‘Not here to muck around’: young farmer Lauren Patane is finding her stride in WA’s horticulture sector

A young farmer who is happier out on a tractor than in the business office has paid tribute to the strong women around her to mark International Women’s Day. Myalup’s Lauren Patane, 25, is continuing the rich horticultural legacy of her great-grandfather, Alfio Patane, who migrated to Australia from Italy in 1924. Now, almost 100 years of the family making food for tables across the South West and around the world, the fourth-generation farmer is making strides of her own. In its current incarnation, just 50km from the original Alfio’s first farm in Donnybrook, Patane Produce is a family owned and run business in the Myalup horticultural strip growing carrots, onions, broccoli and potatoes, with established export chains to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Market-quality produce from the approximately 440ha total paddock area is washed and packed on-site, allowing the family to control the supply chain from farm to port. Further closing the supply loop, the produce not up to supermarket standards feeds the family’s 300 head of cattle — a hormone-free herd of European and Angus steers run under the banner of Patane Farms. Ms Patane is making her own mark in a business and industry that would have — in a different time — been reserved only for her brothers. “I know there’s a lot of farming businesses where the daughters may not get as much of an opportunity to come home to work the family farm as much as their brothers may do,” she said. “We are lucky enough that there is room for all three of us. “I know a lot of women who are now going back to their family farms or going back to the industry itself, which is really good to see.” But she was not born with a silver spade in hand. As a teenager working on the farm in her spare time, Ms Patane passed her ATAR and secured a place in the University of WA’s school of agriculture and environment. Having graduated with her bachelor of science, she returned home to the farm four years ago and has been working hard to take on more responsibility, now securing the role of operations manager of Patane Produce. Ms Patane credits her parents, Penny and Michael, for giving her the confidence to succeed. “I remember when I came home from school and on the holidays and stuff, I was sort of always more in the office, I always put up a fight because I didn’t want to be in the office,” she said. “They (my parents) have always been quite good. Now I’m out about all the time and I still have to do some office work stuff. Like this morning I was in a tractor and now I’m on a forklift. I’m quite lucky like that.” Spending most of her time working on the farm where boots on the ground are all that counts, Ms Patane said agriculture and horticulture were still very male-dominated industries. But she has seen for herself the women in farming — both in the South West and across WA — were always there to build each other up or give advice when a curly question came along. The women she has met as a member of the Brunswick Agricultural Society have provided strong encouragement. “They’re similar to my mum, they are all very strong, and they have their own careers in agriculture,” she said. “I think maybe you have to show people that you are not here to muck around and that you’re not here to be walked all over. That might be one of the challenges.” But she believes any women interested in getting into horticulture should just “jump straight into it” and know they would find themselves within a network of other women — and a lot of men — happy to help them find their way. “It’s been quite male-dominated, but I think there are now plenty of opportunities for women to be involved in agriculture,” she said. “If I had one daughters one day and they said that they wanted to be farmers, I’m sure that they would have every opportunity to do that. “Things have really improved and they’re only going to get better from here.”