Jury 2025

Born in Kiev, Ukraine, graduate of the National Agrarian University of Ukraine and Leibniz University of Hannover in Germany in the field of international agribusiness. Yuliya has about 15 years of experience in Ukrainian and international companies in agricultural marketing, communication and project management. Since 2016, she has been the Managing Director of the Ukrainian subsidiary DLG Ukraine and successfully developed several exhibition platforms for arable farming and potato production such as the International Field Days and Potato Day. Since 2022, Yuliya Bondarenko has been working for DLG Service on the development of new exhibition areas for vertical agriculture and new food systems.

As a journalist since 2011, I specialised in the agricultural press in animal production in 2018. Especially in the field, I value the exchange of experiences with farmers and technicians, both men and women. I engage all year round to represent their voices. For me, the promotion of women in agriculture is part of an egalitarian approach at the level of society and nations. 

Not born and raised on a farm, I became a farmer when moving to my husbands' farm. Nowadays farming is my passion and I see so many beautiful things in agriculture. Since times are changing, I see women playing a more and more vital role in agriculture - from being silent behind a man towards owning, running and being the face of their farm and being the thriving force in sustainable food production. We need more women in agriculture and food and have their voices heard

CV:

Judith de Vor is a dairy farmer from the Netherlands. Together with her husband and 3 kids – as a fifth generation – they continue their love for animals and the land while raising cows. They are working in a sustainable and regenerative way. From open farm days to school classes, agricultural organizations and policymakers - thousands of people are welcomed on the farm each year. Judith is an advocate for agriculture, a member of the Global Farmer Network,  part of TeamAgroNL and a Nuffield farming scholar. She promotes Dutch food and agriculture, is a columnist and speaks at several events all over the world. With a background in political science, agricultural policies have her interest. She is also an agricultural social innovator. Judith is supporting other farmers with new ideas, leadership and personal development.

Despite their significant representation, women often face challenges such as limited access to land, financial resources, and education. Addressing these barriers is essential to unlocking their full potential and ensuring a more equitable and productive agricultural sector. As the global demand for sustainable and resilient food systems grows, so does the need for greater recognition and empowerment of women in the industry. It is a time to call for a strong execution to recognize women in AG to create a role model and networking platform to inspire our young generations. 

CV:

May holds a PhD in Biotechnology from Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. She began her career in Monsanto to guide and lead the quality, then she was the Executive Director of the regional seed association namely the Asia and Pacific Seed Alliance (APSA) where she had built a strong network with multi- stakeholders in the seed supply chain in both public and private sectors. Her expertise is in seed policy advocacy and capacity building programs on plant variety protection and international seed movement. Her current role at East-West Seed is to guide and monitor stakeholder engagement, policy and regulatory update, strengthening public relations and promoting the company's position and mission on serving smallholder farmers with innovative seeds and sustainable agricultural practices.   
 

LaKisha Odom works at the intersection of sustainability and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in agriculture, focusing on innovative solutions for sustainable food production and economic viability for producers. Often one of the few in key discussions who looks like her, she believes diversity drives innovation. Her passion is creating inclusive spaces where all voices contribute to addressing global challenges like climate change, population growth, and food security. At the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), she leads DEI efforts and research programs that support regenerative farming, healthier food access, and diverse farmer adoption of sustainable practices.

These women around me motivated me to start Women in Ag Magazine, sharing their stories. In a positive way, I want to share their knowledge and experiences, inspiring other women in the sector to take steps, implement ideas and bring our sector to life.

When I was a little girl, I witnessed women mostly mothers engaged in tilling their own small piece of land in order to augment family’s income. Other women undertake farm related activities such as value-adding processing their farm produce to have food/delicacies and/or selling their excess farm produce around the barangay. In most cases, women are usually frontline in planting rice manually, maintaining the fields (pulling weeds, repairing paddies), harvesting, drying the grains and sometimes manually pounding the palay to have the clean rice. These farming activities seems very hard and full of drudgery; but it is an alternative to boost family income and provide fresh and nutritious foods for their children.

I pursued agricultural engineering in college which is one of the priority courses for scholarship with the thought that I can be of help to farmers particularly women to have the chance to enjoy farm works by making easy it an easy job and profitable. 

As a practicing agricultural engineer, I observed that there are more women in agriculture before when there was less machinery utilized than these days where most farming operations are mechanized. I had deduced that most women cannot operate the machinery thus they are displaced in the operations. With this scenario, there is a need to develop gender-friendly machinery and train such women on mechanized farming to cope up with the change in technology. The creation of the Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering (BAFE) slowly contributed in transforming Philippine agri-fisheries sector to modernized farming system. The BAFE, considered as the engineering arm of the Philippine Department of Agriculture, lead the crafting of the National Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Plan which is the basis for the infrastructure and machinery interventions by government. The plan considered gender sensitiveness in its machinery components’ design, fabrication, operation and maintenance. Hence, this gives equal chances to all gender where we can realized the unique roles and contributions of women in pushing for sustainable development. As the Assistant Director of BAFE, I ensure that women (particularly engineers) can have equal opportunity with male counterparts as we consider competency and job performance as major criteria. This strategy has impact on more women pursuing agricultural engineering.

Neamat ElTazi is the Cofounder and COO of PoultrySync, a tech platform revolutionizing poultry farming through data-driven solutions. With a background in business intelligence for global organizations like the World Bank and American Electric Power, she brings deep expertise to agricultural innovation. PoultrySync, developed in collaboration with international poultry experts, operates in three countries and helps farmers improve efficiency, flock health, and profitability. She is also an assistant professor at Cairo University and serves on the advisory board of the AnimalAgTech Summit in Amsterdam. She is a recognized thought leader in poultry technology and a frequent speaker at global industry events.