A federal government agency has handed its public servants scripted lines, to be recited in "BBQ conversations" and other "social settings", about its controversial move out of town.

Workers at the pesticides authority have been given a long list of "talking points" to use on friends or family asking about the authority's forced relocation from Canberra to Armidale in the heart of the electorate of Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce.

Public servants at the Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) have endured a torrid time since the November 2016 announcement that their employer was moving to northern NSW with many staff, particularly the vital regulatory scientists, flatly refusing to go.

APVMA workers were again left scratching their heads on April 7 when they received a message from chief operating officer Stefanie Janiec.