Women, Wellness and The Land - Primex Opening Breakfast

Primex 2025 Opening Breakfast Hosted by the Women’s Giving Circle

Celebrating Women in Agriculture & Community Health

Start your day with purpose at the Primex Opening Breakfast hosted by the Women’s Giving Circle, where we shine a light on female farmers leading the way in women's health and wellbeing across the Northern Rivers.

Join a dynamic panel discussion featuring:

• Jackie Morrison – Honeyvale Farm

• Rachael Sanderson - Life a Little Greener

• Nerida Colley – NORWACS

These inspiring women will share powerful stories and practical insights—from growing nutritious, chemical-free food for their communities, to exploring natural farming practices and creating accessible health resources, like recipe kits and fresh eating guides, tailored for women.

Together, we'll explore how women on the land are planting seeds of change—for healthier farms, families, and futures.

Breakfast of house-made sweet and savoury pastries, fresh fruit and barista-made coffee and tea included | All are welcome

Learn more about the Women’s Giving Circle and how we support grassroots women's health initiatives across the Northern Rivers:
nrcf.org.au/womens-giving-circle

Meet Your Panel Members:

Jackie Morrison - Honeyvale Farm

Jackie owns and runs Honeyvale Farm and Ballina Honey. She is passionate about producing sustainable free range pork, salami, honey and beeswax products. You may have seen Ballina Honey in local supermarkets and posted all over Australia. Jackie is also a 2023 Nuffield Scholar sponsored by Agrifutures to travel the world and investigate how our beekeeping industry can manage Varroa Destructor. This parasitic mite is currently spreading through the east coast of Australia and will change the face of beekeeping and pollination of food as we know it. Ballina Honey is running trials for subtropical chemical free varroa management. The goal for Honeyvale Farm is to work with our animals, insects and vegetation as a team to make a diverse farm ecology landscape that's good for our environment, our community and our business both now and for future generations. 

Rachael Sanderson – Life a Little Greener

Rachael is a small scale organic and regenerative farmer with a passion for growing non invasive edibles alongside ecosystem protection. Rachael is a land-share farmer at Ravens Place Farm, a community focused farm with a goal to make organic food financially accessible to those in need. Rachael owns her own holistically managed farm that she also grows food for the community and her family, and is regenerating a threatened ecological community. Rachael is the secretary of a local Not For Profit, We Forest Earth, providing mycelium based & chemical free bush regeneration to the community, growing food and medicine through ecosystem conservation. Rachael is dedicated to ensuring all facets of a farm have the ability to capture carbon, supports the local ecosystem and provide food security for the community.

Nerida Colley BHSc, MPH - Health Promotion Projects - NORWACS

Nerida has been working in the Health Sector for close to 35 years first studying Nursing at UNE followed by Public Health at the University of Sydney. Her career has taken her from Inverell, to Armidale, Port Macquarie, London, Sydney, Dubbo and now the Northern Rivers. It was seeing big changes in health and wellbeing of families through small changes in knowledge and behaviour that has inspired her career in Health Promotion. Some of the programs she has worked on include Mental Health Awareness training in schools, Rural Teenage Pregnant Mums Needs Project, Manager Family Planning NSW Talk line, Trainer - Family Planning NSW, Quit Smoking Groups for Women, Womens Heart Health Awareness Strategy NR, Yoga for Vulnerable Women, Lovebites Violence Prevention Youth Program NR, Food Redi with Red Cross to name a few. Currently Nerida is managing a project called Nourish Northen Rivers – A project that supports people to prepare for future climate events as well as look after their wellbeing. Some of the key focuses of the project is food security, cooking without heat from pantry ingredients and connecting as a community to support each other. Nerida is passionate about rural women’s access to health care having grown up on a farm in N.W.NSW.