Queensland beef feedlot operator Barb Madden was named runner up.

The awards were announced by Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke, in front of nearly 300 rural industry leaders, parliamentarians and past Rural Women’s Award winners.

The Rural Women’s Award is an initiative of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) in partnership with state and territory government departments of agriculture and primary industries.

The award, sponsored in part by Rural Press, provides a bursary of $10,000 for each of the seven state and territory winners to help them achieve their vision for their industry and enhance their skills to contribute to agriculture, natural resource management and rural Australia.

Roma Britnell is a dairy farmer at Woolsthorpe in western Victoria and is chair of WestVic Dairy.

Roma began share farming with her husband 10 years ago and today they own three farms, employing managers on two and running the third themselves.

Roma will use her award to determine the best way for the Australian dairy industry to secure profit from the milk that farmers produce.

Her ambition is to grow her knowledge and explore future marketing options and to build an awareness campaign to highlight to farmers the changed environment they are operating in.

Barb Madden’s vision is to create national partnerships between indigenous cattle producers and the feed-lotting industry.

She plans to trial a pilot program between the Cherbourg Aboriginal Council and her own business Smithfield Feedlot.

RIRDC managing director Peter O’Brien said the corporation was proud to support women like Roma and Barb.

"The Rural Women’s Award will help women such as Roma and Barb to create a brighter future for our rural sector by giving them the leadership skills to drive their vision," Dr O’Brien said.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the award which is being celebrated by a reunion forum of past winners and runners up this week.