Episode 7: Leadership in a Volatile World (with Tyler McCann)

Overview

Global trade is shifting. Geopolitics is intruding into supply chains. Food is no longer just food; it is leverage, resilience, and power.

In this episode of Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh sits down with Tyler McCann, Managing Director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI), to explore what leadership looks like in a world where stability can no longer be assumed.

Tyler draws on his experience inside federal government and now at CAPI to explain how coalitions form, how priorities get chosen, and where the real leverage points exist in shaping Canada's agri-food future.

At the heart of the conversation is a simple but consequential question: does Canada treat agri-food as a strategic sector, or as a commodity engine navigating price cycles?

In an era of geopolitical volatility, that distinction matters.

Bonus: Fill out this related CAPI survey

Key themes

• Why the global context for Canadian agriculture has fundamentally changed
• The discipline of focus in a sector overwhelmed by issues
• How policy actually moves, and why convening matters
• The cultural tendency toward incrementalism in Canadian agri-food governance
• Why diversity of participation strengthens policy outcomes
• The difference between a commodity sector and a strategic one
• The urgent need to build domestic value-added capacity

Guests

Tyler McCann is the Managing Director of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI), an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to advancing policy solutions for Canada's agri-food system. He previously served in senior advisory roles within the federal government and operates a farm in western Quebec.

Notes

This conversation looks at leadership under pressure: how sectors decide what matters, how policy momentum is built, and why strategic capacity depends on more than reacting to the issue of the day.