Themed “Creating a Pathway to Diversity”, the dinner celebrated diversity within Australia and New Zealand’s fruit and vegetable industry by sharing stories of business and personal success among its 120 guests.
Speakers included Alice Gorman and Gen Windley of Kalfresh, the Honorable Mary Donaldson MP, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Queensland, and Rachel Palumbo, Monsanto Vegetable Seeds Commercial Lead for Australia and New Zealand.
Ms Palumbo said Monsanto was proud to employ a diverse workforce within its Seminis and De Ruiter brands.
“Diversity is integral to our strategy because of our diverse global customer base,” Ms Palumbo said.
“Making a balanced meal accessible to everyone, and doing it in a sustainable way, requires a wide range of ideas and resources. That’s why our employees come from a variety of backgrounds.”
Ms Palumbo said that within De Ruiter and Seminis’ Australia and New Zealand businesses, there were eleven different nationalities in a team of less than 40.
“And the Australian Seminis sales team – those who are face to face with our customers – is 50 per cent female. That’s up from zero only a few years ago and it’s why we believe it is important to support events like Women’s Fresh Perspectives.”
Ms Palumbo shared some insights with guests from her own research from her studies into diversity and its positive impact on businesses.
“According to a 2009 study in American Sociological Review, research from across 506 US organisations showed that those with greater racial and gender diversity perform better in sales revenues, number of customers and market share.
“A 2011 study based on 1648 firms in Denmark found that employee diversity in terms of gender, age and education has an effect on the likelihood that firms innovate. Firms with more balanced gender composition are more likely to innovate compared to firms with high concentration in one gender.”
Ms Palumbo said she was proud companies like Seminis, De Ruiter and Kalfresh could lead the way and encourage other Australian and New Zealand farms and agribusiness to adopt workplace diversity.
Kalfresh told the story of how their business solved its “bloke problem” by hiring more women, which directly resulted in a big jump in profits.
A group of skilled and qualified women were brought on board to solve one of the businesses biggest problems: waste.
The team proposed investing in a $3 million processing line to value add the seconds for the pre-cut bagged vegetable market.
You can read more about the Kalfresh story here.
Ms Palumbo said women were often still not recognised for the important role they play in food production and agribusiness.
“We need to ensure we’re getting new people with diverse experiences and new ideas into roles where they can really make an impact,” Ms Palumbo said.
Seminis and De Ruiter are one of the world’s largest vegetable seed businesses with more than 2,000 products in over 20 crops for open field and protected culture worldwide.
For more information
Monsanto Company
Vegetable Seeds Division
Danielle Buller
PO Box 6051
St Kilda Rd Central
Victoria Australia 8008
+61 3 9522 7166
+61 400 949 065