03. From Chocolate-Dipped Peaches to Saving Australia's Surplus Food with Kelly Johnson

Kelly Johnson is a dairy farmer's daughter who didn't set out to build a business. She wanted to stop good food going to waste. What started with chocolate-dipped peaches has grown into Woodlane Pantry - soups, risottos, meals, hike food, freeze-dried fruit, food for the elderly - all made from surplus and second-grade produce that farmers and backyard growers would otherwise throw out.

In 2025, Kelly was named the South Australian winner of the AgriFutures Rural Women's Award. But this conversation isn't really about the award. It's about what happens after - the spotlight, the strange gap between how your business looks from the outside and what's happening on the ground.

The same year Kelly picked up major recognition and media coverage, Woodlane Pantry had its worst sales year yet.

We talk about what it's like to put yourself and your story out there when you'd rather stay in the background. The changes she's made to the business in the past twelve months to set it up for success. What life in the spotlight is like. The truths about running a business in regional Australia that never make it into an award submission. And why, for Kelly, none of it means anything if she can't keep selling product - because staying on mission means staying in business.

As Kelly puts it "I was forced out of the background of where I like to hide."

If you've got an idea or a project that matters and you're wondering whether you're allowed to put your hand up for it - this one's for you.

 woodlanepantry.au

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to Acres of Ambition with your favourite host, Patrice. Our guest today is Kelly Johnson. She's a farmer's daughter, she's a food systems thinker, and she is the woman behind Woodlane Pantry. If you haven't heard about Woodlane Pantry, where have you been? If you're in Australia. But this is a South Australian business and it's doing something really radical. It's taking surplus and second grade produce that would otherwise be thrown away. And Kelly's turning it into something beautiful, something affordable, shelf stable meals. So Kelly doesn't just run a business. She works directly with farmers and backyard growers to rescue food and she turns it into something nourishing. I know because I've tried some of it and it's delicious. In 2025, she was named the South Australian winner of the AgriFutures Rural Women's Award. Before that, she won the Weekly Times Shine Awards and has been a finalist in not one but three other award categories since, and probably more. Maybe I'm missing some. I brought her on because I wanted to talk about what happens when you win and when you're a finalist, what that spotlight feels like. What does it do to a business? What does it do to the woman when people are suddenly paying a lot of attention to you and what you're doing? So if you've ever had an idea or a project, a business that you know that matters, and you've been wondering whether you should be putting your hand up for recognition, like is it worth it? Or whether someone like you even gets to do that, this episode is for you. Kelly, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Thanks for having me. It's very, very exciting.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

We were just talking before we hit record. You're a busy lady. You are going to so many different events at the moment. Every time I jump on LinkedIn, I love it. I feel like there's a post from you and you're somewhere new, you're in a like a professional photo up against one of those like banners with all the logos on it. Take me back to before any of this. What was that moment for you, that thing that you saw or that you experienced that made you think someone needs to fix this problem? Or, you know, I need to, I need to be the person that goes into this gap. Like that person, that person might be me. So it was kind of accidental, really.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

I needed needed a job. And I was looking at a mate who was growing peaches, picking them, cutting them, drying them, and then throwing them out at the end of every season. He was unable to find a buyer. And I needed work. So I said to him, Well, why don't I just value add and I'll I'll move them at the local market? And I never thought it would grow into a business. It was just helping a mate, which is when you look at my business, it's kind of what the whole thing's about. It's just helping my fellow man, helping my friends, my farming, you know, neighbors, whoever it is. So it really just began accidentally. And I never would have dreamed that it'd be what it is today from just selling a few surplus peaches. Can you describe what it is today? Sure. So now I dry in excess of 50 different varieties, whatever comes along seasonally, I will take it, dehydrate it, and innovate it into something that I can move. So it could be, you know, I initially started out with chocolate dipping peaches, and now I make soups, risottos, meals, desserts, hike food, food for the elderly, punches, chalk dip things, freeze-dried fruits, you name it, whatever it is, whatever I get through the door, I have to figure out a way to make it palatable and move it on.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

It's definitely palatable. I was talking to my sister this morning and I was saying how, oh my God, I've got Kelly on the podcast. And she was like, that's crazy. We ate some of her rice pudding last night. She's at home with mum and dad at the moment, and she made them dinner last night. And for the dessert, she made them the rice pudding. And she said, And she said initially, because mum grew up with rice pudding, uh, she had parents that were really bad cooks, and she was like, Oh god, not rice pudding. And then she had yours, and she was like, This is pretty good. This is pretty good. So, Kelly, you're converting people, which is to hear that. When you found out that you had won the South Australian Agri Futures Rural Women's Award, what was your first feeling?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

There's actually a photograph of the first moment when they announced it. I was so shocked for the first time, the first time in my life, I couldn't speak. Um I didn't think I had a chance. And in fact, I didn't think I had a chance so much. I was so grateful to be a finalist. I couldn't believe it. I was so sure I wouldn't win. I didn't even look at what it meant if I won. I literally had to go, oh no, what do I have to do now? Um, couldn't believe it. I was up against three unbelievable South Australian women doing incredible things. You know, Marie with her AI uh pregnancy tester for cattle, Emma Gilbert with her beautiful chicken and egg app, and then you have uh, which is Innovate Uh Pro, and then you have the amazing Annabelle Homer, you know, with Voice It and going out and recording voices for history and bringing in stories from all around rural Australia. How could I possibly imagine I'd have I'd have beaten any of them? So I couldn't believe it.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

It's just it's I I you know, from meeting you and uh you know, over the past year we met at the Thriving Women conference last year when it was in Wagga Wagga and I saw you speak on stage. And the I the obviously the the business that you run and the product that you run is solving such a big problem and so important, but also you you tell such a great story, you're so authentic, you're such a standout, you're so memorable. I know when we were at the um the National Awards Dinner for AgriFutures for the award last year, we went to Canberra, and I was on the other side of the room to you, but everyone on my table was buzzing, talking about you because you are so memorable. There's something about you. It's also um the woman who actually won Carol Mudford, is that her name? Who won? She's really memorable too because she's so authentic. You're when when I saw you on stage at Thriving Women last year in Wagga Wagga, you were so you're so yourself and it leaves such an imprint. How are you finding all of this like telling the story over and over and having to put yourself out there? What's that process been like? Would you describe yourself as an introvert, an extrovert, or none of those things?

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Like it's the it's the weirdest thing. I I love to talk, but I detest talking about myself. I don't like it. Um, and that I think that's why when people learn about our business, you know, I'm very centered on the farmers. I'm very centered on what I do, you know, the outcomes of what I do and the food that I can save and the farmers I can help and the families I can put dollars on the table for. That's where my passion is. When someone asks me about myself, I just cringe. I don't want to do it. I'm like, no, no, let's deflect and go back to the mission. I'm all about the mission.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

It just gets me thinking to the voices in your head when you were, when you did find out that you win, or even to apply to be part of the Rural Women's Award. Because I feel like a lot of women who are in regional areas would probably feel like these awards are for someone else. They're like, oh, you know, someone who's a lot bigger, someone who's a lot further along, someone who's a lot more established than I am. Can you talk about the voices in your head? Because it sounds like you would have had those. Because when you won, you were like, What? Me? No way. What about the other women? They're amazing. So, how did you deal with that? And and what sort of voices did you have in your head?

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Oh, I definitely have the voices that say, you know, you're not up to it, you're too small, you're not relevant enough, you're not big enough. You know, I have all of that. But because my mission is so important to me, the reason that I apply for these awards is to put light on the mission. So, yet again, it's a great way of deflecting. I don't want to look at what I'm personally doing. I'm looking at the mission. Um, and the that's the reason that I apply. You know, the the two awards that I've had more recently that blew me away the most weren't the ones that I applied for. You know, these are awards that have come out of nowhere and they really shock you. You know, that you mentioned the Shine Awards through the Weekly Times, which is just you know, readers who actually go, This story really touches me. I want I want to nominate that person. And same with the advertiser Woman of the Year Awards. It's it's a reader uh nomination, and that's just blows my mind. But at the same time, I did a little bit of psychology on the business because with all these awards and all this wonderful media, we've had the worst year ever for sales. Like it brought us to our knees last year, and as a consequence, I've revamped the business, changed everything around. It's been a really tough time. And you go, well, how is that possible? How is it possible that we can be in the media so much that people love us so much? People tell me every day how much they love us. And what has transpired out of that meeting was quite remarkable. But they said when you make a purchase, you get endorphins, makes you feel good, you feel great, you know. Woo! I'm so excited, and you want to do it again. When you read about our business, you get endorphins, it makes you feel great because you go, look at this, look what they're doing. Isn't this amazing? Saving all this food, helping farmers, and they don't move through to the transactional stage because they've already got the payoff. Wow. Wow. So here we are with this amazing business winning awards, doing all this amazing stuff, not selling. And not because it's not a good product, because our story is so good.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

So, what are you doing off the back of that? Because obviously, this has been a huge the way that I see it, because I'm like, okay, you're getting so much traction in terms of people knowing about you, but not traction necessarily behind the scenes in the business. But I'm like, there's a lot of there's a lot of attention on you. Clearly, you've had to, you know, unpack your business a bit and make some changes. What are those changes? Because I feel like if you made the changes that are appropriate, you've got the spotlight on you, and then you've got the right business funnel or bit things that will go gangbusters. So what are what is your process from here?

SPEAKER_00 10:31

As as it kills me. Because if I want to save food, I have to sell product. So I have to stop talking about all the good feels stuff, the mission. I need to drop the mission a bit and sell the product, which is so against what I want to do. It's like every fibre of my body is saying, no, stay on mission. But if I want to stay on mission, I have to sell product. So I can't be talking about how fabulous it is and how we're helping farmers. I have to talk about how great the product is and how you need to have it in your pantry.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Wow, what a shift that's come out of that's come out of this. So this is this is sounds like it's something that's going to make the business really move forward so that then you can actually fulfill the mission.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Absolutely. Because for the Agri Futures Award, you know, we we won for Spiker. It no longer exists. We absorbed it into the new Woodlane Pantry. It's not hikers that are buying it, and that's what I won the award for. It's actually elderly people who have a delicious little bag, add water, and they can feed themselves really easily without waste, lots of nourishment, in a rice cooker in 15 minutes. And so, yeah, the whole concept of what I actually went into the AgriFutures Awards with doesn't even exist anymore.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

But it's still so from an outsider's perspective and the bits and pieces that I have seen about what you're doing, it it feels like you're it's it you're refining it. It's becoming yeah, it's become you're becoming more laser focused on a certain issue, and all the things that aren't as important are falling away.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah, it's given me clarity. You know, we've been a business first, and now we are a social enterprise first. So, you know, everything about the business where I sat 12 months ago, I've I've really modified, changed, clarified. We're in a whole different place. And I think some of that is because I was forced out of the background where I like to hide, thrown in amongst some of the most incredible, driven, capable women in Australia over and over. That that stuff rubs off. You know, I've been marinating in amazing women, and so I'm going to be able to do much better.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Even from going to the national awards ceremony in Canberra last year, you know, I I've spoken to lots of women and lots of my clients since. And I'm like, you've just got to get in that room. There's something like I didn't go through the process that you went through in winning a state level title that you did for South Australia, and then being so involved in the Agri Futures Rule Women's Award to get to the national level and all of the women that you spent time with and the conversations and about business, about the woman, about confidence. I can't imagine what you guys have spoken about. But even for me, even being in that room on that awards night, it there's there's energy in that room. It feels like there are the movers and shakers for agriculture and for rural and regional Australia in that room. And it rubs off on you, even from going attending the awards night. So absolutely it it's it's a catalyst for for um yeah, for just going, go, this is what's possible. I can put my hat in the ring. And you've spoken a little bit about what the spotlight has done for you and your business, but can we just talk about that a little bit more? Because there's obviously some great aspect aspects to being in a spotlight more and more, and there's aspects that are overwhelming. Can you talk a little bit more about what those have been for you?

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Well, you know, the the whole process does break you down and build you up, you know. You you're heading out, it's intimidating, you know, to be a state winner and head off to nationals, and you know that the best of the best is from each state is there in the room with you, and you're getting to watch, you know, they put you through the ringer. We we do a media training, we have to the actual presentation that we're gonna do for judges, they make us pull it to pieces and put it all back together in front of each other. You know, that is really challenging, but so good because it takes a lot of the anxiety out of when you are in a room and things don't go right, and you know, when people are nitpicking at it. Um, I've been able to go and speak at events. I've, you know, that room that you talked about at Parliament House, it wasn't even about the power in the room. It's about the goodwill that's in the room. That has been like my biggest lesson this year. That I've always looked afar at these things and thought, wow, look at those, you know, amazing people, and like that I would never have a seat at the table with them. And to realize that I not only have a seat at the table, that I'm valued and that I have something to contribute, but that they are willing to give me something back and contribute to what I'm doing. I can put my hand up in so many places now, and a woman will put their hand in it and help me, all because of these awards. If there is no other reason to go for them, that's the reason.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

When it comes to building a business and then having the spotlight on it, you have already shared that at the same time you're getting on more stages or more people are knowing your name and what you're doing than ever at the same time you had one of your lowest years in business in terms of sales. Is there anything else that we don't really talk about when it comes to business in regional Australia that we should be talking about?

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Yeah, I actually just had a meeting before this, and one of the things that we unfortunately tend to do is do that working in isolation and forgetting how much we can collaborate with each other. I think women are really good at doing that, but we do it at events more than every day. And this has taught me to do it, you know, more regularly. But I'm working in ag. Many of us are working in ag. And that is not how ag works to a large degree. You know, people live on their farms and they're their little worlds. You know, they do their things on their world and they may visit your world, but they'll go back to their world. And I think that's something that we need to learn to do better, that we need to collaborate. We need to open up the gates and remember that your property is right next to my property. You know, how can we help? Like, I wish we did more of that. And my I remember my parents, I'm a I'm a dairy farmer's daughter. That's what they did. You know, that was your dad was like the czar, you know. The the farm was there, and and mum ran around doing what mum did, and dad ran around doing what dad did, and then we might go out somewhere, but when they left the property, they never spoke about the property. You know, that was that was the farm, and then there was the other life. And I think we need to get much better at that. Um, Susie Evans does a wonderful um story with her husband talking about how you used to go to dances and socialize out in those large country areas, and those things don't happen anymore. And I think the nature of social, you know, internet and all the rest of it, we've become more and more and more isolated. We might play around on our phones and stuff at night, but we're not really connecting. And last year really taught me about connecting.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

What's a tip that you have for connecting? Something simple that someone can do right now that's that's listening, that is feeling isolated, maybe on a property, and like I have this great idea. What's your advice?

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Reach out to some of the women that you see in these awards. They are not scary people. You know, I'm happy to take a call from anyone. I know every other one of these women are too. We just want to help everyone succeed, you know, and I think we forget that everyone's just a human being after all. And we most of us are genuinely good people and we are genuinely happy to help you. If you have an idea, ask someone to help you. Go to Waddle, check out Waddle, you know, amazing organization. Go down to council and find a support group. You know, look at some of the mental health services that are out there. You never need to be alone.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

And when it comes to getting recognition, and if there's someone's listening right now and they feel like they have an idea or a project and they know that it matters, but they're just not sure if they're ready or yeah, if they're allowed to go for it, what would you say to them if they're in that spot of you know, the voices in their head of just like it's not big enough, it's not important enough?

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Well, that was exactly where I was when I applied for the Agrifutures Rule Women's Award. I was at Waddle, not last year, the year before, downstairs. I had my business in the retail space. And um Can you explain a little bit more for anyone who doesn't know what Waddle is and Thriving Women? Can you explain what that is? So Thriving Women, uh, Waddle Women on Land. We've we've got this amazing group of women who, well, they were in South Australia. We're now in Victoria and New South Wales, spreading nationwide um soon to be. Um, it's all about supporting women on the land. So anybody who's any kind of form of agriculture might be valuating a product. You could be on a farm, you could be, it doesn't matter. There's this amazing space we get to meet once a year at a conference, but there's things going on in region all the time. And in fact, I've just become an ambassador in the Murrayland Plains. Um, so we're going to be running some great little workshops for people to come and learn and support each other. A wonderful place for agricultural women to meet. Can't say enough about it.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

And so you uh I'm pretty sure I know the story. So you were at their conference, which is so it's for so Wattle actually stands for Women Together Learning, but it's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Oh yeah, women on the land. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

But it's also could be women on the land, but it's women together learning. And they have this conference that I've actually been, I'm on the committee on again for the second year, and they have a conference called Thriving Women. Yes. And one year you were in, so they have stalls at lunchtime and in the breaks where you can set up a stall for your business.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

And so it's really cool because when you're at the conference, not only do you get to see the speakers and panels and go to breakout sessions, but then when you have a really yummy lunch, then you wander around to these really cute stalls everywhere. And so you had a stall one year, and someone said to you, Hey, Kelly, you should go in the South Australian agri futures. Is that that's how it came about?

SPEAKER_00 20:47

That is how it came about. Yeah. And in fact, there was a flyer, and unbeknownst to me, when I got home, there were eight flyers in my bag that people just kept putting in there. And I went, I can't not apply. Like I literally felt like I had to because eight times I pulled flyers out where people had stuffed them in, going, you have to do it. And so I I did it. And um, and I was able to do it one because I felt like I should because these women were backing me, which is what it's all about, but also because mission, I put my mission first to put in that application, and I could see that it could help the business.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

And with all of this, uh all of the events that you go to and the things that you're speaking at, and and of course also running a business, how are you taking care of yourself behind the scenes to be able to sustain this? What are what are your what is what is Kelly's top top tips, or is she not really looking after herself? Bit of both.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Yeah, I think my husband says I have to learn to say no, and I just I I don't want to. Um look, I'm somebody who's had Cancer, and you know, I I understand the value of life. I understand it can be gone. Well, I had a crash that nearly took me out as well. So, you know, I I understand that life is fleeting, it can go really quickly, you know. So why would I not do everything that's on offer? You know, if it looks, if it looks fun, it sounds fun, and there's going to be somebody there that I know and love and like, I'm going. Um, and I'll make it work. You know, I'll fit it in and I'll make the most of it. Like I always go to anything and go, I just need one good thing, one good reason to have come today. It's really easy to find one good reason. Usually there's a hundred, but once you got your one, you know you were there for the right reasons.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Do you do anything in the background to take care of like we because saying yes is obviously something you're excited about and you're in the season of saying yes. Is there anything you do in the morning that's just like a bit of Kelly time? Or is there anything you're doing just to take care of yourself? Or are you just feeling so fulfilled and nourished by saying yes that you don't really need little things to support you?

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Well, a couple of years ago we sold our property and moved onto a houseboat. So I actually have this fabulous home life. You know, I step onto the boat, the boat kind of moves under your feet, and I'm on holiday. So I I'm on a holiday nearly every day of my life. Like that's how I think about it, you know. I really do. When I get home, I just leave everything on the bank. I'm home, my hubby's there. I have the best husband in the world. He is so amazing, looks after me so well. Um, yeah, I'm fine. I I like to live in the moment. You know, there's a good song on the radio, something's happening. I've had a nice call, I got an invitation, I did something. I just really focus on the good stuff. I'm I don't worry, mostly I don't worry about the bad stuff. I try to just let it go. Such a good ethos, Kelly.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

My final question for you is with everything that you have learned in the last year, you know, moving through awards, being around exceptional women, you're obviously counted in that, you are exceptional. Was there a conversation that you had where someone said something that gave you a mindset shift that if you you know that if someone else heard it, you'd be like, they they this would help them?

SPEAKER_00 24:08

I think there's just been so many. Like I've had Epiphany after epiphany all year. Um I've just met so many incredible women. I you know, the other night at at the advertiser Woman of the Year Awards, one of the uh incredible Annie uh recipients who is actually dying of cancer. And she's she's fought to set her own death date, basically, so she can be euthanized. So she's she's one incredible girl, 26 years old, um just reeks of kindness and grace. And if I would do that whole year again to spend that half an hour with her again, it was you know, when I when I think back to the kind of person that I want to be remembered for, it would be Annie. Wow, what a girl. What just unreal. It was worth it. The whole year was worth it for that.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

What did you what do you when you think about her or what she's imprinting on your life? Is there something or is there something that you like, oh yeah, that's you know, that that's how Annie would think.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

I just think it's about kindness, it's about you know putting your right the best foot forward and I don't know, the world can be a cruel place. You know, when you look at her circumstances, it most of us would say that's cruel. You know, I have a beautiful son with multiple sclerosis, he's 27, he's struggling to walk. Um you know, it's cruel. But at the same time, I can have a conversation with him, and he'll finish that with, it's all right, mum, tomorrow will be better day. It's always just looking forward. It's not worrying about the moment. If it's not a good moment, let it go and wait till the next moment comes that's better. That's what I try to do with my life, you know. Just live in the good moments.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Well, this has been a great moment having this conversation with you, and I'm sure the for those ladies and men who are listening, they're feeling the same way. Thank you so much. Thank you, and thank you to those who were listening. Really appreciate you. If you have enjoyed this conversation, you want to get Kelly's story out even more, please share this. Please share it with your friend, with your cousin, with your mum, with a colleague. Really important to get this story out. And um, if you want to go and head to Wood Lane Pantry and get yourself some food, or if you know someone in the family that Kelly's giving some serious thumbs up, head there. Let's get some get some dollars in the bank for this incredible mission. But thank you so much.