Communication Skills Training Courses for Agriculturalists

The list of reasons for farmers and others in agriculture to brush up their communication skills is a long one. I’m not the only one with a big list. Two great East Anglian farmers, Felix Cobbold and John Forrest, must have had long lists of what they thought farmers and scientists could be better at explaining. They were both highly respected not just for having great ideas but for sharing them with others.

Learning new communication skills with green Shoots Productions

Communications – then and now

These two pillars of the agricultural community no long live to stride the farming landscape. But their influence – and belief in the need for farmers and researchers to talk to each other and the rest of us about good farming and making it even better – lives on. Their legacies, the Felix Cobbold Trust and the John Forrest Award of Morley Foundation jointly fund a three day communications skills course. A training course which Green Shoots Productions are delighted to run for eight lucky agriculturalists in January each year.

Tips, tools, techniques and tactics

The New Year and the course start with three days of intense tuition and tasks for the chosen agricultural and science undergraduates, PhD students, farmers, farm advisors and research disseminators at the training centre provided by NIAB TAG Cambridge.

Sharing the resolve to communicate science successfully

We give tips, share tools and demonstrate tactics to master. The Trusts choose only the best candidates and it’s Green Shoots’ job to get the best out of them. Past participants, this year we were joined by inspirational David Jones of Morley Farms, join us to share how they have used and developed the skills they learned on the same course.

Communications skills to learn on training course

All channels of communication are covered: presenting talks, writing creatively, applying for travel or research grants, media skills in being interviewed by TV and radio, using social media professionally, blogging, taking better photos and making film.

And the results? I think enough from me. It’s better you hear direct from them.

“I’m already feeling more confident in getting my points across in scientific discussions and I think those who are listening may even be retaining more of what I say!”
Stuart Fawke, Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge

“Absolutely fantastic few days on the course at NIAB! Learnt more than I ever expected to and I shall be carrying those skills onward for sure”
Charles Garrard, student of Agriculture, University of Newcastle

If you want to hear more about our other communication skills training courses then we’d love to hear from you. No pun intended.