The accountant, who also owns two farms with her stock and station agent husband Brad, was a guest speaker at the Norco Primex women's networking breakfast in Casino on Friday morning.

"Women are continually putting themselves on the backburner as far as their dreams and careers go," she told the gathering.

"It takes a while for most women to decide what it is that you want in life. But most of you will get to a stage of your lives where you will say to yourselves 'just go for it'.

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"From there it is so important to find good advice and to remember that you are not on your own, that there are people out there who can and will help you.

"They say it takes a village to raise a child, well I also believe it takes a village to get a business up and going.

"Networking events, like this one, are so important."

The Advancing Women in Business and Agriculture breakfast, attracted about 100 people and also included as guest speakers, Belinda Murphy (Mayor of the McKinlay Shire in north-west Queensland, which has recently been ravaged by drought and flooding rains) and Heidi Smith, who manages the human resources for one of Australia's largest beef cattle property holdings - MDH, as well as managing a cattle station with her husband Clint.

Newsome, who lives about half an hour's drive east of Glen Innes, also urged both women and men whose lives have been ravaged by the drought throughout New England, to take a break.

"A lot of the women (in regional areas) do go out to work and their men are home on the farm on their own," she explains.

"These women are trying as hard as they can to support their partners, who are living and breathing the drought every day. It is so important for these men to get back into the community, whether that is going into town and going to the pub, or to play a game or golf, whatever. They need to get their mind out of the drought and to have those conversations that they need to have."

Newsome also supported the new Primex initiative of Plan, Play and Stay, which urges people coming to Primex to plan to stay a bit longer and take a well-earned rest for a few days and enjoy the many tourist features of the NSW Northern Rivers region.

Norco Primex director Bruce Wright said the breakfast was an inspirational experience for all involved.

"We all know how crucial women are to primary industry in Australia," he said. "These days they are playing a leading role in so many different ways."

The gates to Primex opened on Thursday and the event finished on Saturday. The first two days attracted higher than average crowds and an expected 25,000 people were expected to attend over the three days.