Narrogin’s Danielle England has been named as a finalist in the 2013 WA Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Rural Women’s Award.

The award recognises women who have made a contribution to rural and regional Australia, and supports those with leadership potential to make a greater contribution to their industries and communities.

Mrs England said she was thrilled to be recognised.

“Women have always played a vital and integral role in rural communities both on and off farms, from supporting schools, sports organisations and health services and it is just really great to be recognised,” she said.

Mrs England grew up in Lake Grace and began her career in agriculture studying a Bachelor of Agribusiness Marketing at Curtin University’s Muresk Institute of Agriculture.

She said before she started, university women made up fewer than 30 per cent of graduates in her field, but that number had grown to about 70 per cent in recent years.

Mrs England joined the Planfarm team in 2010 and is currently the Relative Advantage project officer for Grain and Graze 2, working with many farmers, agronomists and grower groups across WA.

Grain and Graze 2 look at how farmers can better integrate cropping and livestock enterprises within their business and is helping farmers, groups and agronomists demonstrate different management options using grazing crops, better stubble management, summer sowing and pasture cropping.