Schedule
Opening night icebreaker
Reconnect with friends and colleagues to kick off GrowCanada 2023.
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Breakfast
Fuel up for the day at our opening breakfast.
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Turn challenge into opportunity and change into competitive advantage
Speaker: Peter Sheahan
Supply chain constraints, talent and labour shortages, and the continued onslaught of technological disruption are just the beginning. Now more than ever we need to build resilient leaders, agile organizations, and high-performing teams — no matter the uncertainty. Peter Sheahan will explore how to turn these challenges into opportunities.
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Break
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The global context
Speakers: Daniel Bilak, Stephen P. Nicholson
On the heels of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine has caused major disruptions to the global food supply and an immense amount of human suffering. Learn more about what life has been like on the ground in Ukraine and how the domestic agriculture industry has been impacted, and hear about how the global grains and oilseeds markets have responded and what the outlook is for the future.
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Lunch
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Agriculture 4.0
Speakers: Josh Oehlerking, Shane Thomas, John Weigelt
Technology already permeates much of the agriculture industry but the technology revolution is set to continue, and accelerate, in the years and decades ahead. What’s next when it comes to technology in agriculture? And how will these technologies help drive agriculture forward as we work towards feeding a growing population in the face of changing climate conditions and changing consumer and government expectations. Our panelists will explore these questions.
- Moderator: Shaun Haney
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Break
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Owning our opportunity
Speakers: Heather Clarke, Jake Leguee, Craig Lehr
This session will offer the audience the chance to hear the Canadian farmer perspective from crops, beef cattle and aquaculture. What are the potential opportunities in each segment of the industry and how does this intersect with the emerging technologies in Agriculture 4.0?
- Moderator: Kim McConnell
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Yoga or 5K run
Get moving with a yoga class or a guided 5km run/walk.
Pre-banquet reception
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Evening banquet: unleashing your disruptive behaviour
Speaker: Graham Sherman
The concept of “disruptive marketing” has become so buzz-wordy that we often mistake simply being “innovative” with being disruptive. Truly standing out in a tough economy, against monster-sized competition requires us to use part of our brains we don’t often access.
Graham Sherman has been shaking things up since he worked on private-sector government and military contracts in Afghanistan, to when he began brewing beer and changed the game for small breweries across Alberta. He then transformed his business to meet the demands of a pandemic-riddled economy. And today he is changing the game again with BBQ and winning worldwide competitions.
After hearing Sherman’s story and insights, audiences will walk away inspired and armed with a clear path to unleashing their own disruptive behaviour to transform their business, no matter what challenges in their path.
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Post banquet reception
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Breakfast
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The politicization of agriculture and food: lessons learned from Europe
Speaker: Bill Wirtz
Europe’s approach to sustainable agriculture is driven more by activist pressure and political rhetoric than science. How did Europe get here and what can Canada learn from Europe’s mistakes?
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Opportunities for Indigenous agriculture in Canada
Speaker: Cadmus Delorme
In this talk, Cadmus Delorme will explore the inequality of Indigenous people in Canada’s agricultural history and paint a picture of what the future of Indigenous agriculture could look like. He will share insights on how industry and Indigenous Nations can work together towards a better collective future.
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Break
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Every conversation counts
Speaker: Riaz Meghji
Long before the era of “quiet quitting”, loneliness was a social pandemic in our society. In an age of polarization, disconnection, shallow substitutes for real relationships, every leader needs to know how to build and maintain meaningful relationships with clients and teams alike in our hybrid reality.
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