The Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) in partnership with Queensland Fruit & Vegetable Growers, Canegrowers and Cotton Australia will be offering crisis communications and media response training for farmers and industry representatives in Queensland to support participants to gain confidence in communicating with media, suppliers, clients, staff, and family throughout a crisis.

Delivered by speciality agricultural communications agency Blue Hill, the workshops will support participants to develop skills for communicating and engaging with the public on sensitive topics including:

• farm accidents and fatalities
• biosecurity outbreaks
• natural disasters
• activist trespass and more.

What the training sessions will look like

• Real-life crisis examples and hypothetical scenarios, covering theory and strategies for proactively managing media during a crisis.
• Practical activities, such as mock radio and TV interviews, along with discussions, to help support participants to be on the front foot and ready to deal with media and other stakeholders should a crisis occur on their farm or in their community.

Who will you hear from? 

• Blue Hill Founder and Managing Director – Stacey Wordsworth
• Blue Hill Director – Audience and Voice – Michael Thomson
• QFF Project Manager Risk, Recovery and Resilience – Kerry Battersby
• QFF Project Officer Risk, Recovery and Resilience – Julia Jurgs

Mackay workshop details 

Date: 10 July 2025

Time: 8:30am – 5:00pm

Location: Canegrowers Mackay, 120 Wood Street, Mackay

A session will also be held in Ayr on June 19.

How to register

To express your interest in attending a Crisis Communications Training workshop please visit www.qff.org.au/projects/crisis/ and fill out the EOI form or scan the QR code.

You can also learn more about the training by emailing QFF’s Kerry Battersby at kerry@qff.org.au