The Future Herd

Summary:This episode brings together Canada's sharpest minds at the intersection of AI and agriculture to make a concrete case: the future of Canadian farm competitiveness will be decided not by whether producers adopt AI, but by how intelligently they manage, govern, and deploy the data they already have.Mohsen Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi introduces the concept of 'dark data'—the vast archive of unused research and field observations sitting dormant in breeding programs and farm records—arguing it represents an untapped foundation for training custom agricultural AI models. Donald Killorn reveals that choosing between cloud-scale processing and on-farm edge inference could mean the difference between 200 gigawatt hours and just 1.5 gigawatt hours of electricity consumption across Canadian agriculture, making edge computing not just a technical preference but a national energy and sovereignty question. Mohamad Yaghi makes the case that the battle for sovereignty is happening faster than we realize as global data governance threatens to outpace local agency.Show notes:This episode of The Future Herd gathers Jesse Hirsh, Mohsen Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi, Mohamad Yaghi, Jennifer MacTavish, and Donald Killorn for a rigorous, advanced-level conversation about what it will actually take to make artificial intelligence work for Canadian farmers. The central argument is not that AI is coming to agriculture—it is already here—but that the decisions Canadian producers, researchers, and policymakers make right now about data governance, compute architecture, and model sovereignty will determine whether the productivity gains from AI accrue to Canadian farms or flow to the proprietary platforms of multinational equipment manufacturers and cloud providers. This episode is less a primer on AI and more a strategic briefing on the infrastructure choices that will define the next agricultural policy framework.One of the most striking contributions comes from Mohsen Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi, who introduces the concept of 'dark data' to describe the enormous volume of agricultural research observations that are collected, archived, and never used again. Drawing on his own plant breeding programme—where he evaluates 200,000 individual plants but ultimately selects a handful—he points out that the discarded data represents precisely the kind of rich, domain-specific training material needed to build trustworthy, custom AI models for agriculture. His argument is that researchers and producers often do not mind sharing this kind of archival data, but lack the governance frameworks and institutional strategies to do so responsibly. His proposal: train models internally on pooled dark data, then share the model outputs rather than the raw datasets, preserving privacy while unlocking collective intelligence.Donald Killorn grounds the conversation in the physical and political realities of deploying AI at farm scale, reporting directly from a week that included installing a rooftop WiFi gateway in eastern PEI and presenting to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture. His core insight is that the question of where computation happens—in the cloud versus at the field edge—is not merely a technical detail but a strategic decision with massive implications for energy consumption, data sovereignty, and farm autonomy. He estimates that moving every data point from Canadian farms to central models would require roughly 200 gigawatt hours of electricity, but that training edge inference models to process data locally and send only what is necessary upstream could reduce that figure to approximately 1.5 gigawatt hours. He also raises the unresolved tension with OEM equipment manufacturers like John Deere and Case, whose proprietary data platforms risk locking Canadian producers out of their own farm data, and describes the limits of industry-led interoperability initiatives like AEF's Agon connector.Listeners will come away from this episode with a clearer understanding of why the ROI conversation around AI in agriculture has to move beyond productivity metrics and encompass labour shortage economics, energy infrastructure, data interoperability, and national policy. Mohamad Yaghi frames the stakes plainly: AI is most valuable not as an automation tool but as a decision-support layer that helps producers commit capital more wisely before it is spent. Taken together, the panel makes a compelling case that Canada's agri-food sector sits at a genuine inflection point—one where the choices made in the next two years around data governance and compute strategy will either entrench dependency on foreign platforms or establish a sovereign, resilient, and genuinely productive AI infrastructure for Canadian agriculture.Topics: Dark Data, Edge Computing, Data Sovereignty, AI Model Training, Farm Decision Support, Equipment Interoperability, Agricultural Policy, Energy and Compute

Title: Throwing Out the Business Textbook to Save the Family FarmSummary:RJ Taylor, second-generation fish farmer and co-owner of a multi-site Ontario aquaculture operation, makes the case that the conventional business-school wisdom of focusing on core competencies nearly sank his family's business — and that deliberate diversification across species, markets, and sales channels is what actually builds resilience. In this episode, RJ walks Jesse through the geography and culture of Ontario aquaculture, explains why over 75% of the province's net-pen farms operate on First Nations territory, and argues that Indigenous partnerships aren't a policy aspiration but the structural backbone that has allowed the sector to grow when provincial licensing effectively stalled. Listeners will come away with a richer, more grounded picture of a food system hiding in plain sight on Georgian Bay and across Canada's coastlines.Show notes:RJ Taylor grew up hauling fish before school on his family's land-based trout farm in Ontario — and then, like his sister Arlen, left with every intention of never coming back. A sociology and business degree, a career in science communication, and a decade of distance later, both siblings returned with a much larger vision for what the farm could become. In this episode of The Future Herd, RJ joins Jesse Hirsh to make a counterintuitive argument: that the very business-school thinking he brought back with him — focus on core competencies, streamline, scale — nearly left the family operation dangerously exposed, and that the path forward required throwing that textbook out entirely.The clearest illustration of that argument is what happened when Taylor Aquaculture narrowed its focus to rainbow trout fingerlings. The logic was sound: high-value product, clear market, strong margins. But as consolidation swept through Ontario's net-pen farms, a customer list of fifteen gradually compressed toward one, and the vulnerability became undeniable. RJ and Arlen responded by reversing course — adding Arctic char, coho salmon, and lake whitefish alongside the trout, layering in a home-delivery programme serving 1,500 to 1,700 Ontario households monthly, maintaining a presence at farmers' markets and independent retailers, and simultaneously supplying large-scale retail partners like Loblaws through their net-pen operation on Manitoulin Island. RJ is direct about the lesson: no single revenue stream could carry the business through the volatility the sector is experiencing, and it is the willingness to do everything at once that provides real resilience.A second and equally important thread in the conversation is the role of First Nations communities in making Ontario aquaculture viable at all. RJ points out that over 75% of the province's net-pen farms operate on First Nations territory through some form of partnership — a fact that sits awkwardly against the broader agricultural sector's habit of treating Indigenous inclusion as an aspirational goal rather than a present reality. Provincial licensing for cage aquaculture has effectively been frozen for at least two decades, leaving the Great Lakes Aquaculture Law and band council resolutions issued through First Nations as the functional pathway for new farm development. RJ argues this isn't a workaround but a genuine improvement: the science underpinning those permits is current, adaptive to climate change, and informed by partners like the Wabateck Business Development Corporation in ways that provincial frameworks — still relying on studies from the 1970s and 80s — simply are not.For listeners trying to understand Canada's food system, this episode fills in a significant blind spot. Aquaculture already accounts for somewhere between 60 and 65% of global fish and seafood consumption, a threshold the world quietly crossed around 2020, and that share is only growing. Yet Ontario's fish farms remain largely invisible to the people who live closest to them. RJ's story — of a family business that survived by unlearning what it thought it knew, and of a sector that has quietly built one of the more substantive models of Indigenous economic partnership in Canadian agriculture — is exactly the kind of grounded, specific, and forward-looking conversation The Future Herd exists to amplify.Topics: Aquaculture, Business Diversification, Family Farm Succession, Indigenous Partnerships, Ontario Food Systems, Fish Farm Licensing, Direct-to-Consumer Sales, Sustainable Seafood

Summary:Donald Killorn, Executive Director of the PEI Federation of Agriculture, makes the case that ecological thinking — not agronomic expertise — is exactly what Canada's food system needs from its leaders right now. Drawing on two decades spent working in rainforests, coral reefs, and Bay of Fundy fisheries before arriving in agriculture, Killorn argues that systems thinking and multi-stakeholder partnership-building are the core competencies for navigating an era of climate volatility, trade disruption, and accelerating technological change. This episode unpacks how Killorn applies that lens to one of Canada's most agriculturally dense provinces, where potatoes, dairy, and a cooperative food culture make PEI a surprisingly rich laboratory for the future of the sector.Show notes:Donald Killorn came to the PEI Federation of Agriculture not through a lifetime in fields and barns but through coral reefs, rainforests, and two decades of applied ecology across the Caribbean and Atlantic Canada. In this episode, Donald joins Jesse Hirsh to explore a provocative central argument: that the leadership skills most urgently needed in agriculture right now are not primarily agronomic, but ecological — the capacity to read complex systems, anticipate where pressure is building, and position an organisation ahead of where government funding and policy will eventually land. For an island province where agriculture makes up roughly 40 percent of land use and 25 percent of the emissions profile, that argument carries serious weight.Killorn traces how a third-year undergraduate encounter with ecology became a lifelong operating system. Working as an ecotourism guide in Costa Rica, managing barrier reef ecosystems in Belize and the Turks and Caicos, and later leading underwater noise research to protect whale populations in the Bay of Fundy, he developed what he calls a resilience framework built around four capital buckets — governance, ecological, economic, and social — and four stakeholder types: academic, industrial, NGO, and government. He applies that same framework to agricultural leadership, arguing that an NGO executive must consistently anticipate where public investment is heading and be visibly established in that space before the funding announcement arrives. The strategy, he explains, is the only sustainable model for a small team trying to punch above its weight against well-resourced government and private-sector actors.The episode turns to a concrete test of that philosophy: the federal export restrictions on PEI potatoes that came into force just five days after Killorn started his job. With CFIA drawing a containment boundary around the entire province over a handful of fields with known potato wart, a billion-dollar industry was effectively shuttered — and Killorn found himself as a new executive director with no deep agronomic background suddenly having to be the public voice of an industry in crisis. He is candid about the limits of his expertise in that moment and equally candid about the structural tensions between federal trade risk management and the lived reality of island farmers. The story illuminates a broader tension running through Canadian agriculture: how governance decisions made at a national scale land unevenly on regional economies, and what it takes to build enough credibility — locally rooted through family networks, nationally credible through systems-thinking fluency — to be heard in both rooms.Listeners will come away with a richer picture of PEI's agricultural complexity — from its outsized share of Canadian potato production to a cooperative dairy model that Killorn describes as one of the most holistically integrated in the country — and a set of leadership principles that translate well beyond the island. At a moment when Canadian agriculture faces simultaneous pressure from climate volatility, trade instability, and the accelerating arrival of data-intensive technologies including AI, Killorn's argument that ecological literacy belongs at the executive table feels less like a personal biography and more like a prescription for the sector as a whole.Topics: Applied Ecology, NGO Leadership, PEI Agriculture, Systems Thinking, Potato Trade Policy, Climate Resilience, Governance Capital, Stakeholder Partnerships

Title: Leaving Every Organisation Better Than You Found ItSummary:Kaitlyn Kitzan, Saskatchewan farmer, entrepreneur, and sectoral leader, argues that lasting leadership means improving every organisation you touch and passing it on stronger than you found it. Drawing on lessons from her family farm, her early entrepreneurial ventures, and the volunteer ethic instilled by her parents in a rural community, Kaitlyn makes the case that the foundation of great leadership is not ambition alone but the habits, values, and emotional intelligence cultivated from childhood. In this conversation with Jesse Hirsh, she offers a candid, grounded look at what it actually costs — and what it gives back — to lead in Canada's agri-food sector today.Show notes:Kaitlyn Kitzan grew up on a Saskatchewan farm forty miles from the nearest city, and that distance shaped everything: her work ethic, her entrepreneurial instincts, and her conviction that a leader's job is to leave every organisation better than she found it. That guiding principle, borrowed from a phrase she heard growing up under Premier Wall, runs through this entire conversation — from how she approaches board work and farm succession to how she thinks about stress, sleep, and the volunteers who hold rural communities together. Jesse Hirsh invites Kaitlyn to unpack what that commitment actually looks like in practice for someone managing a seven-person business, sitting on multiple boards, and navigating the emotional complexity of a family farming operation all at once.One of the most striking threads in the conversation is Kaitlyn's reframing of mental health and stress in the agricultural sector. Rather than asking people where they're at emotionally — a question that still carries stigma in many farm communities — she asks them about their battery level. Are you at fifty percent? Seventy-five? And crucially, what do you need to do to recharge? She applies the same framework to herself, describing the discipline she has built around sleep, her deliberate practice of leaving weekends unscheduled when event season piles up, and her ongoing struggle to say no to opportunities she genuinely wants to take. The honesty here is notable: she is not offering a tidy wellness program but describing an active, imperfect negotiation between her drive and her limits.Kaitlyn is equally direct about the cultural divide she sees among her peers when it comes to volunteerism and community contribution. She traces her own volunteer ethic back to selling chocolate bars at a hockey canteen at age three, and to parents who modelled the idea that you give back to the community that raised you. What frustrates her is watching friends and new employees ask what's in it for them before committing even an hour of their time — a mindset she connects not to geography or generation but to how people were raised. That argument cuts against easy rural-urban or east-west narratives and lands somewhere more uncomfortable and more specific: that the values transmitted in childhood are the single biggest determinant of whether someone grows into a leader who builds things up or someone who waits for things to be handed to them.Listeners will come away with a clearer picture of what it actually takes to sustain leadership in Canada's agri-food sector over the long run — not the highlight-reel version, but the daily arithmetic of energy management, emotional intelligence, community investment, and knowing when to walk away and go for a walk. For anyone working in Saskatchewan agriculture, in rural entrepreneurship, or in the volunteer and board structures that hold the sector together, Kaitlyn's perspective is both a practical resource and a reminder that the future of the herd depends on people who are committed to leaving things better than they found them.Topics: Farm Leadership, Mental Health & Stress, Rural Entrepreneurship, Volunteerism, Farm Succession, Saskatchewan Agriculture, Emotional Intelligence, Work-Life Balance

Measuring What Matters: Transforming Canada’s Agri-Food SystemWhat does a resilient agri-food system actually look like — and how would we know if we were building one?In this Future Herd panel episode, guest host Jen MacTavish brings three previous guests back to the table for a wide-ranging conversation on food resilience, food waste, infrastructure, capital, policy, and the measurements that shape Canada’s agri-food future.The discussion features Camden Lawrence of First Nations Agriculture & Finance Ontario, Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest, and Tyler McCann, Managing Director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute. Together, they explore the gap between producing food and building a system capable of feeding people reliably, affordably, and with less waste.The conversation begins with a deceptively simple question: what does resilience mean in agri-food? For Camden, resilience means producing more food closer to home, while also building the processing, storage, transportation, and community infrastructure needed to keep value local. For Lori, resilience requires confronting the scale of food waste in Canada and treating prevention as central to any serious food strategy. For Tyler, resilience means a system that can absorb shocks, maintain its core function, and recover without losing sight of the people it is meant to serve.From there, the panel moves into the “messy middle” of the food system: cold storage, logistics, transportation, data, processing, and the infrastructure that often determines whether food reaches people or becomes waste. The conversation also wrestles with capital access, especially for First Nations communities and new farmers, and asks whether Canada’s food policy frameworks are ready to support the kinds of experimentation and risk-taking the moment demands.A recurring theme throughout the episode is measurement. What we measure determines what we see. Food waste was long treated as a cost of doing business until organizations like Second Harvest helped make it visible. Once waste can be measured, it can be managed, prevented, redirected, and understood as an economic, environmental, and social problem. But the panel also warns that measurement must be consistent, useful, and tied to action.The episode closes with a practical challenge for the sector: stop waiting for perfect conditions. Some problems need study, but others need movement. Policy, business, and community leaders may need to become more willing to try, learn, correct, and continue.GuestsJen MacTavishGuest host for this Future Herd panel discussion.Camden LawrenceFirst Nations Agriculture & Finance Ontario. Camden brings a perspective rooted in First Nations agriculture, access to capital, community food systems, and the opportunity to build food production capacity in Indigenous communities.Lori NikkelCEO of Second Harvest, Canada’s largest food rescue organization. Lori speaks to the scale of food waste, the importance of food rescue and prevention, and the need for better data across the food system.Tyler McCannManaging Director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute. Tyler brings a policy lens to resilience, infrastructure, food affordability, and the challenge of designing systems that can respond to shocks.Key ThemesResilience requires more than emergency responseThe panel explores resilience as the capacity to prepare, respond, recover, and adapt. In agri-food, that means thinking beyond crisis management toward systems that can keep functioning through climate disruption, trade volatility, disease outbreaks, supply chain shocks, and affordability pressures.Food waste is a resilience issueLori argues that Canada cannot build a resilient food system while wasting so much food. Food waste prevention, rescue, redistribution, and measurement need to be part of any serious food security strategy.The “messy middle” mattersCold storage, transportation, processing, warehousing, data systems, and logistics often determine whether food stays in the system or falls out of it. These less visible parts of the supply chain are essential to resilience.Capital shapes who gets to farmCamden highlights the challenge of financing farms and agri-food infrastructure, especially when startup costs can reach millions of dollars and agricultural lending does not behave like ordinary commercial borrowing. Longer amortization, lower interest rates, and better capital access could help more people and communities enter the sector.Land ownership is not the only pathThe conversation points to emerging models where farmers rent land, build local agreements, or focus on equipment and market relationships rather than land ownership. This opens up new ways to think about farm entry, especially for younger and first-generation farmers.Food systems need better knowledge transferAgriculture faces a generational knowledge gap. Camden describes communities where older farmers hold practical knowledge that younger people urgently need. The question becomes how to move expertise from elders and experienced producers into the hands of new entrants.Policy needs more courageTyler challenges the tendency to over-study problems or pilot every change before acting. Sometimes the sector can move, test, adjust, and correct course without waiting for perfect certainty.The farm gate is too narrow a boundaryThe episode pushes against the idea that agri-food policy ends at production. Food has to move through many hands, systems, and institutions before it reaches people. A stronger food system requires collaboration across agriculture, food rescue, processing, retail, policy, community organizations, and consumers.Episode Flow / Approximate Chapters00:00 — IntroductionJen McTavish introduces the panel and frames the conversation around resilience in Canada’s agri-food system.00:51 — What does a resilient agri-food sector look like?Camden, Lori, and Tyler offer different definitions of resilience, from local production and processing to waste prevention and shock recovery.05:22 — Food waste as an urgent gapLori’s work at Second Harvest anchors a discussion about how waste prevention belongs at the centre of food resilience.08:27 — The messy middle of the supply chainThe panel turns to infrastructure, cold storage, transportation, data, and the practical systems needed to move food effectively.11:18 — National food security strategy and policy gapsThe conversation looks at government commitments and asks whether current strategies are enough to move the needle.15:05 — Capital, lending, and farm viabilityCamden explains why access to capital is one of the biggest barriers to building farms, infrastructure, and food production capacity.17:42 — Rethinking the economics of farmingThe panel explores whether there are different ways to finance food production and support people who want to farm.24:55 — Diversity in agricultureThe conversation turns to diversified farming, changing business models, and whether the current system can support more nimble forms of production.27:34 — Measuring complexityJesse joins the conversation to reflect on measurement, chaos, complexity, and the double-edged nature of quantifying food systems.36:44 — Policy frameworks and riskThe panel discusses Canada’s agricultural policy process and the need to bring more voices and more creativity into policy design.49:33 — “We can just fix things”Tyler argues that some problems require action more than another pilot project.51:52 — What should policymakers just do?Each guest identifies practical priorities, from First Nations agricultural capital to logistics, food waste prevention, and policy courage.Listener TakeawaysA resilient food system is built through infrastructure, capital, knowledge, and coordination — not production alone.Food waste is one of Canada’s clearest opportunities for immediate improvement, especially when prevention and redistribution are treated as economic tools rather than charitable afterthoughts.First Nations agriculture deserves greater investment, not only as community food security, but as a major opportunity for leadership, production, and economic development.Better measurement can reveal hidden problems, but measurement only matters when it leads to action.Canada’s agri-food future will require more collaboration across sectors, more comfort with experimentation, and a stronger willingness to act before every answer is perfectly settled.

Summary:Mohamad Yaghi from Farm Credit Canada explores how technology can democratize and transform the agricultural sector. He discusses the unique challenges farmers face and how innovative solutions can help address complex operational needs.Mohamad brings a unique perspective on technology in agriculture, rooted in his experiences growing up in Lebanon and understanding technological resilience. His work at Farm Credit Canada's innovation hub focuses on developing solutions that directly address farmer needs, particularly around knowledge transfer and operational complexity. By leveraging extensive agricultural data and user insights, Mohamad and his team are creating tools that help farmers navigate increasingly complex technological landscapes.Topics: Agricultural Technology, AI Innovation, Farm Management, Rural Technology, Technological Democratization, Data-Driven Agriculture

What happens when an emergency response becomes a permanent feature of the system?In this conversation, Neil Hetherington, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank, offers a clear-eyed view from inside one of Canada’s most critical—yet least understood—institutions. What emerges is not a story about charity, but about infrastructure. Daily Bread operates at scale: forecasting demand, coordinating complex logistics, and increasingly using data to understand how food insecurity moves through the city. The result is a system that works—efficient, adaptive, and deeply embedded.And that’s the tension.Because the more effective food banks become, the easier it is for the broader system to depend on them. Housing costs rise, incomes stagnate, disability supports fall short—and the pressure flows downstream. Food banks absorb it. Quietly. Reliably. Permanently.But beneath the operations is something less visible and more essential: care as culture. Not sentiment, but structure. The deliberate design of dignity, choice, and respect in how people access food and how communities participate in meeting that need. In a landscape defined by scarcity, culture becomes the operating system that keeps everything functioning.This episode treats the food bank not as a solution, but as a signal. A lens into how policy failure is lived, managed, and, in some ways, normalized. It raises a harder question for anyone paying attention: if this is infrastructure now, what does that say about the system that made it necessary—and what would it take to build something different?

Can We Eliminate Food WasteOr are we just managing a system designed to wasteCanada produces more than enough food to feed everyone, yet millions remain food insecure while enormous volumes of perfectly good food are lost. In this conversation, Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest, reframes the issue away from scarcity and toward systems failure—how food is produced, priced, moved, and ultimately left behind.What emerges is a picture of food rescue not as charity, but as infrastructure. Second Harvest operates a parallel supply chain, using data, logistics, and coordination to redirect surplus food to communities across the country. It is precise, efficient, and increasingly scalable. And yet, its very success raises a harder question: if we can move this much food, why does the need persist?Lori draws a clear line between feeding people and solving food insecurity. Redistribution can address immediate need, but it does not resolve the structural conditions—poverty, policy gaps, market incentives—that produce both waste and hunger at the same time. The absence of a national strategy on food waste in Canada only deepens that contradiction.This episode sits in that tension. It explores what becomes possible when waste is made visible and measurable, and what remains unchanged even as systems improve. The result is not a simple answer to the question of elimination, but a clearer understanding of what that question demands.

Jordyn Domio reframes a familiar concern in agriculture—the question of the “next generation”—by shifting attention to something more immediate and less discussed: proximity.Who gets close enough to the industry to understand it? To see themselves in it? To be taken seriously before they’ve earned it on paper?This episode moves away from abstract conversations about labour shortages and recruitment, and instead examines the everyday conditions that shape participation. The informal exposures, early invitations, and small acts of recognition that determine whether someone is brought in—or never considers agriculture at all.What emerges is a quieter but more consequential reality: the future of the sector isn’t waiting to be filled. It’s already being shaped by who is allowed to get close.

Canada feeds the world—so why are thousands of people in our own communities facing food insecurity every day?In this episode of The Future Herd, I sit down with Treska Watson, who leads food security initiatives at The Mustard Seed Street Church in Victoria, BC. Treska operates on the front lines of a broken system, managing a food rescue programme that diverted 3.1 million pounds of food last year alone. But this isn't just a story about logistics—it's about dignity, collaboration, and reimagining what a food system rooted in hope could look like.We unpack the paradox of abundance and hunger, explore why "best-before" dates are more suggestion than law (yes, that yogurt is probably fine), and dive into the innovative "Viewfield" food hub model where multiple organizations co-locate to share resources and ideas. Treska shares why she believes humans are "pack animals" who need each other, and why a choice-based food bank model changes everything for the communities they serve.In this conversation, we cover:The Hope vs. Fear Framework: How to lead with hope even when the data is daunting.Food Rescue at Scale: The logistics of moving 3.1 million pounds of food to 65+ agencies.Dignity Over Charity: Why the "choice model" matters more than pre-packed hampers.Food Literacy: The truth about expiration dates, packaging waste, and consumer education.Collaboration as Leadership: How the Viewfield warehouse became a collision point for innovation.Resources & Links:The Mustard Seed Street Church: mustardseed.caThe Future Herd: thefutureherd.caFlourish School Food Society (mentioned in episode)South Island Farm Hub (mentioned in episode)A Note on Sharing: If this conversation sparked something, don't keep it to yourself. Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. You don't have to rescue 3.1 million pounds to make a difference—you just have to stay curious and pass it on.

Innovation in agriculture isn’t the problem—implementation is.In this episode of The Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh sits down with Todd Ormann of Olds College to explore why so many promising technologies struggle to reach the farm, and what it actually takes to close that gap.From the role of applied research and Smart Farms to the fragmentation of Canada’s innovation system, this conversation unpacks the infrastructure behind real progress. Todd offers a grounded perspective on validation, trust, workforce development, and the institutions needed to translate ideas into practice.This is a conversation about the work that happens after the breakthrough—and why it matters more than ever.Key ThemesThe gap between innovation and adoption in agricultureThe role of applied research institutions like Olds CollegeSmart Farms, data, and real-world validationWorkforce development and the future of agricultural skillsRethinking Canada’s agri-food innovation systemGuest Todd Ormann Vice-President, External Relations & Research Olds College of Agriculture & TechnologyHost Jesse Hirsh The Future HerdLinksOlds College of Agriculture & Technology: https://www.oldscollege.ca/Learn more about The Future Herd: https://thefutureherd.ca/

Indigenous agriculture in Canada is often discussed through the lens of food security and community food systems. But what happens when the conversation shifts toward scale, capital, and commercial participation in the broader agri-food economy?In this episode of Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh speaks with Camden Lawrence of First Nations Agriculture & Finance Ontario. Camden works at the intersection of agricultural development, financing, and community capacity building, helping First Nations producers and communities explore agriculture not only as a pathway to food sovereignty, but also as a vehicle for economic growth and long-term prosperity.Their conversation explores the structural realities of modern agriculture: the capital required to enter the sector, the importance of scale in supplying large buyers, and the institutional supports needed for communities to build viable agricultural enterprises. Camden also reflects on the momentum emerging across First Nations communities, where interest in agriculture is growing alongside efforts to develop the financing tools, partnerships, and leadership needed to support it.This episode offers a thoughtful look at Indigenous agriculture as an evolving part of Canada’s agri-food landscape — and raises important questions about how the sector might grow in the years ahead.Topics DiscussedThe role of First Nations Agriculture & Finance OntarioIndigenous agriculture and economic developmentFinancing challenges in agricultureThe economics of scale in modern food productionCommunity capacity and agricultural leadershipFood sovereignty and commercial agricultureOpportunities for Indigenous participation in the broader agri-food sectorAbout the GuestCamden Lawrence works with First Nations Agriculture & Finance Ontario, an Indigenous-led organization supporting agricultural and agribusiness development across First Nations communities in Ontario. The organization provides financing support, advisory services, and programs aimed at helping Indigenous producers and communities develop sustainable agricultural enterprises.About Future HerdFuture Herd is a podcast exploring leadership across Canada’s agri-food sector as we think toward 2050. Through conversations with farmers, policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders, the show examines the ideas, institutions, and innovations shaping the future of food and agriculture.LinksFirst Nations Agriculture & Finance Ontario https://www.firstnationsag.caFuture Herd https://thefutureherd.ca

Guest: Tyler McCann, Managing Director, Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI)Global trade is shifting. Geopolitics is intruding into supply chains. Food is no longer just food — it is leverage, resilience, and power.In this episode of Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh sits down with Tyler McCann, Managing Director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI), to explore what leadership looks like in a world where stability can no longer be assumed.Together they examine:Why the global context for Canadian agriculture has fundamentally changedThe discipline of focus in a sector overwhelmed by issuesHow policy actually moves — and why convening mattersThe cultural tendency toward incrementalism in Canadian agri-food governanceWhy diversity of participation strengthens policy outcomesThe difference between a commodity sector and a strategic oneThe urgent need to build domestic value-added capacityTyler draws on his experience inside federal government and now at CAPI to explain how coalitions form, how priorities get chosen, and where the real leverage points exist in shaping Canada’s agri-food future.At the heart of the conversation is a simple but consequential question:Does Canada treat agri-food as a strategic sector — or as a commodity engine navigating price cycles?In an era of geopolitical volatility, that distinction matters.About the GuestTyler McCann is the Managing Director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI), an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to advancing policy solutions for Canada’s agri-food system. He previously served in senior advisory roles within the federal government and operates a farm in western Quebec.About Future HerdFuture Herd is a podcast exploring leadership, strategy, and structural change across Canada’s agri-food sector. We focus on systems, policy, innovation, and the people shaping the future of food.If this conversation resonates, share it within your network and continue the discussion inside your organization. The future of Canadian agri-food will not arrive on its own — it will be organized.