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WELLNESSWEEK
Farmer Krista Watkins wins National Rural Women’s Award for banana flour idea
A North Queensland farmer who had the bright idea of turning wasted green bananas into banana flour has won the National Rural Women’s Award 2018 in Canberra.
Krista Watkins of the small Atherton Tablelands town of Walkamin, was anointed with the prestigious prize - now in its 23rd year- at a glittering ceremony last night in Canberra’s Parliament House.
Ms Watkins, who together with her husband is the first and biggest commercial producers of green banana flour in the world, is now focusing on looking at his other food waste - often unwanted or not suited to big supermarket orders - can be turned into valuable alternative food products.
Just last month her family business, Natural Evolution Foods, launched the first flour ever made from sweet potato waste.
A mega food processing factory utilising similar unwanted food waste on the fertile Atherton Tablelands 100 kms west of Cairns is now planned.
Runner up in the award was Darrylin Gordon, a Jaru Aboriginal woman from Halls Creek in the WA Kimberley, who is striving to empower local women through “change from the inside” and skills and leadership training.
Earlier in the evening, federal agriculture minister David Littleproud said one of the shamed of the first 200 years of Australian farming was the lack of recognition of women in the land.
Mr Littleproud praised feisty National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson as an outstanding example of the difference women involved in agriculture can make.
He also said that in the last 10 months since he has been Federal Agriculture minister - through positive encouragement not targets - the proportion of women on government-linked rural and agricultural boards had jumped from 37 per cent to 47 per cent.
“We haven’t promoted and encouraged women in agriculture as much as we
should,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Set the right environment (for women to apply for board jobs and be recognised and we have found women will always shine through.”