The Truth About Ag

After catching up on how seeding is going, Kristjan and Evan sit down with Pierre Petelle, President and CEO of CropLife Canada, to talk through crop protection, seed technology, regulation, and how Canada competes for new agricultural tools. Pierre explains CropLife Canada’s role in representing companies involved in crop protection, seed technology, distribution, and other agricultural inputs, while also drawing on his previous experience working with the pesticide regulator.

A major focus of the conversation is the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, or PMRA, and why timelines, predictability, and regulatory efficiency matter. Canada represents about 4% of the global pesticide market, so if the process becomes too slow or uncertain, companies may prioritize larger markets like the U.S. or Brazil instead.

Kristjan, Evan, and Pierre also talk about activist pressure, access to information requests, European-style agricultural policy, trade concerns, and proposed changes to the Pest Control Products Act. The episode comes back to a larger question for Canadian agriculture: how do we keep the system rigorous without making it so difficult that farmers lose access to the tools, technology, and innovation they need?

After an introduction with Kristjan and Evan discussing the hot topics in ag, they are joined by Gary Mar, President and Ceo of Canada West Foundation. 

Gary Mar has worked across provincial politics, diplomacy in Washington and Asia, and that varied experience shows up in how he talks about trade and policy. It’s less about theory, more about what actually moves decisions. One point comes up early and keeps resurfacing: agreements don’t carry as much weight as people think. They set structure, but they don’t solve problems on their own. Relationships are what push decisions forward.

That same thinking carries into how Canada approaches the U.S. and global trade more broadly. Framing negotiations around “they need what we have” can work against you if it removes leverage before the conversation even starts. At the same time, influence isn’t just federal anymore; governors, state relationships, and long-term positioning matter more than most Canadians assume. Agriculture fits directly into that conversation. Canada has a strong story across food, fertilizer, energy, and critical minerals, but it doesn’t translate into influence on its own, especially when many decision-makers haven’t seen how modern operations actually run.

Production alone doesn’t move the needle if infrastructure can’t keep up. Rail, ports, and corridors ultimately decide whether output turns into revenue. The opportunity is there, particularly in Western Canada, but it depends on aligning policy, infrastructure, and market access. And at a basic level, better decisions start with better understanding, something that still doesn’t happen often enough.

After an introduction featuring Ryan Denis from the What the Futures podcast, John Deere’s inaugural CTO, Jahmy Hindman, joins Evan and Kristjan for a conversation. They cut through the noise around AI and ag tech and get into what’s actually changing on the farm. From his roots in Iowa to leading technology at Deere, Jahmy brings a practical lens to how data, machines, and decision-making are starting to come together.

A big part of the conversation comes back to the gap between how much data farms have and how little of it turns into something useful. What does “good” actually look like? How should farms compare performance? And where does Deere fit as equipment shifts from standalone machines to systems that have to work together?

They also spend time on the tension farms that they are feeling right now. Technology is moving fast, equipment is becoming more complex, and the way it’s paid for is changing. Nothing about that is simple. This episode lays out where things are headed, where they’re not, and what that means for how farms operate going forward.

After an introduction featuring Maverick Ag CTO Taylor Phillips, Devin Lammers joins Evan and Kristjan to talk about where AI in agriculture is actually creating value and where it still falls short. From a bison ranch in South Dakota to MIT, FBN, and now TerraClear, Devin brings both a tech and farm lens to the conversation, grounded in what works in the field.

The discussion starts with TerraClear’s work on HGV’s farm, mapping over 60,000 rocks and improving efficiency during one of the least liked jobs on the farm. Beyond rocks, the bigger opportunity: using high-resolution data and AI to understand what’s happening in the field in real time and make better decisions, faster.

This episode is really about turning data into action. From clean data and simple systems to ROI and real-world execution, the conversation highlights what needs to happen for agtech to move from ideas to something producers actually use.

Kristjan and Evan are joined by the renowned Arlene Dickinson, who shares how her early experiences with food insecurity shaped her thinking about food, business, and opportunity. From growing up without reliable access to groceries to building one of Canada’s leading marketing firms, her path into agriculture was not linear, but it was intentional. Through her work in venture capital, she began to question why a country with such strong agricultural production was not creating more value from what it grows. That realization led her to invest directly in the agri-food and consumer packaged goods space, where she now has a front row seat to both the opportunities and the gaps in Canada’s system.

Arlene challenges the idea that agriculture ends at the commodity level, pointing to the missed opportunity in processing, branding, and commercialization. She speaks to the need for better access to capital, stronger partnerships, and a willingness to think differently about how agricultural products move from field to shelf. At the same time, she highlights the importance of understanding markets, building products people actually want, and recognizing what skills are needed beyond primary production.