OnBoard | A grower director program

Together with her husband, Dili is a grain producer in the Mid North of South Australia. A career scientist with over 13 years of experience in pre-breeding and special interest in data analysis, she transitioned back to the family operation in 2023 with a strategic focus on setting up the business for long-term resilience. She applies her background in research and data to help manage farm financials, climate risk, and the adoption of precision agriculture.

​Beyond the farm gate, Dili is a fierce advocate for the grains industry and regional education. She serves as an Ambassador for Women Together Learning (WoTL), where she has applied her professional background to developing local peer-to-peer learning networks to bridge the knowledge gap in all things farming, with a particular focus on agribusiness training. She also serves as a member of the inaugural GPSA Young Grain Producers Committee and actively engages with industry stakeholders and policymakers on issues ranging from drought recovery to high-voltage transmission infrastructure.

​Dili holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Honours) from the University of Sydney. She is passionate about moving from advocacy to formal governance, seeking to use her unique ability to translate technical agricultural nuances into strategic policy outcomes.

Georgina holds a BA (Hons) in Business Management & Marketing from Queen Margaret University Edinburgh; she brings strategic expertise and commercial insight to both agribusiness and the not-for-profit sector.

Based on the Liverpool Plains, she co-manages a 13,000-acre mixed farming enterprise alongside her husband and in-laws, producing predominately winter and summer grain crops. Her role spans operational oversight, long-term planning, and sustainable business growth.

She currently serves as President for a large not-for-profit early childhood education provider operating preschools, playgroups, and toy libraries across Northern NSW. In this role, she provides governance leadership, strategic direction, and advocacy to support accessible, high-quality early learning services for regional families. Georgina’s work reflects a strong commitment to rural communities, sustainable enterprise, and future-focused leadership.

James Venning is a South Australian grain grower based on the Upper Yorke Peninsula, where he manages his family farming enterprise, Barunga Grains. Operating within a broadacre cropping system, James has led a significant transformation of the business, focusing on improving infertile sandy soils into highly productive cropping country. This strategic approach to soil improvement and innovation has enabled rapid expansion in a tightly held farming district.

James has a particular passion for technology adoption and agricultural economics, with a focus on ensuring innovation delivers measurable returns at both farm and industry level. He is motivated by integrating emerging technologies, research and sound economic principles to drive productivity, profitability and long-term sustainability.

Alongside managing the farming operation, James is deeply committed to contributing to the wider grains industry. He currently chairs his local grower group, Northern Sustainable Soils, serves as a board member of the Hart Field-Site Group, and was most recently appointed as a Director of Grain Producers SA. Through these roles, James is passionate about advancing farmer-led research, strengthening industry governance, and ensuring growers have a strong and practical voice.

Leanne Pridham is a grain producer from the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, a passionate rural communities and mum to three teenagers. Leanne’s love for Agriculture has spanned a 25-plus year career, including experience at grassroots level of both the livestock and grains industries, livestock compliance within state government and now her current roles of Ag facilitator and director/owner of her and her husband’s grain operation on the Yorke Peninsula.

Leanne’s passion is family farms. She is committed to strengthening family farms through sound business management, clear communication, and intentional succession planning to build strong, profitable intergenerational businesses.

She is passionate about sharing practical insights on managing the many hats farmers wear, navigating overwhelm, and fostering meaningful connections within rural communities.

Leanne is involved in many community organisations supporting this passion, including serving as a director of Women Together Learning (WoTL), an organisation dedicated to empowering women in agriculture.

Leanne holds a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Honours) and has further training in farm business management, facilitation, and leadership.

Natalie has more than 30 years of professional experience working in roles focused on communications, strategy, stakeholder engagement and journalism. She is a grains industry specialist and has held executive or managerial positions at organisations including Grains Australia, the Grains Research and Development Corporation and Grower Group Alliance (South West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub project).

Along with her husband Andrew, Natalie is a Partner in a broadacre farming operation south of Kukerin in Western Australia's Upper Great Southern region. Araluen Farming Co produces grain (barley, canola, wheat, lupin, field pea, oat), export hay and Merino sheep.

This combination of professional experience and practical farming knowledge provides Natalie with a unique set of skills and perspectives of benefit to agricultural industries and regional communities.

Sharon Single (née O’Keeffe) is a grain grower from Coonamble in NSW with extensive leadership experience across agronomy, research investment and industry governance. She holds a Master of Agriculture and a Bachelor of Rural Science (Hons), combining strong technical expertise with practical on-farm insight.

Sharon began her career as an agronomist working across broadacre cropping systems, and after a period in agribusiness management, she joined the GRDC, where she led stakeholder engagement, research extension and regional investment strategy.

She currently serves as a Trustee and Director of the Wheat Research Foundation. Alongside her industry leadership, Sharon is heavily involved as a volunteer, both nationally through Better Internet for Rural, Regional and Remote Australia, and locally through the Country Women’s Association and Isolated Children’s Parent’s Association.

At home at Narratigah, Sharon is actively involved with her husband in the family farming business, cropping 4,500 hectares of winter and summer cereals, legumes and oilseeds alongside a trade cattle enterprise. Coming from seven generations of farming in her own family, she brings a deep understanding of the long-term responsibility and stewardship required to build resilient, sustainable agricultural businesses.