In the 20-hours a week role, Forlong will support 18 regional volunteers who run the Network’s North Island regional groups.
DWN chief executive Zelda de Villiers said the network was delighted with Forlong’s appointment.
“Karen brings a wealth of farming and leadership experience to the network,” she said.
“Alongside her farming responsibilities she is on the board of Rotorua District Vets and is about to complete the Agri-Women Development Trust’s Escalator Programme.”
de Villiers said Forlong had also played a significant role in organising three DWN annual conferences over the past 12 years.
Furlong said women play a huge part in the success of a dairy farming business, which was why she applied for the role.
Forlong first joined the network in 2002 as a member of the Rotorua regional group.
She said she knew what it was like to be new to a farming community, having shifted many times in her early years of sharemilking.
She’s farmed in Matamata, Ngarua, Tatuanui, Kiwitahi, Arohena and Tokoroa.
“This is why the DWN is such a brilliant network,” she said.
“It’s a great way to meet women in your community who are on your level; women you can really connect with because they are farming, have similar drivers and are often facing the same challenges.
The network is very inclusive and that support can’t be underestimated during stressful and difficult times.”
Forlong has a hands-on role at home where she farms alongside husband Maurice, milking 360 cows on their 200 hectare (140ha effective) property although her new role, supporting the network’s 18 North Island dairy farmer volunteers would be the priority.
“Dairying women who put their hands up to run DWN’s regional groups are hands-on farmers themselves with busy workloads that include juggling farming and family responsibilities.
“We are incredibly respectful of the fact that they give their time freely to the DWN and other women in their communities to run these groups.
“Collectively our volunteer regional co-ordinators have an incredibly broad range of valuable skills.
“I see my role being to support and help them develop, share and deliver resources, information and training that is tailored to what the members in their area want.”
The volunteer regional convenors were responsible for planning all the events for the year in their own regions.
Forlong said each group had a different agenda depending on the convenor.
“The level they are at in their own farming career, their farming experiences and how active the regional group members are in terms of putting forward ideas and attending events all influence how the regional groups are run.
“I would like to build on our inclusive ethos, aid the planning process and encourage the sharing of ideas between groups about training and events that have worked really well.”
Forlong said she would connect with regional convenors regularly by phone and email and is looking forward to meeting many of them at the DWN’s Regional Convenor training in Wellington in May.
Her South Island counterpart, Cathie Cotter from Woodlands in Southland, was appointed in June 2013.
