VAL LANG

Val Lang is a farmer from the Lismore region in Victoria and a dedicated supporter, leader and mentor of women in agriculture. A wool, cereal, legume and oilseed grower, she has contributed significantly to the rural women’s movement since the 1980s.

During childhood Val spent a lot of time outdoors and took a keen interest in farm life when holidaying with a school friend who lived on the land. She studied Agricultural Science at the University of Melbourne, at a time when few women were enrolled and when the courses at Dookie, Longerenong and Marcus Oldham agricultural colleges were not offered to women.

While on her husband’s family farm Val began discussing needs for community education with local women. Funded by
 a Rural Women’s Access grant, they ran a range of workshops and programs and came into contact with Victoria’s Rural Women’s Network.  The first Women on Farms Gathering was held in Gippsland in 1990 and Val helped organise the 1994 Gathering at Glenormiston.

After attending the International Rural Women’s Conference in Melbourne that year, she joined Australian Women in Agriculture, of which she was made a life member in 2015. She was a founding member of the Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women and has served as its president.

In 2007 Val Lang was made a Member of the Order of Australia ‘for service to women living in rural and regional communities, particularly by improving social and economic conditions through the Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women, and to the environment, health and education’.