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The agricultural machinery business may be dominated by men, but women are thriving in senior positions as Olivia Midgley and Jane Carley find out - Women in Food and Agriculture
SIAN Pritchard, managing director of Kuhn UK and Melanie Gardner, dealer development manager at John Deere, are blazing a trail in the male-dominated farm machinery trade but maintain gender is not an issue in the industry.
From landing a job as an export assistant at one of Kuhn Group’s factories in the West of France,  Sian Pritchard became the first female export area sales manager at Kuhn Group headquarters in the Alsace area of France, before returning to the UK as managing director of the Kohn Group sales subsidiary.
“The requirements are the same for both sexes – you need a willingness to explore new opportunities and to be geographically mobile,” says Sian.
“Linguistic ability can also help to differentiate you, and with the right training anything is possible.”
“Many Saturday mornings were spent at the dealership, and as soon as I was old enough to answer the phone I was talking to my father’s customers.”
However, Sian rates her mother, who was a primary school teacher before having a family, as one of her main inspirations.
Sian adds: “She had to give up her career, so was determined to raise her daughters as independent women.”
Sian took degrees in European Financial Management with French at the University of Wales, Bangor and in business studies at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Rennes, France.
A tutor’s remark that she would never get a job in agricultural exports set her on a life-changing path: “I made it my mission to prove him wrong,” she recalls.
Sian rates her mother, who was a primary school teacher before having a family, as one of her main inspirations.
Sian adds: “She had to give up her career, so was determined to raise her daughters as independent women.”
In 1998 she was offered a role as export assistant at Kuhn SA’s Chateaubriant facility in the West of France before being promoted area sales manager, initially for Scandinavia and Israel, followed by the UK, Ireland and the Baltics, based near Strasbourg in the East of France.
She adds: “I learnt a lot from my Danish and Swedish customers – how to buy, market and sell to a highly dynamic organisation. They were also very open to working with females.
“Kuhn Group vice president of sales and marketing Roland Rieger took a gamble on me as the first female area sales manager and allowed me to flourish, to make mistakes and ask stupid questions. I regard him as another of my inspirations.”
Britain’s former prime minister Margaret Thatcher was a further influence, although not necessarily her policies: “I grew up in a time when Mrs Thatcher was in power, so it was normal to see a woman in charge,” comments Sian.
In 2009 she was appointed as managing director of Kuhn Farm Machinery and returned to the UK.
“I had always wanted to manage a profit centre, perhaps in a financial role, but experience in sales has also been key, while being an export assistant also meant that I had learnt a lot about administration,” she says.
The company broke the £40m sales mark last year and boasts a newly upgraded parts facility for its extensive product range at the UK headquarters in Telford.
Sian believes that there are no specific challenges in the industry for women, but says that anyone working in the industry needs to feel comfortable with its culture. Kuhn’s expanding team numbers 40 employees in the UK, with several women in senior roles.
“We have never set out specifically to employ women, it is more important that we find the right person for the job.”
Balancing a career with family life is a challenge for both male and female employees, she suggests.
Sian’s partner is returning to work this autumn following a career break to look after their young son.
For Melanie, who has been a single mother to her 17-year-old son for the majority of his life, juggling parenthood with a high pressure job has been a challenge, but one she relishes. She describes her son as a ‘daily inspiration’.
Melanie joined John Deere in 2011 as HR manager for the UK and Ireland business before moving to the dealer development role at the end of 2017, having previously held personnel and HR roles for Morrisons, the Austin Reed group and the London Borough of Bexley.
An advocate for encouraging young people into agriculture, Melanie believes parents and the education system have an important role to play, especially when it comes to young women.
“With any child, if they show an interest in something and they are passionate about it then it is up to parents and schools to support them,” says Melanie, who has been closely watching the work of the automotive and engineering sectors which are also on a mission to attract female talent.
“Even at the age of five, we should be talking to children about agriculture, talking to them about where their food comes from and then keeping them interested throughout their school life.”
However, when women do make it into agricultural businesses, they sometimes face another barrier when they want to progress into leadership roles.
Melanie says: “There are a lot of women who have made that step to middle management.
“The trick then is to get from middle management to senior leadership. In my view that is where there is a gap in some of the career advice being given by professionals.”
She says that while some men are ‘guided’ into senior or board level positions women can often be overlooked.
But she believes change is afoot.
“Some of the men on company boards are now fathers or grandfathers. They see some of the struggles their daughters or granddaughters are dealing with,” she says.
“I think there can be a change of mind set when something is a bit closer to home.”
“There are a lot of women who have made that step to middle management.
“The trick then is to get from middle management to senior leadership. In my view that is where there is a gap in some of the career advice being given by professionals.”
Companies such as John Deere have been making headway in encouraging a more inclusive culture and diverse workplace.
“As well as a gender gap there is also a race gap,” adds Melanie.
“And that is true across agriculture.
“John Deere has done some tremendous work on diversity inclusion globally.
“In the time I have been with the company I have seen the changes and I am pleased to say there are more women occupying those senior executive level roles.”
The proportion of male to female staff at John Deere is currently about 75/25 per cent.
“HR has got a role to play in this space but the message of diversity in the workplace has to be from the top down and you have to lead by example.
“If board or senior leaders hear comments that are not aligned with the company’s strategy then they should be challenging that thinking and encourage managers to examine their mind sets.”
Women only groups which enable participants to become more empowered and harness their business skills have become more popular in recent years.
But for Melanie, she sees greater value in the best talent, irrespective of gender, coming together to share ideas, knowledge and expertise.
“I would like to see mixed gender inspirational groups, asking what they can learn from each other,” she says.
“While participating in our own, I have always been slightly wary of women only groups, mainly because gender has never been an issue for me at work.
“In addition, I have always been conscious [of positive discrimination] and I did not want any promotion to be based purely on the fact I am a woman.
“Any promotion should be based on having the right person doing the right job, at the right time with the right skills, competencies but also the right attitude – and not just that job but potential jobs beyond that as well.”
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