Growing the Future

Dan Aberhart , Terry Aberhart
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  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated weekly

CONVERSATIONS THAT MATTER. 

 The Growing the Future Podcast features conversations on innovation, entrepreneurship, and personal and professional growth in the agriculture community.

  1. 1 day ago

    State of Iron: Who Owns Your Tractor?

    John Deere settled a $99 million lawsuit. Cory Doctorow says that's not the point. The point is a Canadian law passed in 2012 -- after 6,132 Canadians said no to it and 53 said yes -- that makes it illegal to fix your own equipment using anything the manufacturer did not approve. The tractors stolen from Ukraine were remotely immobilized. If that capability were turned toward Canadian farms, you would not need tanks at the border. Cory Doctorow coined enshittification -- the framework now in the Oxford English Dictionary for how platform companies progressively extract more from captive users. He is a special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This is his perspective on the John Deere settlement, where right-to-repair goes from here, and what the most organized political force in rural Canada could actually do about it. This is not Growing the Future's verdict on Deere or any equipment manufacturer. What's Inside - What enshittification means and why John Deere became Cory's clearest example of it outside tech platforms - Parts pairing: how a chip on your equipment determines who can fix it and what components can connect to it - How data generated by your tractor was being siphoned -- and why data ownership and right-to-repair are the same underlying issue - Honeybee, a Saskatchewan head-end manufacturer, cannot connect their products to Deere equipment because of digital locks, not any technical limitation - Canada's Bill C-11: the Copyright Modernization Act passed in 2012 after 6,132 Canadians opposed it and 53 supported it - Digital sovereignty: from Ukraine's remotely immobilized tractors to what happens if that switch gets turned toward Alberta - Why voting with your wallet does not work in a monopoly, and what the Grangers' fight with the railroads in 1890 has to do with where we are right now - A specific call to action: CCLA, Open Media, and the EFF -- and why farmers are one of the most effective political forces in this country when they choose to be Also discussed: Cory's new book "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI" -- Number 1 Canadian bestseller, New York Times list, and in the same week enshittification was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.   Resources Mentioned The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI -- Cory Doctorow (Number 1 Canadian bestseller -- available at Indigo and McNally Robinson) Electronic Frontier Foundation -- eff.org Open Media -- openmedia.ca Canadian Civil Liberties Association -- ccla.org pluralistic.net -- Cory's daily newsletter Honeybee -- Canadian head-end manufacturer, Saskatchewan Agri GPS bridge -- referenced by audience member Jim Hale as an example of third-party ag tech workaround   If you want to hear more from the GTF back catalog on what it costs when farm equipment goes down, start with: Matt Yanick's episode: Downtime: The ROI Killer.  And if the data question from this conversation stays with you, Wade Barnes' Farmers Edge series looks at who owns what comes off your farm.   Connect with Cory Doctorow pluralistic.net craphound.com Book: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI -- Indigo, McNally Robinson, and all major booksellers   Connect with Growing the Future Website: growingthefuture.ca  YouTube: Growing the Future Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast LinkedIn: Growing the Future Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

    State of Iron: Who Owns Your Tractor?

  2. 6 days ago

    Why Aren't You Doing It All?

    In agriculture, being busy is practically a badge. Ask anybody how they're doing and you'll get some version of underwater. So how does a 25-year-old fifth-generation grain farmer from Churchbridge, Saskatchewan, who also writes federal grain policy, finishes a master's thesis, teaches university, and referees hockey across the country, have more room in her day than most people do? Kate Sauser has ADHD, a system she built around how her brain actually works, and a tattoo on her wrist that reads "everything in time." This is the episode where she explains it.   Resources Mentioned Albert Einstein: "Time is relative, its only worth depends on what we do as it is passing" Billy Joel: "Vienna" -- "Slow down, you're doing fine. You can't be everything you want to be before your time." Google Calendar -- Kate's primary scheduling tool ChatGPT -- Kate uses it for daily task planning, meal planning, and workouts   Connect with Growing the Future Website: growingthefuture.ca YouTube: Growing the Future Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast LinkedIn: Growing the Future Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

    Why Aren't You Doing It All?

  3. 7 Jul

    Renewable Diesel Is About to Eat 10% of the Canola Crop

    One refinery south of Edmonton will process a million tonnes of canola feedstock this year, more than 10% of Canada's entire canola crop at a single facility. The US renewable fuel standard needs another 2.7 million tonnes on top of that, and Indonesia is moving toward a 50% biodiesel blend requirement. In the 2000s, corn ethanol turned a $2.50 crop into a $9 crop in under a decade. Growing the Future's foremost live briefing examines whether canola is about to run the same play, and what the structural demand shift already means for Prairie land values.   Topics and Timestamps 0:00 -- Opening: the renewable diesel demand story and the canola-as-fuel structural shift 3:00 -- Sponsor acknowledgments and panelist introductions 5:00 -- Is canola food or fuel, and does the distinction matter? 6:00 -- Shaun Wildman: calorie analysis and why food affordability is not the argument 9:00 -- Quick Dick McDick: Saskatchewan's 24 million canola acres and the case for playing both markets 13:00 -- Ryan Bonnett: the corn ethanol parallel and how US biofuel policy drives domestic demand 14:00 -- RIN credits and the 12-cent-per-pound penalty for Canadian-sourced canola in US markets 16:00 -- Indonesia's B50 blend requirement and what global feedstock scale actually looks like 18:00 -- Local processing expansion: Cargill in Regina, LDC and Richardson in Yorkton doubling capacity 22:00 -- The bottleneck: crush capacity is the ceiling, not canola production 27:00 -- Scale check: the US diesel market and how much canola it would take to move the needle 28:00 -- EPA rates canola second-best vegetable oil for US renewable fuel programs 32:00 -- Saskatchewan's carbon advantage: 67% lower footprint through zero-till canola 36:00 -- US winter canola expansion as a future risk to Canadian market share 39:00 -- Could canola's price floor shift from $500 to $700 per tonne? 45:00 -- Prairie land values: what the renewable diesel demand shift means for buyers and holders 48:00 -- Large land acquisitions, the Minette deal, and what it means for the next generation of operators 52:00 -- Closing round: one takeaway from each voice in the room   Connect with Growing the Future Website: growingthefuture.ca YouTube: Growing the Future Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast LinkedIn: Growing the Future  Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

    Renewable Diesel Is About to Eat 10% of the Canola Crop

  4. 3 Jul

    Don't Follow the Flock

    In April 2026 the United Nations revised its worst-case climate scenarios downward and declared the most catastrophic projections highly implausible. Almost no one in Canada covered it. Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University and host of Canada's number one rated food podcast, has spent 25 years doing the work the room needs: holding science, policy, and politics to the same standard. In this conversation, he takes on three issues agriculture keeps being told what to think about, climate policy, gene editing, and the Canadian fear of failure, and gives the room the version it hasn't been getting.   Topics and Timestamps 0:00 -- Dan's opening question: think of one issue in agriculture you've changed your mind on in the last five years 1:30 -- "Don't Follow the Flock" -- live intro and platform housekeeping 3:00 -- Dr. Sylvain Charlebois: The Food Professor Podcast, Dalhousie, Canada's number one food podcast with zero budget 4:00 -- Ireland, Brexit, and the economic lesson Canada keeps missing about CUSMA 10:00 -- Audience poll: when you hear a strong opinion from a non-farmer, what's your first instinct? 11:00 -- Why civic engagement in food systems makes farming stronger, not weaker 13:00 -- Demand chain management: build from the consumer back, not the farm gate forward 15:00 -- How Canadian media coverage became one-sided and why it keeps getting harder to correct 22:00 -- The GTF promotion ad that was rejected -- and what that reveals 23:00 -- Topics Sylvain is asked not to raise on Ottawa stages 25:00 -- The "mini-me" problem in academia: conform, or get canceled 33:00 -- MYTH 1: Climate change -- the UN revised its worst-case scenarios downward; almost no Canadian outlet covered it 40:00 -- Carbon pricing at $110 a tonne with emissions still rising: what the data actually shows 44:00 -- MYTH 2: Gene editing -- why transparency and consumer buy-in are the one thing the industry keeps skipping 46:00 -- MYTH 3: Going broke is bad -- what a Purdue lunch table of ag entrepreneurs revealed about Canadian risk culture 49:00 -- Monette's bankruptcy, Robert Andjelic, and why Canada should treat risk-takers as a national asset 51:00 -- Ryan Bonnett's question: Sylvain's three priorities for Canadian agriculture 52:00 -- Where Canada leads the G20 in agricultural science, and where it falls short 53:00 -- CUSMA, July 1st, and what the non-renewal actually signals for investment in Canadian ag 54:00 -- Close and upcoming: Strathcona renewable diesel with Quick Dick McDick and Sean Wildman; right-to-repair tractors with Cory Doctorow   Resources Mentioned The Food Professor Podcast -- Dr. Sylvain Charlebois (available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major platforms) Episode: Interview with US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra -- on The Food Professor Podcast Agri-Food Analytics Lab -- Dalhousie University (dal.ca/agri-food-analytics-lab) Postmedia op-eds -- Dr. Sylvain Charlebois writes every two to three days (available at major Postmedia outlets) MNP / Dalhousie G20 agricultural science comparison study -- referenced in conversation, available through Agri-Food Analytics Lab   Connect with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois The Food Professor Podcast: thefoodprofessor.ca Dalhousie University Agri-Food Analytics Lab: dal.ca/agri-food-analytics-lab X / Twitter: @FoodProfessor   Connect with Growing the Future Website: growingthefuture.ca YouTube: Growing the Future Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast  LinkedIn: Growing the Future Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

    Don't Follow the Flock

  5. 1 Jul

    Everything in Time with Kate Sauser

    The person everyone asks how they do it all is usually the last person to have a tidy answer. Kate Sauser is a policy manager at Grain Growers of Canada, a fifth-generation farmer from Churchbridge, SK, a high-level hockey referee, a competitive softball player, and a master's student finishing her thesis, all at 25. In this conversation, she shares the three-part framework behind her course on time: the problem most operators carry but rarely name out loud, the single decision that changes how the whole calendar feels, and the practical moves that make it work week to week.   Topics and Timestamps 0:00 -- Pre-registration responses: what does "I don't have time" actually mean? 1:00 -- Live intro: "How Does She Do It All?" and platform housekeeping 3:00 -- Kate's background: family farm near Churchbridge, Grain Growers, U of S, hockey, softball, 25 6:00 -- The over-committer's honest answer: time is relative to what you decide to do with it 9:00 -- Live poll: which of these sounds like your week? 11:00 -- Why technology makes the time problem worse before it makes it better 12:00 -- Kate's daily to-do list system: schedule blocks, high-priority vs. rolling low-priority tasks 14:00 -- Pen to paper: why writing it down works better than any app 15:00 -- "Everyone gets angry at time but doesn't work with it" -- the shift that started everything 16:00 -- The $86,400 analogy: if you had that many dollars to spend today, would you waste it? 18:00 -- The "Everything in Time" tattoo and the philosophy behind it 19:00 -- Modern myths about time and the scarcity loop they reinforce 21:00 -- Harry Siemens on day-timers, five priorities, and why four and five often disappear by noon 22:00 -- Hard stops and focused blocks: how Kate finished her master's thesis 25:00 -- ADHD, late diagnosis at 23, and the paralysis that comes before the system 31:00 -- Is ADHD a disability or a superpower? Kate's answer 34:00 -- Turning guilt into fuel: how a negative emotion becomes next-day productivity 37:00 -- Burnout is real: Kate's honest account of hitting the wall and what actually helps 38:00 -- Attitude as a daily choice: Harry Siemens' 1986 motto and why Kate agrees 42:00 -- Calendar as a bank account: if you want to be rich with time, check it often 45:00 -- Alex Clark in the chat: values alignment and what "pouring from an empty cup" actually means 45:00 -- Habit stacking: doing two things at once with purpose, not guilt 49:00 -- Kate's live exercise: "Did you spend yesterday, or did you let it happen to you?" 52:00 -- CTA: Everything in Time -- Kate's full course inside the Growing the Future Mastermind 53:00 -- Close and upcoming: Dr. Sylvain Charlebois on Friday   Resources Mentioned Atomic Habits -- James Clear The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control -- Katherine Morgan Schafler Verity -- Colleen Hoover (fiction; mentioned as Kate's last great read) Goodreads -- book-tracking and rating app (goodreads.com) Google Calendar -- Kate's primary calendar tool 75 Hard -- fitness and discipline challenge referenced for habit stacking   Connect with Kate Sauser Grain Growers of Canada: graingrowers.ca   Connect with Growing the Future Website: growingthefuture.ca YouTube: Growing the Future Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast LinkedIn: Growing the Future Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

    Everything in Time with Kate Sauser

  6. 29 Jun

    The Summer Selling Window

    Every July, Prairie operators make new-crop decisions that set their cash flow for the next twelve months, usually reading the same headlines as everyone else and reacting to the loudest one. In this conversation, grain marketing advisor Ryan Bonnett puts his daily client read on a stage: what is actually moving canola, wheat, corn, and soybean markets right now, and where the summer selling window sits inside the seasonal pattern. Colin Brisebois, VP of Products and Market Strategies at FCC, adds the lender's view, what disciplined marketing looks like once it shows up in an operation's cash flow. Topics and Timestamps 0:00 -- The spring everyone just lived, and why the marketing window opens at the worst possible time 3:30 -- Welcome to Ryan Bonnett and Colin Brisebois 6:00 -- Live poll: how much of your 2026 crop is still unpriced 10:00 -- Beat the average, not the top: Ryan's core marketing philosophy 13:00 -- Colin on discipline: know your cost of production before you build a plan 16:00 -- Seller's remorse, and the parameters that remove it 19:00 -- The 80/20 problem: why most operators miss the top of the market 21:00 -- Crop conditions across the Prairies and the US heading into summer 28:00 -- Know your unique ability: when to hire the discipline you don't have 31:00 -- Ryan's seasonal chart: why prices rally into seeding and fall after 34:00 -- The summer selling window, and put options as price insurance 39:00 -- Reading the charts: double tops, RSI, and shifting momentum 42:00 -- China, Iran, and the headlines that don't move price until money does 45:00 -- New biofuel regulation, the floor under canola, and the policy risk underneath it 49:00 -- Bullish or bearish, defend your answer: Ryan's discipline test 52:00 -- Domestic processing and the case for building crush capacity at home 55:00 -- Colin's three pillars at FCC: knowledge, advice, capital 58:00 -- The $50 billion wealth transfer, and who replaces the next generation of ag talent 1:01:00 -- The cohort program: Ryan and FCC's plan to bring this education to more operators 1:03:00 -- Close   Resources Mentioned Ryan Bonnett's grain marketing client cohort program, run in partnership with FCC   Connect with Ryan Bonnett Grain marketing advisor (public brand name pending -- link to follow once confirmed) Connect with Colin Brisebois VP, Products and Market Strategies, Farm Credit Canada (FCC)   Connect with Growing the Future Website: growingthefuture.ca  YouTube: Growing the Future  Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast  LinkedIn: Growing the Future Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

    The Summer Selling Window

  7. 25 Jun

    The Great Canadian Bull with Robert Andjelic

    Robert Andjelic has been bearish more often than not for three years. In January, he stood in front of a packed room and called a capital squeeze. This time he came back fired up about something different: three converging forces he believes put Canada in the strongest agricultural position in a generation. What follows is Robert defending three years of public predictions, line by line, before laying out the new one. Topics and Timestamps 0:00 -- Dan opens. Robert's backstory: escaping Croatia as a boy, building a commercial real estate empire, the Saskatchewan land bet that started at $400 an acre 5:00 -- Audience poll: who's bullish, neutral, or bearish right now 8:00 -- Why farmer suicide rates stay high even when the numbers look good 12:00 -- The fall 2023 call to lock in farm debt, revisited 18:00 -- Mark to market: the Saskatchewan farmland call, three years of FCC data 21:00 -- Why Robert owns zero acres of farmland in the United States 23:00 -- The eight early signs of credit tightening, in order 30:00 -- What a major operator's financial trouble this year means for the rest of the industry 41:00 -- Rent versus buy: the framework Robert actually uses on his own land 45:00 -- Why the smaller rural towns keep shrinking 52:00 -- Why Canada is technically in a recession as of mid-2026 59:00 -- The Hormuz oil shock compared to the 1979-81 shock 1:04:00 -- How the live audience rated Robert's three-year track record 1:06:00 -- The cattle herd rebuild that's still years from equilibrium 1:10:00 -- The bullish thesis: the Strait of Hormuz, a developing super El Nino, and the aquifers running dry 1:13:00 -- Robert's probability breakdown for an agricultural super cycle, 2026 to 2028 1:20:00 -- Why Robert doesn't trust AI to predict what happens next 1:21:00 -- Inside the Strait of Hormuz: vessels waiting, insurers pulling back, years to rebuild 1:29:00 -- Closing: investing by the numbers, not the narrative   Resources Mentioned FCC Farmland Values Report -- cultivated land value data cited for Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta NOAA El Nino Watch, issued May 14, 2026 Reuters reporting on Strait of Hormuz vessel traffic and tanker movement   Connect with Robert Andjelic Canada's largest private farmland owner, 450,000+ acres across Western Canada   Connect with Growing the Future Website: growingthefuture.ca YouTube: Growing the Future Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast LinkedIn: Growing the Future Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

    The Great Canadian Bull with Robert Andjelic

  8. 21 Jun

    The Math Broke: Who can Afford to Stay in?

    The math of buying in has changed. The math of staying in has too. David Widmar of Agricultural Economic Insights and Eric Olsen of MNP Farm Management bring the US and Canadian numbers together to examine what farmland affordability, cash rent pressure, and the post-ZIRP interest rate environment actually mean for producers running a farm in 2026. Two countries. One calculator. The gap between what land is worth and what it can earn has never been wider. Topics and Timestamps 0:00 -- Dan opens: the 16-year cash rent stat and what it signals about the moment we are in 0:07 -- David Widmar: how ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) inflated asset values from 2008 onward 0:08 -- New Fed chair Kevin Warsh: five review areas, inflation as priority one, what it means for rates 0:09 -- Eric Olsen: Canadian interest rate outlook -- stable to slightly up, no major jumps expected 0:11 -- David: US row crop squeeze -- lower commodity prices, stubborn cost structure, Iran conflict pushing energy and fertilizer back up 0:12 -- US government ad hoc payments: second highest since the 1920s, and why that carries risk 0:14 -- Eric: Canadian farm support programs -- AgriStability, crop insurance (98% participation in Manitoba), GARS 0:17 -- David: How ARC and PLC work -- risk management programs with a built-in payment delay problem 0:19 -- David: "Musical chairs" -- why ad hoc programs create systemic risk rather than resolve it 0:20 -- Eric: AgriStability explained -- margin-based, plannable, based on your numbers not a county average 0:23 -- Eric: "Farmers are sophisticated businesspeople" -- the $2-3M floor that surprises people outside agriculture 0:24 -- David: The paradox of risk management -- tools that reduce short-term pain can build long-term fragility 0:30 -- Dan introduces the farmland affordability calculator David built for registrants 0:31 -- Metric 1: Down payment years -- Indiana at $15K/acre, $326 rent, 35% down = 16 years of cash rent saved (was 6 in the 1990s) 0:34 -- Eric: Canadian read on Metric 1 -- $8,500/acre in the Regina plains, $180/acre rent, nearly identical ratio 0:36 -- US vs Canada land ownership structure: 60%+ rented in Illinois regions, 70% owned in western Canada 0:38 -- Harry Siemens (audience): How does the farm community make sense of high land values and next-generation transition? 0:39 -- David: Path to equilibrium -- lower land values, lower interest rates, slower appreciation, or some combination of all three 0:41 -- Eric: The case for separating the real estate business from the farm operating business; barriers to entry for young producers 0:44 -- Harry Siemens: Are large corporate landowners (200,000+ acres) healthy for the industry? 0:45 -- Eric: Supply and demand reality -- large land releases will affect prices; the market is starting to work 0:47 -- David: How lenders managed large land holdings in the 1980s crisis and what that signals for today 0:49 -- David Schmidt (Rabobank, Alberta): Are lenders shifting from asset-based to cashflow-based lending decisions? 0:49 -- Eric: Yes -- lenders taking a harder look at business fundamentals; younger producers will feel it first 0:51 -- Metric 2: First-year payment calculator -- US approaching 300% (3 acres to cover payment on 1), Canada at 195-250% depending on rate 0:56 -- Alex Clark (Rabobank): Not tightening so much as asking better questions -- creative lending options, extended amortization 0:57 -- David: Closing takeaway -- about half of US farmland appreciation since the 1980s came from falling interest rates; don't assume you are immune to rate risk if you own land outright 0:59 -- Eric: Thanks, upcoming MNP benchmarking series; Dan previews Robert Andjelic's return next week (bullish on commodities super cycle) 1:01 -- Dan closes: Building Your Operating System cohort update, August cohort opening   Resources Mentioned Agricultural Economic Insights farmland affordability calculator (shared with registrants via event link) ARC and PLC farm bill programs (US) -- risk management programs for row crop producers AgriStability -- Canada's margin-based whole-farm income support program GARS -- private margin-based insurance product for Canadian producers   Connect with David Widmar Agricultural Economic Insights: https://aei.ag/overview Connect with Eric Olsen MNP Farm Management: mnp.ca   Connect with Growing the Future Website: growingthefuture.ca YouTube: Growing the Future Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast LinkedIn: Growing the Future Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

    The Math Broke: Who can Afford to Stay in?
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About

CONVERSATIONS THAT MATTER. 

 The Growing the Future Podcast features conversations on innovation, entrepreneurship, and personal and professional growth in the agriculture community.

Information

  • Creator
    Dan Aberhart , Terry Aberhart
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    176
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Growing the Future

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