Shows / The Future Herd
The Future Herd
A podcast exploring how collective wisdom and adaptive leadership can help us navigate the profound transformations reshaping our food and agriculture systems.
Episodes
- The Future Herd
52: The Competitive Advantage Offered by Open Source Agriculture with Joshua Pearce
Summary: Joshua Pearce argues that open source is a genuine competitive advantage: his lab at Western University finishes projects before competitors can get…
- The Future Herd
51: Farmer Associations Are Filling Canada's Lost Extension Gap with Marney Isaac
Summary: Marney Isaac argues that Canada has an abundance of evidence for agro-biodiversity, soil health and agroforestry, but almost none of the extension…
- The Future Herd
50: Who Gets to Shape What Happens Next in Agriculture
Summary: In the 50th episode of The Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh weaves together insights from past guests around a single question: who gets to shape what happens…
- The Future Herd
49: Why Farmers Markets Matter with Laura Smit
Summary: Laura Smit, executive director of Vancouver Farmers Markets, argues that farmers markets deserve recognition as critical civic infrastructure—what she…
- The Future Herd
48: The Herd To Harvest Collective Rewrites The CSA with Caylie Corvinelli
Summary: Caylie Corvinelli, a first-generation farmer and veterinary technician, explains how she and her husband launched the Herd to Harvest Collective…
- The Future Herd
47: The New Grocery Movement: Food, Power, and Policy
Rebecca MacLeod, leader of the New Grocery Movement, argues that food insecurity in Canada is a policy decision — with roughly one in four people food insecure…
- The Future Herd
46: Navigating the Complex Economics of Upcycled Food Manufacturing with Dr. Alexandra Grygorczyk
Summary: In this episode, Dr. Alexandra Grygorczyk of Vineland Research explores the intricate economic realities of upcycled food manufacturing in Canada. She…
- The Future Herd
45: The Case for Affordable Electric Tractors with werkrtractors.com
Summary: Jesse Hirsh sits down with Stanley Baer, founder of Worker Tractor and a veteran of electrifying lawn care equipment, to discuss the acute need for…
- The Future Herd
44: Building Community Resilience Through Inclusive Food Systems and Reciprocity
Title: Building Community Resilience Through Inclusive Food Systems and Reciprocity Summary: In this episode, Jesse Hirsh, Jenn MacTavish, RJ Taylor, Sherida…
- The Future Herd
43: Replacing Mass Production With Production By The Masses with Chris Hildreth
In this episode, host Jesse Hirsh speaks with Chris Hildreth, founder of AgriKit.ca, about decentralizing agri-food infrastructure through modular…
- The Future Herd
42: Feed The People!?
Reimagining Food Systems Beyond Industrial Scapegoats And Binaries Summary: In this lively salon conversation, Jesse Hirsh, Jeanette Herrle, Sherida Ryan, Barb…
- The Future Herd
41: The Logistics of Turning Food Waste Into Economic Value with Jessica Regan
In this episode, Jessica Regan joins the show to explain how FoodMesh tackles Canada's agri-food waste crisis not as a shortage issue, but as a complex…
- The Future Herd
40: Redesigning Leadership Models for an Uncertain Future
Summary: In this conversation, Jennifer MacTavish, Kaitlyn Kitzan, RJ Taylor, and Tianna Brand examine the deepening leadership crisis in the agri-food sector…
- The Future Herd
39: Transitioning Animal Agriculture to Biological Co-Creation with Suresh Neethirajan
Summary: Dr. Suresh Neethirajan joins host Jesse Hirsh to explore how artificial intelligence, bioacoustics, and digital twin technology are transforming…
- The Future Herd
38: How Farm-To-Table Chefs Are Building Rural Community Resilience with Joel Gray
Summary: Chef-farmer Joel Gray of Down Home Restaurant discusses how integrating small-scale farming, live-fire cooking, and intimate agritourism fosters rural…
- The Future Herd
37: Improvisation and Intuition Are the Requirements for AI in Agriculture
Summary: This episode explores how artificial intelligence functions in agriculture not as a tool of rigid control, but as a facilitator of human intuition and…
- The Future Herd
36: Rebuilding Democracy from the Ground Up Through Food
Host Jesse Hirsh sits down with Alissa Overend, Charles Levkoe, and Elaine Power to dismantle the illusion of cheap food, corporate grocery monopolies, and the…
- The Future Herd
Announcement: Feed the People Salon
Feed the People! live Future Herd salon - Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2026 - Time: 2:00 p.m. EDT - Duration: 90 minutes - Book: [*Feed the People!: Why…
- The Future Herd
35: City Talent Needs to Flow Back Into Agriculture with Daniel Kunanec
Summary: Urban-rural divides dissolve when young people experience the agricultural food system firsthand. In this episode, high school educator Dan Kunanec…
- The Future Herd
34: Biomanufacturing Is the Next Agricultural Superpower Play with John Rafferty
John Rafferty, CEO of Ontario Genomics, makes the case that Canada's combination of vast acreage, abundant water, and clean energy positions it to become not…
- The Future Herd
33: Meeting People Where Their Futures Already Are with Tianna Brand
Title: Meeting People Where Their Futures Already Are Summary: Foresight practitioner Tianna Brand argues that the single most important move a leader or…
- The Future Herd
32: Food Security Cannot Be Separated From Ecological Health with Sarah Elton
Sarah Elton — journalist-turned-academic and author of Locavore — argues that genuine food security requires expanding our definition of 'all' to include not…
- The Future Herd
31: Dark Data and Edge Computing Are Reshaping Canadian Farm Strategy
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…
- The Future Herd
30: AgriFood Names the Tension Between Capital and Care with Elaine Power
Summary: Elaine Power, a food scholar at Queen's University, argues that the word "AgriFood" itself encodes a fundamental contradiction: the agri side serves…
- The Future Herd
29: Throwing Out the Business Textbook to Save the Family Farm with RJ Taylor
Title: Throwing Out the Business Textbook to Save the Family Farm Summary: RJ Taylor, second-generation fish farmer and co-owner of a multi-site Ontario…
- The Future Herd
28: The Politics of Standing Up for Farmers with John Barlow
The Politics of Standing Up for Farmers Why governments need to actually listen before they regulate Canadian agriculture has enormous potential. The land…
- The Future Herd
27: Applied Ecology as a Leadership Philosophy for a Changing Food System with Donald Killorn
Summary: Donald Killorn, Executive Director of the PEI Federation of Agriculture, makes the case that ecological thinking — not agronomic expertise — is…
- The Future Herd
26: Agroecology Is the How-To of Food Sovereignty with Charles Levkoe
Title: Agroecology Is the How-To of Food Sovereignty Summary: Charles Levkoe, food systems researcher at Lakehead University, makes the case that agroecology…
- The Future Herd
25: Leaving Every Organisation Better Than You Found It with Kaitlyn Kitzan
Title: Leaving Every Organisation Better Than You Found It Summary: Kaitlyn Kitzan, Saskatchewan farmer, entrepreneur, and sectoral leader, argues that lasting…
- The Future Herd
24: The Grocery Store Is a Media Environment: What Sociology Reveals About Food, Power, and Choice with Alissa Overend
Title: The Grocery Store Is a Media Environment: What Sociology Reveals About Food, Power, and Choice Summary: Alissa Overend of MacEwan University argues that…
- The Future Herd
23: Measuring What Matters: Transforming Canada's Agri-Food System
Measuring What Matters: Transforming Canada’s Agri-Food System What does a resilient agri-food system actually look like — and how would we know if we were…
- The Future Herd
22: Rethinking Rural Food Security with Rob Rainer
Where Food Becomes Community Rethinking Rural Food Security with Rob Rainer In this episode of The Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh speaks with Rob Rainer about food…
- The Future Herd
21: Democratizing Agriculture Through Intelligent Data Platforms with Mohamad Yaghi
Summary: Mohamad Yaghi from Farm Credit Canada explores how technology can democratize and transform the agricultural sector. He discusses the unique…
- The Future Herd
20: From Mistakes to Mentorship: Leadership in Agricultural Ecosystems with Jenn MacTavish
Jennifer MacTavish's career path in agriculture demonstrates the power of curiosity and saying 'yes' to opportunities. Starting with an international…
- The Future Herd
19: The Permanence of Emergency, The Infrastructure of Care
What happens when an emergency response becomes a permanent feature of the system? In this conversation, Neil Hetherington, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank…
- The Future Herd
18: The Rise of the Computational Breeder with Mohsen Yoosefzadeh Najafabadi
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…
- The Future Herd
17: Can We Eliminate Food Waste with Lori Nikkel
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…
- The Future Herd
16: Holding Agriculture Together in Manitoba with Colin Hornby
Colin Hornby from Keystone Agricultural Producers joins The Future Herd for a conversation grounded in Manitoba, where agriculture operates with little…
- The Future Herd
15: Who Gets Close, Who Gets In, with Jordyn Domio
Jordyn Domio reframes a familiar concern in agriculture—the question of the “next generation”—by shifting attention to something more immediate and less…
- The Future Herd
14: When Learning Lived in the Community with Barb Scott-Cole
This conversation with Barb Scott-Cole explores something easy to overlook and difficult to rebuild: the social systems that make agriculture possible. Before…
- The Future Herd
13: Treska Watson on Collaboration, Waste, and the Signal of Hunger
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…
- The Future Herd
12: Why Culture Decides What We Eat with Raj Thandhi
Raj Thandhi brings the conversation back to something the agri-food sector often treats as secondary, but that quietly determines everything: culture. This…
- The Future Herd
11: Making Innovation Real: Bridging the Gap Between Research and the Farm with Todd Ormann
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…
- The Future Herd
10: Rebels, Radicals, and the Future of Agriculture with Jamie Reaume
Across Canada’s agri-food sector, leadership often happens inside institutions — boards, associations, policy tables. But some of the most important voices are…
- The Future Herd
9: Building Indigenous Agriculture at Scale with Camden Lawrence
Indigenous agriculture in Canada is often discussed through the lens of food security and community food systems. But what happens when the conversation shifts…
- The Future Herd
8: Curiosity, Trust, and the Next Generation of Farm Leadership with Steph Towers
Agriculture is navigating a period of rapid change. Markets shift quickly, public conversations about food are shaped by social media, and the next generation…
- The Future Herd
7: Leadership in a Volatile World with Tyler McCann
Guest: Tyler McCann, Managing Director, Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) Global trade is shifting. Geopolitics is intruding into supply chains. Food…
- The Future Herd
6: Dana McCauley — Building Canada’s Food Innovation Ecosystem
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…
- The Future Herd
5: Leadership, Knowledge, and the Next Generation
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…
- The Future Herd
4: The New Skills Infrastructure for Agriculture with Jennifer Wright
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…
- The Future Herd
2: The Dance of Foresight: Reimagining Leadership in Agri-Food with Ruth Knight
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…
- The Future Herd
1: Welcome to the Future Herd!
Many independent actors, adapting together Food systems are changing faster than most of our institutions can keep up. The Future Herd is a podcast about…