Every commodity board will face a crisis. Food safety incidents. Activist campaigns. Trade disruptions. Production practice exposés. The question isn't if—it's when, and whether you're prepared.
Most organizations aren't. They have marketing plans and annual reports, but no crisis protocols. When something goes wrong, they improvise—scrambling to draft statements, find spokespeople, and coordinate with legal while the story spirals.
Agricultural crises move faster than they used to. Social media amplifies outrage within hours. Activist organizations have sophisticated rapid-response capabilities. Journalists expect immediate comment. By the time an unprepared organization formulates a response, the narrative is already set.
Preparation is the difference between a managed incident and a reputational catastrophe.
Why Agricultural Crises Are Different
Agricultural and food organizations face crisis scenarios that other industries don't encounter:
Category-Wide Impact
When a food safety issue affects one brand, that brand takes the hit. When it affects a commodity, everyone suffers. The 2006 spinach E. coli outbreak didn't hurt one grower—it devastated the entire leafy greens category. Sales dropped 50% and took months to recover.
Commodity boards must respond to crises that their individual members caused, that they couldn't prevent, and that they may not fully understand when they first learn about them.
Activist Sophistication
Animal agriculture faces organized, well-funded opposition. Organizations like Mercy for Animals, PETA, and the Humane Society have professional communications teams, media relationships, and rapid-response capabilities that rival Fortune 500 companies.
When undercover footage emerges from a farm or processing facility, these organizations don't just release it—they package it with b-roll, talking points, and coordinated influencer outreach. They know exactly which journalists to call and how to frame the story.
Agricultural organizations need comparable capabilities, but most don't have them.
Trade and Policy Exposure
Agricultural commodities are uniquely exposed to trade and policy disruptions. A tariff announcement, a border closure, or a new regulation can transform markets overnight. These aren't traditional crises—there's no villain, no victim, no clear narrative—but they require sophisticated communication to stakeholders, media, and policymakers.
Producer-Consumer Gap
Agricultural producers and consumers often see the same events very differently. A farming practice that producers consider standard may shock urban consumers. An activist video that outrages consumers may seem misleadingly edited to producers.
Crisis communications must bridge this gap—responding to consumer concerns without alienating producers who fund the checkoff.
Regulatory Complexity
Agricultural crisis response must navigate USDA, FDA, EPA, and state regulatory frameworks. Saying the wrong thing can trigger investigations, complicate recalls, or create legal exposure. Crisis communications for food and agriculture requires understanding these constraints.
The Anatomy of Agricultural Crises
Understanding crisis patterns helps with preparation. Most agricultural crises follow predictable templates:
Food Safety Incidents
Pattern: Outbreak identified → CDC/FDA investigation → recalls initiated → media coverage → consumer fear → demand collapse → slow recovery.
Timeline: Days to weeks for investigation, months to years for recovery.
Key challenges: Uncertainty during investigation, coordination across supply chain, rebuilding consumer trust.
Example: The 2018 romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak led to blanket "don't eat romaine" warnings. Even growers with no connection to the contaminated product lost markets.
Undercover Investigations
Pattern: Activist infiltrates operation → footage released with media coordination → outrage cycle → retailer/foodservice pressure → industry response.
Timeline: Footage often collected over weeks/months but released strategically for maximum impact.
Key challenges: Footage may be real but context-stripped, legal constraints on denouncing specific operations, balancing producer and consumer audiences.
Example: Repeated undercover videos at pork facilities have led to major restaurant chains announcing gestation crate policies—regardless of whether the specific footage reflected industry norms.
Trade Disruptions
Pattern: Policy announcement → market uncertainty → price impacts → producer distress → political pressure.
Timeline: Often sudden announcement, extended impact.
Key challenges: Communicating with producers, navigating political dimensions, managing international relationships.
Example: China's 2018-2019 tariffs on U.S. agricultural products required sustained communication to producers, media, and policymakers.
Production Practice Controversies
Pattern: Practice comes under scrutiny (often via media investigation or activist campaign) → public pressure → retailer/foodservice demands → industry adaptation.
Timeline: Typically slower-building but persistent.
Key challenges: Defending practices vs. acknowledging concerns, managing transition without alienating current producers.
Example: Cage-free egg transitions driven by activist pressure and retailer commitments.
What Crisis Preparation Requires
Crisis Response Team
Identify who makes decisions during a crisis. This typically includes:
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Executive leadership (final decision authority)
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Communications lead (message development and media)
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Legal counsel (risk assessment and constraints)
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Operations/technical expertise (understanding what happened)
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Government relations (regulatory and political dimensions)
Clarify roles before crisis hits. Who speaks to media? Who approves statements? Who coordinates with member companies? Who handles social media?
Scenario Planning
Work through likely crisis scenarios in advance. For each:
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What are the first 24 hours likely to look like?
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Who needs to be notified immediately?
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What are the key messages?
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Who are the stakeholders requiring communication?
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What are the legal and regulatory constraints?
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What are the likely media questions?
You can't anticipate every crisis, but you can anticipate categories. A commodity board should have playbooks for food safety, undercover video, trade disruption, and production practice controversies—even if the specific incidents differ from the scenarios.
Message Development
Crisis messages require advance thought, not real-time drafting. Develop:
Holding statements: Initial responses acknowledging the situation while investigation continues. "We're aware of reports regarding [issue]. Consumer safety is our priority. We're working with [authorities] to understand the situation and will provide updates as we learn more."
Key messages: Core points you need to make across any crisis involving your commodity. These might address safety record, production standards, commitment to continuous improvement, etc.
FAQ documents: Answers to predictable questions. What's your response to [specific allegation]? Is [product] safe? What are you doing to prevent this?
Stakeholder-specific versions: Producer audiences need different messaging than consumer audiences. Retailers need different information than media.
Spokesperson Preparation
Identify and train spokespeople before crisis hits. This means:
Media training: How to stay on message, handle hostile questions, avoid common pitfalls. What not to say. How to pivot.
On-camera practice: Many spokespeople freeze or ramble on camera. Practice builds competence.
Issue briefings: Spokespeople need enough technical knowledge to be credible without getting lost in details.
Legal awareness: Understanding what can and can't be said given regulatory and legal constraints.
Monitoring and Intelligence
You can't respond to a crisis you don't know about. Monitoring should include:
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Social media mentions and sentiment
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News coverage (including trade media)
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Activist organization activity
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Regulatory announcements
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Supply chain disruptions
Many crises announce themselves before they explode. Early warning enables early response.
Stakeholder Mapping
Know who matters during a crisis:
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Producers: Your funders. They need to hear from you first, not from media coverage.
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Processors and buyers: Supply chain partners who may face their own pressure.
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Retailers and foodservice: May make demands or cut products; need proactive communication.
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Regulators: USDA, FDA, state agencies. Coordination matters.
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Media: Different outlets have different needs and different audiences.
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Consumers: The ultimate audience, but often reached through media and retail.
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Policymakers: May intervene, investigate, or legislate.
During a Crisis
Move Fast, But Not Recklessly
The first hours matter enormously. Silence reads as guilt or incompetence. But saying the wrong thing creates lasting damage.
This is why preparation matters. With pre-developed messages and trained spokespeople, you can respond quickly without making errors.
Acknowledge, Don't Speculate
Acknowledge the situation. Express appropriate concern. Commit to learning more. Don't speculate about causes, blame, or outcomes while investigation continues.
"We don't know yet" is an acceptable answer if accompanied by "and here's what we're doing to find out."
Coordinate Across Stakeholders
In commodity crises, multiple organizations may be responding—individual companies, trade associations, commodity boards. Contradictory messages create confusion and prolong the story.
Coordinate messaging even if you can't coordinate completely. Ensure key spokespeople aren't contradicting each other.
Communicate to Producers Early
Producers often learn about crises from news coverage. This breeds frustration and distrust. Proactive producer communication—even if just acknowledging the situation and promising updates—maintains the relationship.
Don't Lie or Hide
Deception always comes out. What starts as crisis becomes scandal when cover-ups are exposed. If something went wrong, acknowledge it. If you don't know, say so. If you can't comment for legal reasons, explain that.
Credibility is more valuable than any short-term message win.
Track and Adapt
Crises evolve. New information emerges. Media angles shift. Stakeholder concerns change. Monitor continuously and adapt messaging accordingly.
After a Crisis
Conduct After-Action Review
What worked? What didn't? What will you do differently next time? Capture lessons while they're fresh.
Rebuild Reputation
Crisis damage doesn't repair itself. Proactive reputation rebuilding requires sustained effort—positive messaging, third-party validation, demonstrated improvement.
Update Preparation
Use the crisis to improve future preparation. Update scenarios, messages, and procedures based on what you learned.
Monitor for Recurrence
Some crises recur. Activist organizations may return with new footage. Food safety issues may reappear. Trade tensions may escalate again. Maintain vigilance.
Working with Crisis Communications Partners
Most commodity boards don't have in-house crisis expertise. External partners can provide:
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Scenario planning and preparation before crisis hits
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Rapid response support during incidents
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Media training for spokespeople
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Monitoring and intelligence
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After-action review and improvement
When evaluating crisis partners, ask:
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What agricultural crises have you managed?
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How quickly can you mobilize when something happens?
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What's your experience with activist campaigns specifically?
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How do you handle the producer-consumer communication challenge?
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What monitoring capabilities do you have?
Generic crisis firms may understand crisis mechanics but miss agricultural nuances. Agencies with agricultural experience understand production practices, regulatory frameworks, and the activist landscape in ways that generalists don't.
The Bottom Line
Agricultural crises are inevitable. The organizations that survive them best aren't the luckiest—they're the most prepared.
Preparation means:
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Clear crisis roles and decision-making
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Scenario planning for predictable crisis types
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Pre-developed messages and materials
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Trained spokespeople
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Monitoring and early warning
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Stakeholder communication protocols
None of this prevents crises. But it transforms crisis response from panic to process—and that transformation makes the difference between incidents and catastrophes.
