A South Australian dairy farmer has been named the 2026 AgriFutures Rural Woman of the Year for building a commercially viable agritourism operation on her working dairy property, while a Western Australian founder has taken out the state-level award in the same program.

Narelle Zanker, co-founder of Dairy Adventures, received the national award at AgriFutures’ annual awards evening in Canberra on 8 September 2026, presented by Agriculture Minister Julie Collins. Zanker launched Dairy Adventures in 2024, converting routine farm operations including milking and calf-feeding into structured visitor education sessions covering food safety, animal care, and food provenance. The venture has recorded more than 1,200 visitors since launch.

The Business Model Behind the Award

Zanker’s background as a teacher informed the program’s structure, which frames everyday dairy tasks as paid educational experiences rather than passive tours. AgriFutures managing director Brianna Casey AM described the venture as “a genuinely commercial business” built on farm expertise and prior professional skills, a framing that positions agritourism not as a hobby supplement to farm income but as a standalone revenue stream with educational IP at its core.

The award recognises operators who demonstrate leadership in connecting consumers with primary production. Zanker’s win indicates that food provenance programming, structured around existing farm operations rather than purpose-built visitor infrastructure, is gaining recognition as a credible and replicable business model at the national level.

WA State Winner

Angela Teale, founder of Starsite Australia, was named the Western Australian state and territory winner in the 2026 program.

Runner-up at the national level was Kelly Shotton, who founded Stationry, a digital platform designed to replace paper-based water and infrastructure tracking across remote Northern Territory cattle stations. Shotton, a station pilot, built the tool to monitor tanks, bores, troughs, and fuel loads across large properties. She indicated that the award grant funding would be directed toward further platform development and broader rollout.

Applications Open for 2027 Award

AgriFutures has opened applications for the 2027 Rural Women’s Award. Applications close on Wednesday, 4 November 2026. The program operates at state, territory, and national levels.

Operators or landholders seeking to apply or nominate should contact AgriFutures directly for program criteria and submission requirements.

What This Means for WA Operators

The Dairy Adventures model offers a transferable template for WA agritourism operators considering how to structure farm-based education programs. The core commercial logic is straightforward: existing farm operations, milking schedules, feeding routines, husbandry tasks, become the product, reducing the capital outlay typically associated with purpose-built visitor infrastructure.

For WA dairy, mixed farming, or livestock operators currently running or considering visitor programs, the Zanker model suggests several points worth reviewing:

• Packaging routine tasks as structured, ticketed educational sessions rather than informal access creates a repeatable and scalable product.
• A background in education or communication (held by the operator or a staff member) appears to be a meaningful differentiator in how the experience is designed and delivered.
• Visitor numbers of 1,200 over roughly two years on a single working farm indicate a modest but commercially meaningful revenue stream achievable without large-scale tourism infrastructure.

The runner-up recognition for Stationry is separately relevant to WA operators managing large or remote properties. Water and infrastructure monitoring across dispersed land holdings is a familiar operational challenge in WA. Operators who are still managing bore, tank, and trough data manually should note that purpose-built digital tools for this problem are now at a commercialisation stage.

The 2027 award program itself is a direct opportunity for WA agritourism operators. Angela Teale’s state win in 2026 confirms WA-based ventures are competitive in the program. Operators with a demonstrable innovation in farm-based visitor experience, community connection, or agtech should assess whether the application criteria fit their current operations before the 4 November 2026 deadline.