The Future Herd

What does it really take to prepare the agri-food sector for the future?

In this episode of The Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh is joined by Ruth Knight, director with the Agriculture Adaptation Council and chair of the Agri-Food 2050 committee, for a wide-ranging conversation on foresight, leadership, and cultural transformation in agriculture.

Rather than treating the future as something to be predicted or controlled, Ruth argues that fut...

In this episode of The Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh speaks with Jennifer Wright of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council about what it will take to prepare Canada’s agri-food workforce for the decades ahead. Their conversation explores why technology alone cannot deliver the future many envision, and how skills, training systems, and collaboration form the real foundation of innovation.

They discuss the growing importan...

In this episode of The Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh sits down with Rene Van Acker, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Guelph, to explore the evolving role of universities in shaping the future of agriculture and food.

At a time when climate volatility, technological disruption, and political short-termism are redefining the operating environment for farmers and institutions alike, what responsibilities do academic leader...

If Canada is serious about competing globally in agri-food, commercialization can’t be an afterthought.

In this episode of The Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh sits down with Dana McCauley — chef-turned-strategist, former food manufacturing executive, and one of Canada’s most influential food innovation leaders. Dana’s career spans fine dining, food media, corporate leadership, and national ecosystem development. Few...

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 c...

Agriculture is navigating a period of rapid change. Markets shift quickly, public conversations about food are shaped by social media, and the next generation of farm leaders is stepping into roles that previous generations never had to imagine.

In this episode of Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh sits down with farm leader Steph Towers for a conversation about what leadership looks like in a sector facing uncertainty and transformation.

Step...

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, fina...

Across Canada’s agri-food sector, leadership often happens inside institutions — boards, associations, policy tables. But some of the most important voices are the ones willing to challenge those institutions and ask harder questions about the future.

Jamie Reaume has spent nearly three decades inside the conversations that shape Canadian agriculture. In this episode of Future Herd, he reflects on what that vantage point...

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 infrastructur...

Raj Thandhi brings the conversation back to something the agri-food sector often treats as secondary, but that quietly determines everything: culture.

This episode explores the space between what is grown and what is actually lived. Not in abstract terms, but in the practical realities of kitchens, habits, and identity. Raj makes a clear point—food doesn’t move because it exists. It moves when it belongs. When people rec...

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...

This conversation with Barb Scott-Cole explores something easy to overlook and difficult to rebuild: the social systems that make agriculture possible.

Before innovation strategies, before policy frameworks, before the language of productivity and efficiency, there were communities that taught themselves. Learning was embedded in participation. People developed skills, judgment, and leadership by being part of something—by sho...

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, an...

Colin Hornby from Keystone Agricultural Producers joins The Future Herd for a conversation grounded in Manitoba, where agriculture operates with little insulation from volatility.

We explore how risk is managed in real time—across weather, markets, and rising input costs—and how those pressures move through a system that depends on coordination but rarely speaks with one voice. The discussion also looks at how policy tra...

Can We Eliminate Food Waste

Or are we just managing a system designed to waste

Canada 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 p...

The Rise of the Computational Breeder: Rethinking How We Grow Food

What happens when crop science becomes computational

In this episode, Jesse Hirsh sits down with Mohsen Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi, Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph, to explore the emergence of the computational breeder: a new kind of agricultural scientist working at the intersection of plant breeding, data science, and artificial intelligence.

Grounded in ...

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 increa...

Jennifer MacTavish's career path in agriculture demonstrates the power of curiosity and saying 'yes' to opportunities. Starting with an international development degree and transitioning through animal science, she discovered her passion for the agricultural sector by embracing diverse experiences and learning from her mistakes. Her journey highlights the importance of supportive environments that allow young professionals to devel...

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...