• Picton - Wednesday June 15 - In partnership with the Creative Economy Conference
• Ottawa - Friday June 17
• Peterborough - Monday June 20
• Collingwood - Tuesday June 21
• Guelph - Wednesday June 22
• London - Thursday June 23
• Brantford - Friday June 24

For more information contact Norman Ragetlie at nragetlie@ruralontarioinstitute.ca.

• The agricultural sector accounts for around 880,000 jobs (including growing, processing, distribution and retailing).
• The sector generates $208 billion or 20 percent of Australia's Gross Domestic Product and about one quarter of our exports. The sector produces food for an estimated 60 million people.
• In 2009, Australian farms directly employed 317,704 people. Grain, sheep and beef-cattle farming are the biggest employers followed by horticulture.
• Agriculture's workforce is characterised by a high number of self-employed, family and casual workers. The average age is 50-55, with relatively low education levels, long job tenure and low wages. Off-farm employment has become increasingly important to family-farm incomes.
• Mean weekly full-time earnings in the agriculture, fishing and forestry industries are almost 30% lower than median weekly earnings for all industries.
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing has the highest average full-time weekly hours worked (52.8 hours) compared with all other industries (average of 43.7 hours).
• The annual average cost of labour shortages at the farm level ranges from $22,500 to $112,500 depending on farm size. The average annual cost to the industry has been put at $134 million to $627 million.

• April 19-24 Women’s Culture Learning Camp – 6 days of Community, Ceremony, Connection to Land, and Cultural Awakening workshops.
  
• May 3-8 Women’s Law Camp – 6 days of Deep Ceremony under the guidance of the Women Elders
• June 14-19 Dreaming Track Trek – 6 days travelling along the Seven Sisters Dreaming Track performing Deep Ceremony at sacred sites.
• August 8-14 Women’s Culture Learning Camp – 6 days of Community, Ceremony, Connection to Land, and Cultural Awakening workshops.
• September 5-11 Women’s Culture Learning Camp – 6 days of Community, Ceremony, Connection to Land, and Cultural Awakening workshops.
• October 3-9 Mothers and Daughters Culture Learning Camp – 6 days, Community, Ceremony, Connection to Land, and Cultural Awakening workshops with mothers with their daughters (aged 12-18).

• 1 in 3 people say the organisations they work for only care about making profit
• Half of British adults want to make a positive difference to society or the environment through their work.

"Heathcote was one of the badly affected suburbs of the February earthquake. In the first earthquake we got away quite lightly. Only minor damage to most houses, however the historic pub fell to it's knees and had to be demolished. In the second earthquake, houses got squashed and most houses have serious damage. The cafe (where most of heathcotians are regulars) was yellow stickered. This meant Heathcote lost two of it's central meeting points. The quaint old church down the road responded to this by opening it's church hall as a 'BYO Pub' - open to everyone of all ages every Friday and Saturday. It's been a great success where locals meet and chat. It will continue until the need is no more."

• Experience Victory's approach to community led, family centred development
• Deepen your understanding of new ways of working
• Plan together for further success and tangible progress

"To be Successful....

To laugh often and much. To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children. To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty. To find the best in others. To leave the world a better place than when you arrived – whether by happy child, garden patch or a redeemed social condition. To know even one life has breathed easier because you lived

- this is to be successful."

• Working to ensure that 175 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women of those families, are receiving credit for self-employment and other financial and business services. (With an average of five in a family, this would affect 875 million family members.)
  
  
• Working to ensure that 100 million of the world’s poorest families move above the US$1.25 a day poverty threshold, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP). (With an average of five per family this would mean that 500 million people would have risen above $1.25 a day nearly completing the Millennium Development Goal on halving absolute poverty.)

• Lessons learned from the role of SMEs in the aftermath of previous disasters such as Katrina and the Boxing Day tsunami;
• How small enterprises have adapted to these difficult conditions; and
• Findings from the 2010 BusinesSMEasure on successful SME strategies.

• The Role of SMEs in Disaster Recovery, Lessons from Elsewhere;
• SME Resilience and Recovery in Christchurch; and
• Support needs of Christchurch SMEs Developing Long Term Support Successful SME strategies

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