture, set up his own contracting business and met Yvette in 1990. Yvette has trained as a veterinary nurse and worked in pharmaceuticals.

Since arriving in Australia Yvette has worked on the farm primarily in the office implementing health and safety and HR procedures and balancing the books. As required at busy times on the farm, she assists with moving vehicles, chasing things up and being the general gofer, while bring up their boys. Yvette has been actively involved in local groups and previously held the position of president of Lakes WIFE.

Anna-Lisa Newman

Varley

Immediate Past President

With a background in healthcare and management, Anna-Lisa made the transition to farm business in 2003. Whilst raising her family of four with husband Craig, Anna-Lisa has had to adapt to the rural environment and learn the ropes for managing a mixed enterprise farm business. They have been farming independently since 2004 and have enjoyed the challenges, highs and lows of farming and living in a small town. Anna-Lisa was the inaugural president of WIFE Inc and believes it is a brilliant network to tap into if you love farming and farm business. She continues to support the organisation through a role on the WIFE Committee as Immediate Past President.

Tina Harding

Ongerup

Secretary

Tina grew up on a mixed farming enterprise with her family and developed a love for country life early on. She moved to Perth after graduating high school to study teaching and was eager to get back to her country roots. Fast forward to today and she is in Ongerup farming with her husband, Wes and his family on their total cropping property. She is the treasurer of Ongerup WIFE and values the WIFE network for bringing like-minded women together, sharing their experiences and knowledge to improve farm businesses.

Janelle South

West Arthur

President

While studying animal science at UWA, Janelle met her (now) husband Paul and decided to redirect her study towards agriculture. After working off farm for a couple of years and then travelling, Janelle is now well settled into the farming life on their sheep & cropping farm near Darkan. Janelle works primarily on-farm but is also involved with the local trials group and does some contract work in the extension of agricultural R&D. Janelle worked with other local girls to get a branch set up in her town after realising the huge value of the WIFE network.

Carolyn Reid

Boyup Brook

Vice President

Growing up on a developing farm with the most hard-working of parents was the best education ever according to Carolyn but she continued it in Perth, graduating from UWA in industrial relations and politics majors and some journalism units at Curtin. Moving to Boyup Brook in 1990 with her husband, they built up a sheep and cropping enterprise together but found it important to maintain involvement in organisations including the Kondinin Group and Australian Open Gardens, as well as a myriad of local community groups as their family grew.

Approaching 30 years farming in the same area and with children going through university and working in agricultural careers, Carolyn has a heightened interest in the future of our rural communities and ensuring they prosper.