Often the hand that rocks the cradle nowadays guides the plough. ROB SIMPSON, of the Yorkshire and North East National Farmers Union celebrates the growing role and diversity of rural women.

WHEN it comes to keeping the family farm afloat in what have been very difficult times in the agricultural industry, many assume it is the farmer who is earning all the money.

But women are breaking down that perception as more and more take a decisive role in the farm business.

Two-thirds of women are a partner in the agricultural operation and more than a third are responsible for new enterprises on the farm.

Often it is farming women who have the skills, the time and the drive to start up a new business. And while many new enterprises focus around the farming life, an increasing number are tapping into new markets and technologies.

So when it comes to celebrating World Rural Women's Day, it wasn't too difficult to find examples of that innovative spirit which has helped drive the agricultural industry forward in these recent cash-starved years.

Two women who have diversified in very different ways came together to speak at a special seminar at Askham Bryan College, near York, this month, with the spotlight on diversification and rural improvement.

Sally Robinson, of farm-based company Ample Bosom, which sells bras via the Internet and by mail order, joined Mandy Sowray, who dry-cures bacon and ham before selling it at North Yorkshire farmers' markets.

Ample Bosom is based on a farm near Helmsley, in the North York Moors. Mandy, a wife of a dairy farmer from Terrington, north of York, won a regional NFU President's Award this year for her new enterprise.

The delegates at the seminar were mainly young and open to new ideas, and the hope is that the seminar will inspire Great British entrepreneurs of the future.

Barbara Scholefield, of the Women's Food & Farming Union, who organised the event, said afterwards: "The main messages coming from the seminar were that anyone thinking of setting up a new business should research the idea very, very closely, and then go for it. Also, if someone has an idea in the family, make sure the whole of the family is behind it first."

Anyone wanting advice about diversification can contact the Farm Business Advice Service on 08456 045678.