Pass the Cheetos & drop the Food Guilt

By Michele Payn | October 24, 2011 |

Farmers & healthy food choices, Michele, Michele Payn, Ag speaker, agriculture speaker, food speaker, certified speaking professional, agriculture, food, nutrition, michelle payn-knoper, cause matters

Cheetos or raw spinach? Ice cream for breakfast or working out? Home-cooked meals or “factory farms”? Food is a personal choice – and your responsibility. It should not be about guilt. Celebrate Food Day by stopping food guilt!

Going Beyond the Choir: Blog Action & Food Day

By Michele Payn | October 14, 2011 |

Going beyond the agriculture choir is easy to talk about, but difficult to execute. You have a chance to jump out of the choir loft and provide perspective THIS Sunday, 10/16. Blog Action Day 2011 is themed food, and coincides with Food Day, put on by activist group Center for Science in the Public Interest. Be sure agriculture is a part of the conversation – and ask others to join in.

Are farmers and ranchers ever happy?

By Michele Payn | September 19, 2011 |

Is it time for farmers and ranchers to stop complaining and get the job done? Michele thinks agriculture needs to do something about the many concerns related to farming. And you can begin on September 22.

Leveraging the spirit of agvocacy; it’s bigger than you!

By Michele Payn | September 6, 2011 |

1 voice or 115,000? And how do you leverage your work as an agvocate so that it’s bigger than you? Michele highlights a few of her favorite examples of the spirit of agvocacy from the AgChat Foundation’s Agvocacy 2.0 conference in Nashville. She suggests leveraging voices to have greater impact on the conversation about food and farming…

Wordless Wednesday: City Kids with Country Values

By Michele Payn | July 27, 2011 |

Celebrating what’s right with rural America – and sharing those values with kids not on a farm. Michele’s quick pictures from the Boone County 4-H Fair dairy project and highlights of a leasing program that gives firsthand lessons about animal agriculture.