Her Story

The Little River Landcare Group is one of Australia’s leading land care organisations. Working directly with farmers, it aims to encourage the adoption of sustainable farming practices.

Pip Job has worked with this organisation for the last 10 years and during this period, has empowered more than 7000 farmers. Named as CEO three years ago, Pip is committed to ensuring that the Little River Landcare Group achieves its long-term sustainability goals.

Pip’s passion for land care, coupled with her devotion to practicing sustainable farming, stems from her 18 years of experience running a farming operation. She works tirelessly to ensure that farmers leave a positive footprint on their land. Pip leads by example, practicing what she preaches by implementing climate friendly steps on her own farm.

Pip’s commendable leadership capacity and her never-ending efforts to encourage farmers to adopt a “land care ethic” have been officially recognised. She was named the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation ‘Rural Woman of the Year’ in 2014 for both New South Wales and Australia.

Pip is passionate about creating a community for like-minded women who deal with the challenges of rural life. As the recipient of the NSW ‘Rural Woman of the Year’ award, Pip received a $10,000 bursary. Pip intends to put her bursary towards creating a rural women’s training program entitled ‘Positive Farming Footprints’. This program strives to increase the ability of rural women to manage climate change and their finance in today’s complex economy. As well as this, ‘Positive Farming Footprints’ aims to increase the personal resilience of rural women via a social, ecological and economic platform.

Pip’s commitment to fostering a tight-knit community for rural women is admirable. By strengthening the sense of collegiality amongst women who manage agricultural farms, Pip empowers rural women. A consummate charismatic business leader, Pip connects with people on a personal level to encourage them to embrace new sustainable farming practices.

From her 18 years experience managing a farm, her 10 years of inspiring farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices, and three years of being the Little River Landcare Group’s CEO, Pip has some helpful advice to share:

“Gather a brains-trust around you. Make this a diverse collection of minds with experience both internally and externally of your industry. Don’t be afraid to ask people to contribute to your brains-trust. Knowledge is power, so the more you can gather, the better equipped you will be into the future.”

Strategies for Success

  1. Know your point of difference -your competitive advantage- and leverage this with passion and creativity.
  2. Be strategic. Start with a SWOT analysis and grow your strategy from there. Create a brains-trust to help you do this. External minds help you see the world differently.
  3. If you don’t have a strong financial mind, then equip yourself with someone who does. Knowing the financial performance of your business is paramount to success. Set your profit goal at the beginning of the financial year and defend it with sound budgeting and planning. Accepting what dribbles out the end of a financial year isn’t smart business.
  4. Provide yourself with choices when making decisions. You need to know what every decision is costing you in intended gain, or intended loss. Compare choices so that you make a well-informed decision.
  5. In the not-for-profit sector you must has strong governance in place. Transparency, accountability, and strategic thinking are keys to success in this sector. You must look at all of your resources, including the people, and have a plan for their management.