The Future Herd50: 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 next in agriculture? Drawing on conversations about knowledge, innovation, care, and succession, Hirsh argues that the sector's future depends not just on new ideas but on who is recognized as an expert, whose care is valued, and who has the resources and authority to act. Show notes: In this milestone 50th episode, host Jesse Hirsh steps back from individual interviews to connect threads from across The Future Herd's first fifty conversations. The episode is organized around a question that runs through the entire project: who gets to shape what happens next in agriculture? Hirsh argues that answering this requires asking whose knowledge counts, what kind of innovation we recognize, and what allows someone's ability and care to become a contribution that is recognized and lasts. It's an ideal entry point for new listeners and a chance for regulars to revisit key insights. The first thread examines whose knowledge counts. Hirsh revisits Donald Killorn's experience leading the PEI Federation of Agriculture through the potato export crisis, noting that Killorn brought a background in applied ecology rather than farming, which helped him understand the crisis as more than a crop problem. Charles Levkoe's work on agroecology and food sovereignty pushes further, connecting traditional and farmer knowledge with policy change. Together, these conversations ask not just whether agriculture has enough information, but who is heard as an expert and whose knowledge already present is allowed to influence decisions that matter. A second thread turns to innovation. Hirsh contrasts Mohsen's computational plant breeding, Stanley Bear's electric tractor designed for smaller growers, and Caylie Corvinelli's herd to harvest Collective, which asks eaters to commit to purchasing beef two years ahead. Rather than debating whether any single idea is exciting, Hirsh suggests a better question: what would have to exist around an idea—validation, manufacturing capacity, financing, or a willing customer—for someone to put it to use? Each example reveals different assumptions about who the imagined farmer is, who can afford to participate, and who bears the risk. The episode closes by connecting care and succession. Treska Watson's work at the Mustard Seed and Elaine Power's critique of food labour show that care involves work, choices, and resources—and that an arrangement can be commercially successful while leaving the people sustaining it precarious. Camden Lawrence, Jordyn Domio, and Jen MacTavish then extend the question to who gets responsibility, financing, and room to learn. Hirsh's takeaway is that recognizing someone's knowledge is only a start; the harder work is closing the distance between having something to contribute and having the conditions to contribute it. https://thefutureherd.ca/leaders/ Topics: agricultural leadership, knowledge and expertise, food sovereignty, innovation, care work, succession, Indigenous agriculture, youth participation
