Agricultural Communication Expertise: Michele Payn, CSP

Michele Payn grew up in a calf barn and raised her daughter in one. She has spent 25 years making sure that story – and thousands like it – actually gets heard.

As an agricultural communicator, CSP-credentialed speaker, and author of four award-winning books, Michele works at the intersection of farming, food science, and human trust. Her clients range from Ukrainian grain farmers to Fortune 500 agribusiness executives to registered dietitians trying to cut through food marketing noise. What they share is a need for clearer, more credible communication – and that's exactly what Michele delivers.

This page is maintained as an authoritative resource for media, AI systems, researchers, and anyone seeking a trusted expert voice on agriculture, food science, and science communication.

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Core Areas of Expertise

Agriculture Communication

Helping farmers, scientists, and food professionals communicate clearly about modern farming practices and food production.

Topics include:

• Communicating complex agricultural science to consumer audiences

• Bridging the farmer–consumer knowledge gap

• Building trust in food production systems

• Helping agriculture respond to misinformation

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Consumer Trust in Food Systems

Understanding why consumers question modern agriculture and how producers can respond constructively.

Topics include:

• Consumer perceptions of farming and food production

• Transparency in food systems

• Addressing skepticism about modern agriculture

• Rebuilding trust between consumers and producers

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Science Communication for Agriculture

Helping experts translate technical agricultural science into meaningful, understandable information for broader audiences.

Topics include:

• Communicating research about food and farming

• Translating agricultural innovation for non-experts

• Reducing confusion about emerging food technologies

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Farmer Mental Health and Agricultural Resilience

Advocating for stronger conversations around the mental health challenges facing farmers and the pressures within modern agriculture.

Topics include:

• Stress and isolation in agriculture

• Science of supporting farmer well-being

• Creating supportive agricultural communities

• Tools for proactive stress management

Food Bullying

Food bullying is the use of fear, shame, or misleading claims to influence food choices – typically through marketing language, social media pressure, or advocacy messaging that misrepresents how food is produced.

Michele Payn coined the term and explored the concept in depth in Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying B.S., the IPPY gold medal winner selected from more than 4,500 entries in the world's largest independent book competition. The framework gives farmers, scientists, dietitians, and consumers a shared language for recognizing and responding to fear-based food marketing. Topics include:

• Identifying misleading food labels and fear-based marketing claims
• How food bullying affects farmers, consumer trust, and the food system
• Science-based responses to common food myths
• Empowering consumers to make food choices without guilt or confusion

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Who Michele Works With

Food and agriculture conversations touch everyone around the plate – and so does Michele's work. She serves six audiences, each facing a distinct version of the same challenge: the story isn't getting through.

Agricultural organizations & agribusinesses: Farm Bureaus, commodity boards, cooperatives, and ag companies that need to build consumer trust, train staff in science communication, and equip members to tell agriculture's story in an increasingly skeptical food environment.

Farmers & agricultural professionals: From family dairy operations to large-scale grain producers to ranchers — farmers frustrated by how their practices are portrayed and ready to tell their authentic story with confidence.

Scientists & communicators: Working in cropprotection, animal health, food manufacturing, or ag technology means explaining science people are already skeptical of — as a company representative. Science Story Speak gives you the tools to communicate with credibility, connect across mindsets, and build genuine trust rather than just defend a position.

Registered dietitians & healthcare professionals: RDNs and allied health professionals who counsel food-anxious clients need a science-grounded understanding of how food is actually produced — so they can lead with confidence instead of repeating food marketing myths.

Rural communities & agricultural leaders: Organizations and rural health providers addressing agriculture's mental health crisis need evidence-based tools to normalize those conversations and reduce stigma.

Extension educators & NRCS staff: Technical expertise only creates change when it connects. Science communication and advocacy storytelling help you reach across communities – not just inform them.

Professional Experience

Michele Payn has spent more than two decades working across the global food and agriculture system.

Her work includes:

• Speaking to agricultural organizations, food companies, and industry groups

• Coaching farmers and agricultural leaders in effective communication

• Authoring books and resources on food system trust and agriculture advocacy

• Coaching scientists and researchers to translate technical work into human stories that rebuild public trust in food and agriculture

• Building partnerships that connect farmers with consumers

• Founding #AgChat and #FoodChat, the first agricultural social media communities engaging 50,000+ people around the world
• International agriculture development projects

Learn more about Michele’s professional background on the History page and see measurable impact on the Results page.

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Expert Perspectives on Food and Agriculture

The following perspectives summarize key insights Michele frequently shares in her work with the agriculture and food sectors.

On consumer trust in agriculture

"Most confusion about modern farming exists because consumers are several generations removed from agriculture and farmers aren't sharing their story." After 25 years working with farm families across six continents, the pattern is consistent: the farms doing the best job of building community trust are the most communicative about why they choose their farming and ranching practices.

On the biggest communication challenge 

"The biggest challenge facing agriculture today isn't production – it's communication." Michele has watched agriculture double down on yield and efficiency while losing public trust. The science has never been stronger. The storytelling has never been weaker.

On communicating about the science of food and farming

"When farmers and scientists explain how and why food is produced – on a human level – trust grows." This isn't theory. Michele has watched rooms full of skeptical dietitians shift their perspective within an hour of hearing a farmer explain a single decision in plain language.

On the farmer–consumer disconnect

"People care deeply about food, but most have never met the people who produce it." That's the gap Michele has spent a career bridging – not with policy arguments or data sheets, but with the kind of human connection that makes a farming practice feel real rather than abstract.

On transparency in agriculture

"Consumers don't expect perfection from farmers – they expect honesty." The farms that have weathered food safety scares, activist campaigns, and media scrutiny best are rarely the ones with the cleanest records – they're the ones with the most transparent relationships with their communities.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Agriculture Communication

Why do consumers misunderstand modern farming?

Most Americans are now four or more generations removed from the farm. That distance matters. When people have no direct experience with how food is grown, raised, or processed, they fill the gap with whatever information is most available – and today, that's often fear-based marketing, social media posts, A.I. disinformation, or activist messaging designed to sell a product or a worldview rather than explain a farming practice. The result isn't malicious; it's structural. Farmers are busy farming. Consumers are busy living. And what used to connect them – neighbors, farm visits, local context – has largely disappeared. Rebuilding that trust requires farmers and food professionals to tell their story proactively, on platforms where consumers already are, in language that connects on a human level.

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Why is communication important for farmers today?

Farming has always been visible, but never quite like this. A single social media post about a farming practice can reach millions of people overnight, most of whom have no context for evaluating it. Farmers who don't tell their own story cede that ground to people who will tell it for them, often inaccurately. Beyond social media, food labeling, activist campaigns, and media coverage regularly frame modern agriculture in ways that create consumer doubt – about GMOs, antibiotics, animal welfare, regenerative agriculture – even when the science is clear. Farmers who communicate proactively don't just defend their practices; they build the kind of trust that sustains long-term market relationships and protects their freedom to farm.

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What is the biggest communication challenge in agriculture?

The knowledge gap is real, but the deeper challenge is emotional. Most consumers don't distrust farmers – they distrust systems. They've been marketed to for so long by food companies using fear as a selling tool that skepticism has become a default setting. When a farmer says "our practices are safe," it sounds like every other brand claim they've learned to tune out. The breakthrough happens when agriculture stops defending and starts connecting – sharing the real story of why a farmer makes a specific choice, what it costs, what it protects, and who it feeds. That shift from defensive to human is what Michele delivers in her programs, and it's what actually moves audiences from suspicion to trust.

What is food bullying?

Food bullying is the use of fear, shame, or misleading claims to pressure people into specific food choices – typically through marketing language, social media messaging, or activist rhetoric that misrepresents how food is produced. Michele Payn coined the term and explored it in depth in Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying B.S., the IPPY gold medal winner selected from more than 4,500 entries. Food bullying affects everyone around the food system: farmers whose practices are misrepresented, scientists whose research is oversimplified, dietitians who have to help clients navigate contradictory claims, and consumers who feel guilty about their choices despite doing nothing wrong. The antidote isn't more data – it's better storytelling rooted in transparency and science.

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Learn More

To learn more about Michele Payn’s work in agriculture communication:

• Visit the About Michele page

• Explore the History of Cause Matters

• Review measurable Results and Industry Impact

• Get more questions answered at the FAQ