Agricultural Strategic Planning & Consulting

Agricultural consulting to move your cause forward

Your organization’s cause deserves more than a generic consultant. Michele Payn, CSP brings 25+ years of agricultural communications, strategic planning, and community development experience to a select group of clients — from state Farm Bureaus and commodity boards to agribusinesses, rural nonprofits, and dietitian associations. As one of fewer than 900 speakers worldwide to hold the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, Michele has earned that credential the same way she earns everything: through documented client outcomes, one organization at a time. Whether you need a multi-year strategic roadmap, a grassroots fundraising strategy, or training that transforms how your team connects with audiences, Michele builds solutions around your mission, not a template. Put this experience to work for you:

• 25+ years of agricultural consulting experience
• CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) – held by fewer than 900 speakers worldwide
• $5M+ raised for agriculture nonprofits and foundations
• 300+ agricultural leaders engaged in statewide strategic planning
• Worked with farmers and scientists on six continents
• International development projects in Egypt, Ukraine, and the Baltics.
• Ag economic development plan across 92 counties

Consulting Services

Cause Matters Corp. offers tailored consulting packages for agricultural organizations, agribusinesses, nonprofits, and rural communities. Each engagement is customized — no off-the-shelf programs.

Strategic Planning & Facilitation

When an organization needs direction, Michele Payn doesn’t hand you a binder – she builds the room. As a strategic planning facilitator with deep roots in both agriculture and not-for-profits, Michele designs and leads engagement processes that surface what your stakeholders actually think, find common ground across competing priorities, and produce an actionable roadmap your team will actually use.

From statewide commodity boards to local ag development councils, Michele has facilitated multi-year strategic plans that identify priorities, develop internal change agents, and create measurable outcomes. She led a process that engaged 300+ Kentucky agricultural leaders across working groups, surfacing nine themes and 37 tactics into a statewide roadmap – while keeping the room engaged from the first session to the final deliverable.

Kentucky Agriculture was in need of a roadmap to the future... Working with the Kentucky Agriculture Council, she engaged over 300+ agricultural leaders from all across the state and coordinated working groups of leaders to surface nine themes, followed by 37 tactics, to provide us a roadmap to the future.  Throughout the process, Michele kept the masses engaged and merged all the lanes into an outcome document to serve as a guiding map . Besides her knowledge and experience, she brings a dynamic ability to make everyone feel important and have their input included.  - Dr Tony Brannon, Chair, Kentucky Ag Council

Strategic planning engagements typically include: stakeholder research, facilitated in-person or virtual sessions, synthesized outcome documents, and implementation planning. Contact Michele to discuss what your organization needs.

→ Contact Michele about strategic planning

Phenomenal Fundraising™ for Non-Profit Organizations

Not-for-profits and foundations face a unique fundraising challenge: your donors and sponsors don’t always understand what you do – or why it matters to them. Michele’s Phenomenal Fundraising program teaches ag organizations how to connect their cause to the “hot buttons” of corporate sponsors, members, and community investors.

Having raised more than $3 million for the National FFA Foundation and led a $1.5 million local capital campaign for a 4-H fairgrounds, Michele knows what works - and what doesn’t - when it comes to - fundraising. She delivers this expertise through board training, staff workshops, one-on-one coaching, and strategic planning for sponsorship development.

Phenomenal Fundraising helps your team: identify and prioritize the right sponsors, define your cause in language that resonates with donors, build long-term relationships that outlast a single event, and create a repeatable system for growing non-dues revenue.

“She did a fantastic job connecting with both audiences in a way that was entertaining, educational and functional. Her passion for agriculture is true to her heart, and you can see how much it means to her when she speaks.”

→ Learn more about Phenomenal Fundraising

Creative Community Connections™: Grassroots Marketing

Your brand isn’t built at headquarters – it’s built in the communities where your members, customers, and stakeholders live. Creative Community Connections teaches organizations and agribusinesses how to leverage grassroots relationships as a strategic marketing asset, not an afterthought.

Michele developed this approach after managing relationships with 250 clients across 15 states for the National FFA Foundation and building her business for 25 years. It’s the same methodology that’s helped organizations like Michigan FFA Foundation, Boone County 4-H, and Hilmar Cheese connect community relations directly to their brand strategy and bottom line.

This consulting engagement covers: identifying your target market and their hot buttons, building loyalty and advocacy among your stakeholders, creating corporate sponsorship programs grounded in community value, and training your staff to sustain what you build.

→ Learn more about Creative Community Connections

Agricultural advocacy & communications consulting

Farmers, scientists, dietitians, and agribusinesses face a communications landscape full of food myths, fear-based marketing, and social media noise. Michele helps agricultural organizations and their stakeholders find the language, confidence, and strategy to tell their story effectively – whether they’re responding to a food label myth, training scientists to communicate their research, or equipping farmers to advocate on social media.

Consulting engagements in this area include: agricultural advocacy training programs, science communications coaching, social media strategy for ag organizations, and food system education frameworks for consumer audiences and registered dietitians.

What clients say

“Michele Payn has been a partner with Pink Tractor since the beginning. From strategic planning to content recommendations, Michele is always on the cutting edge of what is happening in the world, especially in the world of agriculture.”

“I’m so grateful for the way you connect both sides of the table. The journey from idea to product is long, complex, and filled with years — sometimes entire careers — focused on solving a single challenge for a grower. Thank you for helping people see the heart, rigor, and care behind that work.”

→ Read more client reviews

How Michele works with you

Cause Matters Corp. accepts a select number of consulting clients each year — by design. Every engagement starts with your goals, not a pre-packaged program. Here’s what you can expect:

• A discovery conversation to understand your organization’s needs, audience, and priorities
• A customized proposal based on your timeline and budget
• Direct access to Michele — not a junior associate — throughout the engagement
• Deliverables built for implementation, not a shelf

Michele has worked with clients across North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Ukraine, and the Baltics — including a USAID partnership to strengthen agricultural communication systems in developing nations. That international perspective sharpens every domestic engagement.

Who does Michele work 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 agribusiness 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 crop protection, animal health, food manufacturing, or ag technology means explaining science people are already skeptical of – as a company representative. Michele 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.

Ready to move your cause forward?

Michele works with a limited number of consulting clients each year. If you’re leading an agricultural organization, agribusiness, or rural community initiative and need a strategic partner with real results, let’s talk.

→ Contact Michele to start the conversation