The Truth About Ag

After an introduction in which Kristjan and Evan answer questions that have come in from the last few episodes, they are joined by Candace Laing. Candace shares her path from a family farm in southwest Saskatchewan to senior leadership at Nutrien and now CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, including how her agricultural roots have shaped the way she approaches business, policy and leadership.

The conversation explores Canada’s economic future and the role agriculture should play in it. Candace, Kristjan and Evan discuss investment, rural infrastructure, regulation, productivity and why production agriculture can still struggle to find its place in national conversations alongside energy, mining and other major industries. They also explore where collaboration and larger-scale thinking could help agriculture participate in new investment and growth opportunities.

Candace also shares the story behind her book, Girl, You Got This, and why she believes sharing real career experiences can help more women see themselves in leadership. The discussion touches on women in agriculture, succession and the importance of putting the right person in the right role regardless of gender or tradition.

Policy uncertainty has become a constant in agriculture, but the bigger question is what producers should focus on. Evan and Kristjan are joined by Shaun Haney and Tyler McCann for a farm-level look at the forces shaping Canadian agriculture right now, including trade, global markets and the broader policy decisions influencing costs, commodity prices and business risk.

The conversation ultimately comes back to management. In an environment where markets can move quickly, and outside factors are difficult to predict, knowing your numbers, understanding how much risk your business can carry and making decisions with a longer view become increasingly important. The group also challenges some of the prevailing pessimism around Canadian agriculture, looking at the competitive advantages producers have today and how better financial and risk management can help farms respond to uncertainty.

After an introduction in which Evan discusses what he would do to help agriculture in the future, Evan and Kristjan are joined by Andrea Gruza and Mitchell King of Bonnefield Financial for a conversation about farmland, access to capital and the role of private investment in Canadian agriculture.

Andrea and Mitchell explain how Bonnefield works with farmers, including sale-and-leaseback arrangements, land unit exchanges and expansion-related land purchases. They discuss how lease rates are determined, how long-term leases and buyback options can be structured, and what they look for when deciding which farm operators to work with.

The conversation also covers farmland ownership rules, the availability of capital in different provinces, succession and transition situations, and the challenges farms can face when land they currently rent or want to acquire comes up for sale. Evan and Kristjan also share their perspectives on land ownership, rental arrangements, working capital and the importance of understanding the different financing and partnership options available to a farm.

After an introduction with Evan and Kristjan discussing the beginning of harvest and how important it is to sit in someone else’s seat, Colin Brisebois joins them. Most people know Farm Credit Canada for lending, but they talk about the work happening beyond what you’d expect, including the partnership with Maverick Ag. From advisory services and strategic partnerships to transition planning and business education, Colin explains how FCC is working with producers as farm businesses become more complex and the demands on owners continue to grow.

The conversation moves through some of the challenges facing farm families today, including succession, bringing the right advisers together, and actually putting plans into action. Colin also talks about the value of surrounding producers with people who can fill specific skill needs, rather than expecting one person to be great at every part of the business.

Looking ahead, Colin shares where FCC is placing its attention, including transition, innovation, new forms of capital, technology adoption and the long-term strength of rural communities. It’s a broader look at how FCC sees its role in Canadian agriculture, and how knowledge, advice and capital can work together to help producers move their businesses forward.

Kristjan and Evan kick off the episode with a wide-ranging discussion on the major challenges impacting the agricultural industry. They share insights into evolving global market conditions and practical financial strategies farms can use to navigate policy shifts, manage finances, and plan strategically. 

Then, live from Ag in Motion, they’re joined by Craig Davidson, CEO of Taurus Ag and the newest sponsor of The Truth About Ag. Craig shares the story behind Taurus as the company marks 25 years in business, his roots on a fifth-generation farm, and the philosophy that has shaped much of the company’s approach to agronomy and fertility: think like a plant. They dig into plant health, biologicals, fertilizer availability, salt load, phosphate and sulfur, and why measuring the value of fertility by tonnes purchased can miss what actually matters to both the plant and the farm’s margin.

The conversation also moves beyond agronomy into how Craig thinks about business, relationships and the future of agriculture. He talks about the value of challenging customers and being challenged in return, supporting rural communities, being willing to fail in pursuit of something better, and the potential for AI, better data and emerging computing technology to help agriculture make faster, more precise decisions.

Live from Ag in Motion at the John Deere booth, Kristjan and Evan are joined by Deanna Kovar, President of Deere's Ag and Turf Division. She grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm, started as a summer intern decades ago, and has since worked her way through nearly every corner of the company. It's a chance to talk shop with someone who's both run the numbers on a combine's R&D budget and filled the drill herself.

The conversation ends up being less about any single product and more about how Deere thinks. How a company built on iron became just as much a technology company, why that bet on precision ag decades ago still shapes everything they build today, and how they're trying to earn farmers' trust with their data while actually making it useful. Trade policy and tariffs come up; so does the long road from "nobody wanted to touch Operations Centre" to "I can't run my farm without it," and there's real talk about right to repair, retrofitting older equipment, and where the next wave of value on the farm is actually going to come from.

It's a wide-ranging, honest conversation from someone who clearly hasn't lost the farm-kid perspective despite the corner office — capped off with a few personal questions that get at how she thinks about leadership, decision-making, and what she'd want for the future of North American agriculture. 

Evan and Kristjan sit down with Dick Wittman, farm management consultant, educator, and longtime faculty member of Texas A&M's Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP).

The conversation takes a hard look at an uncomfortable trend: using a proficiency checklist tracked over 25+ years, Dick reveals that farm operators, even massive, sophisticated operations doing hundreds of millions in sales, are scoring worse on basic management fundamentals today than they were two decades ago. We talk through why: gaps in agricultural education, a generation that hasn't been tested by a truly bad year, and an industry-wide habit of avoiding the "boardroom conversations" around budgets, job descriptions, and strategic planning until a crisis forces the issue.

But this isn't just a story about what's going wrong; it's about the fixes. We cover succession planning as a daily discipline rather than a one-time event, hiring outside your family, the generational shift bringing more non-owner managers into leadership roles, and why building SOPs and a culture people actually want to work for matters more than ever. If you've ever wondered whether your farm would pass its own report card, this episode might change how you grade yourself.

The episode opens with Taylor Phillips setting the table on AI and tools in a practical way: what they are, how they are used, and why the starting point should be the problem you are trying to solve, not the technology itself. That carries into the full conversation with Nick Horob, who joins Evan and Kristjan to discuss farm software, AI, and the difference between building something interesting and building something useful. Farms do not need more disconnected tools. They need better ways to see their numbers, manage information, and make decisions with less friction.

The conversation pushes past the broad excitement around AI and gets into where it can actually help. Nick talks about large language models, hallucinations, trusted sources, custom GPTs, and the importance of starting with the outcome before building anything. Whether it is equipment knowledge, grain marketing, SOPs, invoicing, or field-level financial decisions, the value comes from using AI with guardrails and farm-specific context.

When the cost of building software keeps falling, the harder skill is knowing what should be built in the first place. For farm leaders already acting as the human router between employees, managers, advisors, accountants, and data systems, AI has potential but only when it is tied to better decisions, clearer workflows, and a farm that is easier to run.

Bryce Eger returns to The Truth About Ag for a wide-ranging conversation on professional capability, leadership, follow-through and why the ag industry needs to get more comfortable being uncomfortable. From basic networking and follow-up to the difference between credentials and real knowledge, Bryce challenges the idea that experience, titles or confidence automatically equal capability.

Evan, Kristjan and Bryce talk about what separates valuable advisors, salespeople and industry professionals from those who are simply showing up with a pitch. It comes down to asking better questions, respecting people’s time and teams, solving problems the customer actually believes are problems, and doing what you said you were going to do. The conversation also touches on risk, decision-making, action items, hard conversations and why agriculture cannot afford to keep talking about the same issues without taking steps forward.

Bryce also shares the story behind his book, Course Corrections: Building the Pre-Shot, Post-Shot and Recovery Habits of Leadership, and why golf became the lens for exploring leadership, learning and self-awareness. 

Kristjan and Evan take a timely look at the decisions, risks, and structural pressure building across Canadian agriculture. They discuss the real-time decisions farmers are facing around seeding, canola acres, crop insurance, market risk, and the cost of pushing through difficult conditions.

The episode moves into the larger structural questions facing the industry. Land values, rental rates, equipment, infrastructure, capital access, tax, succession, labour, and management are all part of the conversation as they consider what happens when old assumptions no longer hold. They discuss how land appreciation has covered up losses for some farms, why infrastructure can limit flexibility, and why the next phase of agriculture may require different financing models, different HR systems, and a clearer focus on operating profitability.

Kristjan and Evan also talk about the human side of the business, including time, family, health, and the long-standing belief that hours worked are a measure of success.