Growing the Future

Steve and his wife Vanessa live near Three Hills, AB, with their three children. A Professional Agrologist and Certified Crop Advisor, Steve has supported farmers for over 25 years. He has a diploma in Crop Advisory and a B.Sc. in Agriculture Studies. In 2008, he received a Nuffield Scholarship to study controlled traffic farming.

In 2006, Steve founded Beyond Agronomy, providing agronomic services and strategies to farms in Canada and internationally. He also ran businesses in carbon and ag technology and published The Spark newsletter from 2008-2019.

A first-generation farmer since 2007, Steve operates a no-till research farm near Morrin, AB. He shares his expertise locally and internationally.

In his community, Steve enjoys making ice, coaching hockey, and winter activities with his family. He’s always ready for a brainstorming session.

Steve shares his vision for Nuffield Canada, including better communication and branding, and the goal of making the organization more widely known and impactful.

On heavy cracking clay, the tracks a machine leaves in a wet year are still visible in the crop three seasons later. Steve Larocque got tired of looking at them.

He is an independent agronomist near Morrin, Alberta, a first generation farmer, and chair of the Canadian arm of a global scholarship programme that sends people in agriculture around the world to study one question properly. His was controlled traffic farming, and he has been running it on his own ground ever since.

What's Inside

- What the scholarship actually is, who it is for, and what a family did with a year of travelling farms on four continents

- The gap that opened when a provincial government cut most of its extension staff, and the practice he built into it

- What controlled traffic farming requires in practice: matched axle widths, permanent lanes, and the equipment modifications to make it line up

- What happened to soil structure and bulk density in the first two to three years

- The difference it made to root architecture, measured in inches of taproot

- Why the lanes matter in a wet spring and again, differently, in a dry one

- His argument that farmers belong in the rooms where global food policy gets written, and what happens when they are not there

- Why he has kept most of the same clients for twenty years

Connect with Growing the Future

Website: growingthefuture.ca

YouTube: Growing the Future

Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast

LinkedIn: Growing the Future

Subscribe to the Growing the Future Podcast wherever you listen, and register for Convergence Conference 2027 at convergence.ag.

Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

Mike Palmier did not start Max Ag to sell products. He started it because he believed the advice model in ag was broken. Most input reps are paid on what they sell. Mike's argument is that the advisor who tells you not to buy something is more valuable than the one who always finds a reason to.

This episode is about what that looks like in practice -- what an ag advisor owes the farmer they work with, and where most of the advice model falls short.

What's Inside

- Why the input rep model creates a conflict that most producers do not realize they are navigating

- What honest ag advice actually looks like and how to tell if you are getting it

- The questions Mike Palmier asks on a farm before he recommends anything

- How Max Ag was built around a different economic model than the standard input company

- What to look for when you are evaluating whether an ag advisor is working for you or for the margin

Related Episodes

- The Input Your Fertility Plan Is Probably Missing -- Craig Davidson on the gap most programs ignore

- Before You Spray: 3 Things That Could Cost You Money This Season (May 2026) -- what to look at before you commit to an input decision

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.

Craig Davidson has spent his career watching fertility programs built on conventional inputs hit the same wall: consistent inputs, inconsistent results. His work with Tarus is built on one observation: what the soil biology needs is often not on the standard recommendation.

This episode covers the gap most fertility plans ignore and what changes when you account for it.

What's Inside

- Why two fields with identical inputs produce different results and what the biology explains

- The specific input category most fertility programs underweight or exclude entirely

- How Tarus products address the soil biology gap that conventional programs miss

- What Craig Davidson looks for when he evaluates a fertility program that is not performing

- How to identify whether your current program is missing the biological component

Related Episodes

- Your Soil Type Is Costing You Yield -- Greg Patterson on the fertility variable the handbooks skip

- Before You Spray: 3 Things That Could Cost You Money This Season (May 2026) -- timing, inputs, and what the field actually needs

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.

Marcel Kringe was working as an agronomist in Manitoba when a grain sample brought him out to look at three combines. The crop was being downgraded, the machines were set to blow the problem out the back, and a good deal of sound grain was going with it.

He spent a week dialling them in. The operation later worked out what that week had been worth to them, and the number was large enough to change the direction of his career.

What's Inside

- The grain loss problem he kept finding everywhere he looked, and why it is invisible from the cab without something under the machine to catch it

- Why the loss sensor in the cab is the part that matters, and what happens to automated combine settings when that sensor has never been properly calibrated

- What a drop pan actually tells you, translated into dollars per acre and dollars per hour rather than bushels

- The combine clinics that grew out of it, and what operators with decades of seat time say they learn there

- How concave settings decide whether weed seeds go through the seed destruction mill or straight back onto the field

- Recovering from a serious collision while the business was still new, and what it taught him about not keeping everything in one person's head

- Scaling from a handful of people to a team exporting around the world, and the culture rule he holds to about how everyone in the building gets treated

- What he would need to see in three years to call it a success, which has nothing to do with revenue

➡️ CLICK HERE TO WATCH PT. 1 Marcel Kringe | Ag Entrepreneurship: The Essence of Happiness: 

Connect with Marcel: 

Website: https://bushelplus.ca/who-we-are/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BushelPlus/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BushelPlus 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bushelplus/ 

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChiABoQgTTuxU9ZgdHpE4fg

 Connect with Growing the Future

Website: growingthefuture.ca

YouTube: Growing the Future

Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast

LinkedIn: Growing the Future

Subscribe to the Growing the Future Podcast wherever you listen, and register for Convergence Conference 2027 at convergence.ag.

Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

He grew up on ten acres with four generations under one roof, which was not enough land to make a living from. At fourteen he signed apprenticeship papers to become a farmer. At sixteen he moved two hours away to live with a farming family as one of them.

This is part one of a conversation with Marcel Kringe, founder of Bushel Plus, tracing the route from a small German farm to a company selling into more than thirty countries.

What's Inside

- A three year agricultural apprenticeship that moved him to a different farm every year, and what a first pay stub actually looked like

- What German engineering culture does differently, and the trade-off he sees against the North American habit of shipping early and fixing later

- The photographs of Alberta equipment that started the travelling

- Working on an investment farm in western Russia that was trying to go from nothing to eighty thousand acres in three years, without speaking the language

- What village hospitality looked like in places with no running water, and what he took from it

- Arriving in Canada with a bag of clothes, and the global problem he decided to work on

- The arithmetic behind the company's mission, using the combine count in one province

- The four things the business is built around, and how fast an idea moves from a napkin to a working part

Related Episodes

- Half a Bushel Saved, Six Thrown Away, part two of this conversation

Connect with Marcel:

Website: https://bushelplus.ca/who-we-are/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BushelPlus/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BushelPlus

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bushelplus/

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChiABoQgTTuxU9ZgdHpE4fg

Connect with Growing the Future

Website: growingthefuture.ca

YouTube: Growing the Future

Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast

LinkedIn: Growing the Future

Subscribe to the Growing the Future Podcast wherever you listen, and register for Convergence Conference 2027 at convergence.ag.

Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

Blake Berglund grew up on a horse operation in southeastern Saskatchewan doing two hours of chores before school and three after, with piano practice fitted around them and his brother and sister covering his mornings when an exam was coming.

He is a country artist and writer now, and this conversation reaches him in a farmhouse outside Nashville. It moves between the work that shaped him, the year he lost his father, and what he has built since.

What's Inside

- The horse operation his family ran through the nineties, and the division of labour between three siblings that made music possible at all

- Why he describes manual work as something closer to a spiritual practice than a chore, and what going back to the farm still does for him

- Losing his father, and what the family experienced in the room at the end

- Why he hopes the grief never fully leaves, and what he thinks it is evidence of

- Two years without alcohol, and what changed on the other side of that decision

- Building an independent music business rather than chasing radio, and treating songs as assets rather than promotion

- The concept record he made about all of it, and how subscribers get it

- A live performance of a song written for his mother and sisters

- This episode captures the essence of love, loss, and the enduring connection to the farm that shapes the lives of the Berglund family.  

Connect with Blake: 

The Straight & The Narrow Substack: https://blakeberglund.substack.com/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/blakeberglund

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blakejohnberglund

Website: https://blakeberglund.com/

Connect with Growing the Future

Website: growingthefuture.ca

YouTube: Growing the Future

Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast

LinkedIn: Growing the Future

Subscribe to the Growing the Future Podcast wherever you listen, and register for Convergence Conference 2027 at convergence.ag.

Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

Robert Andjelic asks every tenant the same question: if this were your land and your money, what would you do to improve it? About nine times in ten, he says, they end up doing exactly what the tenant suggests.

In this final part of the series, Canada's largest farmland owner talks about where agriculture is heading, from gene editing and AI weed control to what farmland offers that other assets do not, and how he explains it to lenders who think of farming the way their grandparents did. This is his own view and investment thinking, not financial advice.
 

What's Inside

- What the auto industry's supply chain problems reveal about global fragility

- The innovations Robert is most excited about: automation, AI-driven weed control, and vertical farming

- Why targeted technology beats blanket solutions, in his view

- How this three-part conversation set the stage for everything Robert has said publicly since

vRelated Episodes

- Why the Biggest Buyer Can't Outbid the Farmer -- Part One

- Robert Andjelic Part Two: Scary Predictions & Rich Opportunities -- Part Two

Connect with Robert: 

Website: https://andjelic.ca/about 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008628990360 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-andjelic-a0474178/ 

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.

In part two, Dan and Robert delve into critical insights shaping the future of agriculture, global trade, and investment strategies. 

Robert discusses the importance of maintaining capital flow into agriculture, especially in these uncertain times. Canada, in his words, is at the forefront of efficiency, with a need to invest wisely for the benefit of future generations.

Even with formulas and foresight, Robert shares his experience of being unable to foresee the specific situation in Ukraine. Geopolitical shifts were anticipated, but their impact on agriculture and global trade was unexpected. 

He also touches on his foresight into the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and the impending challenges once government support wanes.

Robert shares experiences from past recessions and the innovation required to navigate the upcoming economic shifts. 

Despite all challenges in other sectors, Robert emphasizes why agriculture remains a safe investment. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on the intricacies of global shifts, economic challenges, and the evolving landscape of agriculture. 

Please note that the views expressed here are Robert's opinions and his own investment ideas. This is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice.

What's Inside

- Why Robert believes Canada is positioned to win on global food efficiency

- What 13 to 15 years of his own research told him about geopolitical risk, and what surprised him anyway

- Capital, equipment investment, and the next generation of entrepreneurs he sees coming up in agriculture

- An unscripted exchange on what nobody could have predicted about Ukraine

Related Episodes

- Why the Biggest Buyer Can't Outbid the Farmer -- the first part of this conversation

- Part Three: The Grand Finale with Robert Andjelic -- where this conversation goes next

Connect with Robert: 

Website: https://andjelic.ca/about

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008628990360

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-andjelic-a0474178/

Aberhart Family of Companies:

https://aberhartagsolutions.ca

https://aberhartfarms.com

https://suregrowth.ca

https://www.convergencegrowth.com

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.

Robert Andjelic crossed the Yugoslav border at ten years old. Hidden in a hay wagon. Rain coming down. Border guards on the other side with dogs. He made it.

He arrived in Canada in 1958 with his family and nothing else.

By 2023, he owned 231,000 acres of Saskatchewan farmland -- the largest private holding in the country.

And he says a farmer will outbid him every time. Because farmers capture operating returns. He only captures rent. The investor everyone assumes is pricing them out is actually the one at a disadvantage.

This is that conversation.

What's Inside:

- Why Robert left commercial real estate and chose food and water over everything else

- The Saskatchewan price gap: same crop as Manitoba, fraction of the price -- and why it's closing

- How he anticipated three recessions and moved to cash before each one hit

- Why investors owning 2-3% of Western Canadian farmland cannot move the market

- What he is waiting for before he buys again

Related Episodes

- Robert Andjelic Part Two: Scary Predictions and Rich Opportunities (Dec 2023)

- Too Big to Farm (May 2026) -- Robert returns to talk distress, scale, and the math that stopped working

Connect with Robert:

Website: https://andjelic.ca/about

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008628990360

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-andjelic-a0474178/

Connect with Growing the Future

Website: https://growingthefuture.ca/

Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.

Andy Junkin is a seventh generation farm boy from Bobcaygeon, Ontario, and he did not inherit the farm. He came home from Guelph with a two hundred page business plan, watched his father put it in the fire, and spent the next decade trying to hold a family together that was coming apart around the operation. He has not been back.

What he built instead is a practice that has helped save family farms across twenty two states and five provinces, and it starts somewhere most succession advice does not. Before the estate planning, before the lawyers, there is a sign in a milk house with five principles on it, and a year of everyone agreeing to change one thing about themselves.

What's Inside

- The five principles on the milk house sign, and why he thinks they have to be in place before anyone opens an estate plan

- Why he studies narcissism, and his argument that successful operators are more exposed to it than most people

- The twelve month character improvement cycle, and what he means by wanting 4-H for adults

- The two brothers, the ten million dollar farm, and the five percent flaw on each side that nearly ended it

- Why he caps every idea brought to a family meeting at a fixed dollar figure, and what that does to a father who resists change

- What separates transferring assets, which he says only requires dying, from transferring judgment, which takes ten years

Connect with Andy: 

Website: https://stubborn.farm 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caygeon

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stubborn_farm

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stubborn.farm/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StubbornFarm

Connect with Growing the Future

Website: growingthefuture.ca

YouTube: Growing the Future

Instagram: @growingthefuturepodcast

LinkedIn: Growing the Future

Subscribe to the Growing the Future Podcast wherever you listen, and register for Convergence Conference 2027 at convergence.ag.

Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.