In this episode of The Future Herd, Jesse Hirsh sits down with Rene Van Acker, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Guelph, to explore the evolving role of universities in shaping the future of agriculture and food.

At a time when climate volatility, technological disruption, and political short-termism are redefining the operating environment for farmers and institutions alike, what responsibilities do academic leaders carry? And how can universities foster the collaboration, interdisciplinary research, and entrepreneurial energy required to build a more resilient food system?

Van Acker reflects on the University of Guelph’s agricultural heritage and its culture of practical engagement—where research is designed not just to generate knowledge, but to put that knowledge into action. The conversation explores the importance of extension and public engagement, the power of cross-sector collaboration, and the growing role of students as drivers of innovation.

The discussion also confronts climate change directly. While political rhetoric may fluctuate, farmers are experiencing increasing weather volatility firsthand. The challenge for institutions is to embed long-term foresight into planning processes that often default to short-term thinking.

This episode is a thoughtful exploration of leadership, institutional responsibility, and generational momentum in the agri-food sector.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. Why collaboration is foundational to long-term agricultural resilience
2. The evolving role of extension and knowledge mobilization
3. Interdisciplinary research and entrepreneurialism in agri-food
4. Leadership as the creation of “open space” for new futures
5. Students as engines of innovation and transformation
6. Climate volatility as the defining foresight challenge

About The Future Herd

The Future Herd is a podcast about collaboration and leadership in a changing food system. Each episode features conversations with leaders, innovators, and thinkers shaping the future of agriculture and food.

, Hi, my name is Jesse Hirsh and this is The Future Herd, A podcast about collaboration

and leadership for a changing food system.

Today's conversation was with Renee Vanacker, president and Vice

Chancellor of the University of Guelph, an institution that has shaped

Canadian agriculture for generations.

What makes this dialogue compelling is not just his position.

But it's clarity about the responsibilities that universities,

researchers, and leaders now carry as the sector confronts uncertainty, volatility,

and rapid technological change.

We explore how academic cultures are rooted in agriculture and veterinary

service, are evolving into platforms for cross-sector collaboration, why extension

and public engagement remain essential, and how students are emerging as one of

the most powerful engines of innovation.

Renee speaks candidly about the need to create open space for new futures

spaces where interdisciplinary, entrepreneurialism and long-term

thinking can displace the short-termism that dominates our politics and media.

It's a conversation about institutional leadership, generational momentum,

and the kind of imagination required to build the food system.

We actually need.

I'm having everyone start by just stating your name, uh, organizational affiliation,

and why you think the future is important.

My name is Renny Van Acker, and I'm President and Vice Chancellor

of the University of Guelph.

Yeah.

And the future is important because we all depend upon it.

Now, one of the big buzzwords or themes of the Agri 2050 event was collaboration.

And it strikes me that both when we talk about collaborative futures,

but also when we talk about a long-term foresight process.

Collaboration is kind of the prerequisite, it's the through line.

What does collaboration look like for you?

Wh what, what role do you think the academy or researchers

play in facilitating, , that kind of collaboration?

Yeah, it's absolutely important.

And, when I think about, uh, let's say faculty here at the University of Guelph

we have a, we have a. Culture here in terms of, uh, our approach to academia,

which is really born out of our, our heritage, which is as an agricultural

school, as a veterinary college.

And there's a practicality and a pragmatism to it.

Uh, there's also a desire amongst our faculty, by and large to want

to see, uh, knowledge in action.

And so, in that vein, they typically are, um, looking at, at interacting

with either industry or community organizations, NGOs so that, that they

can be doing work in the real world or for, with real world problems.

And so that is.

Um, of its very nature, a, a collaboration.

In addition, uh, you know, our faculty are always keen to have student training

somehow embedded in everything they do.

And so, especially with say, thesis based graduate students,

that is also a collaboration.

And so I, I think it's a natural for us.

Um, but I, you know, that's, that's some of how I reflect on, on that question.

Well, and, and let me double down on that.

'cause I think one of the assets or one of the advantages that researchers

can bring to practitioners and industry is a long-term perspective.

That I think there is a tendency, you know, farmers do tend to be the

exception to this rule in terms of my joke of farmers being futurists.

But industry generally tends to be pragmatic, tends to be practical,

tends to focus on fast returns.

What role.

Can researchers and academics play in, in fostering a sense of the

future, a concern for the future and, and an eye on the long term?

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, and, and that is a, that is a luxury of their position, but

positions, but also a, a responsibility they have because they have the

luxury of that in their positions.

And, and you're right.

You know, the, the ideal faculty member for us is, is someone who is, is

deeply rooted in their discipline has a deep academic interest, uh, and wants

to do practical work, work with the community organizations or, or industry.

But on the, on the former, they they have that privilege and responsibility to be

able to think longer into the future, to consider longer term implications.

In agriculture, for example, we have many faculty who are very interested

in and working on soil health.

And, you know, soil health, uh, can be a very long term effort.

And if you are, uh.

Let's say you're renting farmland.

Soil health may not be your first priority, especially if,

if it's a, an ephemeral rent.

And, uh, but faculty members can, for example, think about that as, as a very

long-term need and, um, and, and bring their, their capacity to bear on it.

Right on.

And, and speaking of capacity, how, how do, what are the kind of social

or provincial factors that could make, uh, research more accessible, that,

that could enable the, the capacity and capabilities that the University of

Guelph, that researchers and faculty offer so that industry and farmers, you know,

not even know it's there, but are able to leverage it at, at a scale that we

aspire to, but perhaps are not there yet?

We're very lucky, uh, here at the University of Guelph that we have

a longstanding, uh, partnership with the Ontario Ministry of

Agriculture, food and Agri Business.

And, um, and we have this alliance agreement, which is a

in part of funding agreement.

And that, um, that supports for us a, a broader range of expertise

than we would have if we were.

Running our, uh, agriculture and veterinary colleges only

on a university model, which is a, an education revenue model.

And so, so that's good in terms of having a, a capacity across

the range in agriculture.

And, uh, our faculty are very interested, as I said, in

getting research into practice.

And so, many of our faculty are still engaged in what I would call

extension, sometimes called knowledge translation, transfer, knowledge

mobilization, but let's call it extension.

And that's really important, uh, one for engagement, uh, community building for

mutual understanding, but also to, uh, to bring awareness of, of new knowledge uh,

understanding of, of issues et cetera.

New practices, whatnot directly to, to farmers, uh, to

industry folks, to community.

People to NGOs.

Uh, so that's a really important activity.

Um, we, uh, we acknowledge it and, uh, and encourage it, uh, amongst our faculty.

And that's not necessarily typical.

Uh.

It is a challenge because, you know, the bulk of the university's budget

is an education revenue model.

And so there isn't necessarily funding for extension, uh, like there is in the

US with the land grant universities.

But, uh, nonetheless, uh, culturally it's part of who we are and what we do and our

faculty find it a very important activity.

Not only do they find it important, they feel that it's, it's a responsibility.

It's something so many of them enjoy doing.

And it also enhances then their their world, their understanding of what they

do contextualizes the work they do.

And it often leads them to to understand new problems that

they need to be working on.

Well, and, and certainly in my lifetime I think extension within the university

has gone from something that was kind of neglected to something that's being

now championed as one of the kind of pillars of, of post-secondary education.

But with that said, what are some of the remaining obstacles?

You sort of alluded to funding as being one of them, but what, what

are the obstacles to extension?

What are the things that we should be looking at that we should be removing

or rethinking to enable even greater extension across all the society?

Yeah, that's, that's a good question.

I mean, certainly, certainly for us, funding is a concern 'cause

we wanna maintain that capacity.

Because the capacity is then the possibility of, of extension.

But yeah.

What are, what are other obstacles?

Uh, you know, I, I think I feel very optimistic and I, you know,

I, I tremendously enjoyed your presentation at the Adaptation Council.

Uh, your keynote.

It was inspiring and it was a reminder to all of us in the room that, um.

Technology has always been there, there's always been new technology and and.

So it's so key how you view it, uh, how you, how you take it on

board and whether you, you have a positive view or a negative view.

But taking a positive view, uh, is possibilities.

And, and with extension, for example, uh, you know, all of the advances in

in data technology media technology.

Our opportunities for for break making breakthroughs in terms of

extension podcasts or, or things like this, uh, using social media.

And, and we see that many in the agricultural sector are doing that right?

They're creating their own avenues and platforms for conversation

and for ex for extension and, um.

And so, that's, you know, that starts to remove barriers.

Um, right off the top of this, you talked about bandwidth

and, uh, certainly bandwidth.

Uh, an ability for everybody to, to have the technical capacity, uh, which,

primarily is driven by bandwidth is, is also really, really important.

So much of.

Agriculture is always gonna continue to be so much of it happening outside and in

so many places and, um, often in places where there's not a lot of population.

And so having really reliable and quality, uh, wifi is something

that is is so necessary.

Uh, if we're all gonna be able to.

Take advantage of, of technology.

Well, and relatedly, let me ask you a question, both in terms

of your hat as president, but also your hat as a researcher.

You know, one of the things I was really impressed with the folks

from the University of Guelph who were at the event was how

interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary.

A lot of the research is, can you talk about it, not just in the context

of research, but in the context of cross-sectoral collaboration, how

important is it that we foster the kind of interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary

communication, collaboration exchange?

And I bring this up 'cause it strikes me, that's part of the extension piece, right?

Is getting people outta silos and getting people cross-pollinating

as it were to milk the metaphor.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, and it's one of the reasons I, you know, I'm a proponent of and I'm pushing

for more entrepreneurialism in agriculture and food and, and one of the reasons

I'm, I'm interested in that is that it.

It bring, it has a, a possibility of bringing new communities, new

perspectives into agriculture and food.

And that includes, uh, new technologies which are then driven by different or

new disciplines, you know, disciplines that may not be traditional disciplines

in the agriculture and food space.

And then that in turn leads to interdisciplinarity.

Collaboration back to the, the first theme.

So yeah, I, I'm, I'm really keen on that.

And, and that's a, this and that approach.

So it's the, this being maybe a much more traditional innovation approach in

agriculture, which is a kind of a, for the commons approach, driven by public

institutions, may be collaboration with multinationals, but in more traditional.

Discipline areas as opposed to, or, in addition entrepreneurship approach,

which tends to be, uh, very much bubbling up from the grassroots and,

uh, widely distributed and, uh, an opportunity to bring in unexpected

or non-traditional technologies and perspectives on those technologies.

That's that, I mean, that's an exciting.

Frontier.

Super exciting.

I, I agree wholeheartedly.

And, and one of the, the words that for me is often adjacent to

entrepreneurialism is leadership.

And, you know, that was, I think another kind of a theme of the event.

Where do you see that leadership coming from?

And what role do you think that academics, uh, have to play or could

play in facilitating that excitement in, in facilitating these kinds of

uh, collaborations across sectors?

But to your point, also across cultures.

'cause asking academics to be entrepreneurs is asking them to,

uh, essentially embrace a new culture, which I agree is exciting.

But where's the leadership piece in all that?

Because it, these are kind of new trails that we're asking people to blaze

it.

It's, it's a great question and, and you're right.

You know, especially when you know, we're, we're not hiring necessarily for faculty

members who have an entrepreneurial bend.

Uh, that's, that's not, uh, our typical hiring process.

Although we, you know, we should be thinking about that.

When I think of entrepreneurialism I do, I have to admit, tend to think

more about students and, um, and there there's a greater possibility just,

uh, numbers wise because, uh, it's a much bigger pool and it's also a, a

constantly renewing pool of people.

So it's a tremendous opportunity for any and all universities in that regard.

But in terms of leadership myself for example, um.

Part of my responsibility is to listen to people like you and to get excited

and to, uh, maybe expand my thinking.

And then in turn translate that into what should I be doing as a leader for the

University of Guelph, for example, to, um.

To listen and hear what you're saying and think about what that means

for us as an institution and our responsibility to create the future.

How how do we do that?

It's exceedingly, exceedingly difficult to do.

And, and I I said it at the conference where, you know, we, the default for most

people is we take our past and we chuck it in front of us, and that's our future.

So there is no new future really.

And.

And we have a responsibility to try to create open space in front of us.

Listening to somebody like you for me creates open space.

I'm like, oh yeah, I've never thought about that.

And that's a completely, and then when somebody like you presents it

with such tremendous enthusiasm, you know, it, it, you know, you,

you had an analogy of, of preaching.

Being like a sermon and yes, a hundred percent and like a sermon, it's

meant to be inspirational, right?

It's it, and so I wa I wanna thank you for that.

But in turn then, uh, you know, in, in my own role, and, and some, all

the people in that room hopefully they, they are also taking that on

board in terms of their responsible responsibility as, as leadership.

So then translate that, and then to think, okay, what does that

mean for action in my institution?

So that I am taking steps to as a leader to make sure that we are doing things

to help create, truly a, a new future.

So entrepreneurialism, for example, is, is one of those things.

And, and we really pushed, uh, here at the University of Guelph to be part of,

um, a lab to market program, which the federal government stood up last year.

And thankfully we have some leaders here like Evan Fraser, who, uh,

scrambled and put together, uh, that application and with folks from across

the country to create a. A national innovation platform that's really focused

on early stage entrepreneurialism, specifically to agriculture and food.

So that's taking uh, visions of the future and then translating it into

action for an institution and the sector.

You know, that's how I see my leadership role and, uh, yeah.

Right on.

And, and I appreciated your points about kind of creating spaces in which our,

our minds can expand, or our perceptions of the future can be shaken up.

And I, I mean, to be fully disclosive, my, my source of inspiration in

many of those situations are young people that the, the benefit of the.

Technology and media world we live in now is, it makes it really easy for me to

connect and learn from some of the young entrepreneurs who are changing our world.

I'm curious to bring it back to students, you know, how are you seeing

their attention span for lack of a better, contentious phrase, and their

perception of their role in society?

Because I agree.

The entrepreneurial piece is where a lot of students, uh, really find their

purpose or find their opportunity.

But what more can we be doing to foster leadership amongst young people,

to foster confidence amongst young people and give them a sense, not

only that there's a place for them in our society, but to your point.

That there's an open place that they can change our perceptions of the

future, and we want them to change our perceptions of the future.

Yeah, cer certainly, um, a, a university has a deep responsibility in that respect.

I have to say, I feel, you know, when people ask me about the next generations,

um, I feel perennially optimistic.

And, and I've had the pleasure of teaching you know, my whole career and, um.

And I find that inspirational.

And the reason I find it inspirational is that despite everything that's

going on and you know, we, there is a lot of popular fretting

about the next generations and, and are they inspired and.

And or they just playing video games or whatever it might be.

Um, I don't see that, I don't see that I see young people who

are excited about the future.

I see young people who are passionate about issues.

I see young people who embrace technology and live and breathe

it, and then see possibilities in it that I could never see.

Because I, I don't live in their world.

That's inspiring.

That's absolutely inspiring.

So, uh, one of our responsibilities is to continue to be, uh, a place

where students can come to, you know, we, we, we are on a growth

trajectory right now as a university.

And, and part of the reason for that is that we have a demand for students

to come to the University of Guelph that's above the sector average.

And so we feel a responsibility to.

To open our doors to bring in as many as possible.

Is it kind of, are we a little bit bursting at the seams?

Yes, we kind of are.

Um, am I happy about that?

Yeah, I am kind of happy about that and, and I have to say we were a little bit

worried about what our staff and faculty would think about that and actually.

We're not hearing complaints.

I, I mean, our staff and faculty seem to be embracing it and,

which I'm super thankful for.

Um, but it's exciting.

You know, we, we, uh, we feel that excitement and, and we feel we feel.

Possibilities for the future in that way.

So I am optimistic, uh, in the interactions I have with our students

and they have so many advantages over us.

One is, you know, as opposed to somebody like, like me and my age, they don't have

so much future to chuck in front of them.

And so they do have more open space in front of them and many of them take

advantage of that which is great to see.

Thank so thankful for that.

Well, and, and I agree wholeheartedly.

I, I, I feel that there is a tremendous amount of excitement and optimism to be

found when looking at younger generations.

And in particular, I, I think what you articulated their demand

for knowledge is unsatiable.

And that is something that, that we can, uh, be leveraging and facilitating.

So I agree with you better to deal with overcrowding than to

deal with, uh, uh, the opposite.

But the one thing, and, and here I'm leading up, this is kind of a final

question, and, and this is the real.

A hardball pitch.

One of the things that young people, I think do have unfortunately is a

lot of anxiety around climate change.

And one of the things I was kind of disappointed at the event

was we didn't talk enough about the future and climate change.

And just this week the president of the United States at the United Nations

General Assembly employed countries around the world to see climate change as a hope.

That it's a trap that they're losers to believe in it.

So with that very contentious intro aside, what role do you think

climate change plays in our future?

Uh, both when it comes to encouraging collaboration.

But also when it comes to intergenerational collaboration,

'cause this does seem to be something that young people are very passionate

about and want to do something about, given that they're the ones most

likely to face the consequences.

So I'm, I'm curious, what role do you think that climate change as a theme

kind of plays in us, uh, wrapping our heads around Ontario's food future?

Yeah, it, it's, it's a great question and, and, and you're.

You're right, Jesse.

It, it didn't feature a as an issue at the adaptation council conference.

And I think that conference needed to be multiple days, but agreed, agreed.

And, and there, there are next steps.

You know, our, our students and our faculty faculty have not

forgotten about climate change.

And, uh, I can tell you that it, it does feature in conversations, it does

feature in classrooms, it does feature in, uh, research projects and maybe

in particular in agriculture and food.

I think if President Trump asked the Farmers of America about climate

change, he might be surprised at the answer he gets because, we know, uh,

that farmers across around the world regardless of political stripe are very

worried about climate change because the vast majority of agriculture happens

outside and is subject to weather.

And farmers understand, especially older farmers, that the climate

is changing and they are noticing more dramatic weather events.

They're noticing, uh, the amplitude around the mean is increasing and they, and we

understand that our, uh, our greatest challenge is unpredictability of weather

and also that amplitude around the mean.

So.

You know, very hot, very dry, very cold very wet.

All of those sorts of things are really hard to manage.

You know, if climate change was just a matter of the average changing and

the amplitude, you know, was small, I, you know, I, I think our, our ability

to adapt to be much greater and, and we might be a little bit less worried.

Might be, but that's not how it is.

I mean, climate change, uh, starts to create chaos.

And, uh, farmers can't, we can't deal with chaos, uh, in our climate.

And so it is a real it is a real issue for us.

Um, and farmers, regardless of political stripe, uh, uh.

You know, there's, there's something that they will always

talk about and that's the weather.

And they know because, um, many of them are observers for decades and decades.

They know that this ain't normal.

And, uh, and it's a problem.

Our students as well, uh, who are always attuned to issues.

One of the issues that they continue to be attuned to regardless of, of

the political rhetoric or what's going on, is climate change.

That's very encouraging, uh, especially your point about farmers.

And it does suggest that we need to be having the kind of foresight conversations

and the foresight collaborations that, that deal with those amplitudes,

that deal with those big swings.

'cause I think.

Conceptually, that's what a lot of people are not understanding.

They're sort of thinking, oh, global warming, things are gonna get warmer.

They're not thinking climate volatility and the way in which things are gonna

get are really, uh, quite uncertain.

So I, I guess as a, a. Second last question.

How do we bake that in?

How do we foster that literacy so that our, our foresight exercises are informed

and, uh, prepare us for the big swings that inevitably we're all gonna be facing?

Um, I, I think you, you said it at the beginning, um, about, um.

Short-term thinking versus long-term thinking.

And something I was hoping for the conference and worried about was whether

the conference would be very much about, you know, what's right here in

front of our faces versus, you know, what's out 5, 10, 30 years from now.

And thankfully, I, I think the conference was successful in keeping

people looking out over the horizon.

We, we need more of that.

If we need more of that you know, the, the media the way it's constructed now,

politics, the way it's constructed now is all about, what's happening this minute.

As opposed to what's happening in the next year, what's happening

in the next 10 years, what's happening in the next 50 years.

And, um, and I, and I think there's another opportunity for leadership.

I'm grateful to the adaptation council that, uh, that they're taking us on.

I have a sense that they're gonna continue this conversation about looking

out over the horizon and thinking about implications in that timescale.

For us it's really, really important because so much of

our society is the opposite.

Uh, I, I say, you know, we're being subjected to populous politics of inches

as opposed to nation buildings, nation building for decades or centuries.

Right on.

And any final thoughts or, or, or visions uh, for this process in the future?

You know,

I wanna come back to you, uh, Jesse, and, uh, and really what a, what a

revelation It was seeing you at that conference and listening to your

keynote and being inspired by your keynote y, your ability to intersect

to, you know, you, you are somebody who, who watches and looks out over

their eyes and thinks about how pieces are coming together and how that fits.

We need more of you more of that for us to help us to see what's happening

to create awareness for us in terms of what's happening, to put it in

the context of the future and, uh, and maybe out over the horizon.

And especially your ability to intersect.

The living world, whether that's the environment or people or animals with

the technology world and how those things intersect and what the implications

are or the possibilities are in that respect, that is vitally important.

And we don't have enough of that.

We don't have enough of that.

And so it denies us possibilities of seeing opportunities in the

future in those intersections.

So I. Anyways, I, I would just encourage that and I'm, and I'm, I, I'm thankful

that, uh, that you exist and I'm grateful to, to have seen you now and know you.

If there was video available, now you'd see that I'm blushing.

That, of course, was my conversation with Rainey Van Acker, and what stays with

me is his insistence that institutions must do more than manage the present.

They have to cultivate the conditions for entirely new futures to take root.

His reflections on collaboration, interdisciplinarity, and the role of

students point toward a food system where knowledge is not confined

to silos, but moves freely across sectors, communities, and generations.

If this podcast has a purpose, it's to surface conversations like this,

conversations that challenge our assumptions about leadership, and

invite us to think beyond the narrow timelines imposed by politics and crisis.

Thank you for listening and for being part of a wider effort to

imagine and build a more resilient and collaborative AgriFood future.

I'm Jesse Hirsch and this is the Future Herd.

We'll see you next time.