Inside the Average American Brain: A Path to Better IPM Communications
Recorded June 24, 2026
Description
Kelsey Gosch, Development & Program Manager at Red Tomato
Michael Rozyne, Founder of Red Tomato
The minds of people in your audience are not blank slates waiting for your message to arrive. In fact, human minds are more like a cluttered swamp of opinions and ways of thinking (mental models), full of contradictions and inconsistency along with sometimes unsubstantiated certainty. To succeed with your communications, it helps to know the dominant mental models in the minds of your audience. Then, you can more effectively navigate through the “cluttered swamps” so people continue listening and don’t shut down, in the hope your message will “stick.” This is strategic framing in action.
In this session, we talk about how communicators contribute to the public understanding of IPM and sustainable farming by equipping them with communication tools for strategic framing. We will create an understanding of framing, share the dominant mental models of farming held by the U.S. public, and present strategies for framing communications on IPM and farming.
Kelsey Gosch
Development & Program Manager at Red Tomato
Michael Rozyne
Founder of Red Tomato
About Red Tomato
Red Tomato’s mission is to connect farmers and consumers through marketing, trade, education, and collaboration, and through a passionate belief that a family-farm, locally-based, environmentally-oriented, fair-trade food system is the way to a better world.
For more information, visit redtomato.org.