Title: Leaving Every Organisation Better Than You Found It

Summary:

Kaitlyn Kitzan, Saskatchewan farmer, entrepreneur, and sectoral leader, argues that lasting leadership means improving every organisation you touch and passing it on stronger than you found it. Drawing on lessons from her family farm, her early entrepreneurial ventures, and the volunteer ethic instilled by her parents in a rural community, Kaitlyn makes the case that the foundation of great leadership is not ambition alone but the habits, values, and emotional intelligence cultivated from childhood. In this conversation with Jesse Hirsh, she offers a candid, grounded look at what it actually costs — and what it gives back — to lead in Canada's agri-food sector today.

Show notes:

Kaitlyn Kitzan grew up on a Saskatchewan farm forty miles from the nearest city, and that distance shaped everything: her work ethic, her entrepreneurial instincts, and her conviction that a leader's job is to leave every organisation better than she found it. That guiding principle, borrowed from a phrase she heard growing up under Premier Wall, runs through this entire conversation — from how she approaches board work and farm succession to how she thinks about stress, sleep, and the volunteers who hold rural communities together. Jesse Hirsh invites Kaitlyn to unpack what that commitment actually looks like in practice for someone managing a seven-person business, sitting on multiple boards, and navigating the emotional complexity of a family farming operation all at once.

One of the most striking threads in the conversation is Kaitlyn's reframing of mental health and stress in the agricultural sector. Rather than asking people where they're at emotionally — a question that still carries stigma in many farm communities — she asks them about their battery level. Are you at fifty percent? Seventy-five? And crucially, what do you need to do to recharge? She applies the same framework to herself, describing the discipline she has built around sleep, her deliberate practice of leaving weekends unscheduled when event season piles up, and her ongoing struggle to say no to opportunities she genuinely wants to take. The honesty here is notable: she is not offering a tidy wellness program but describing an active, imperfect negotiation between her drive and her limits.

Kaitlyn is equally direct about the cultural divide she sees among her peers when it comes to volunteerism and community contribution. She traces her own volunteer ethic back to selling chocolate bars at a hockey canteen at age three, and to parents who modelled the idea that you give back to the community that raised you. What frustrates her is watching friends and new employees ask what's in it for them before committing even an hour of their time — a mindset she connects not to geography or generation but to how people were raised. That argument cuts against easy rural-urban or east-west narratives and lands somewhere more uncomfortable and more specific: that the values transmitted in childhood are the single biggest determinant of whether someone grows into a leader who builds things up or someone who waits for things to be handed to them.

Listeners will come away with a clearer picture of what it actually takes to sustain leadership in Canada's agri-food sector over the long run — not the highlight-reel version, but the daily arithmetic of energy management, emotional intelligence, community investment, and knowing when to walk away and go for a walk. For anyone working in Saskatchewan agriculture, in rural entrepreneurship, or in the volunteer and board structures that hold the sector together, Kaitlyn's perspective is both a practical resource and a reminder that the future of the herd depends on people who are committed to leaving things better than they found them.

Topics: Farm Leadership, Mental Health & Stress, Rural Entrepreneurship, Volunteerism, Farm Succession, Saskatchewan Agriculture, Emotional Intelligence, Work-Life Balance

Hi, I'm Jesse Hirsch.

Welcome to The Future Herd.

I love talking to leaders, uh, partly because it's a great source of

education, great source of knowledge and wisdom, but there's a lot of

insights to be had, not about markets or margins or the next big technology,

but something more fundamental.

What does it actually cost to lead, not financially, personally, the weight

of it, the pressure, the stress, the anxiety, the responsibility that we ask

and place on the shoulders of leaders.

Now, my guest today knows that weight intimately, Kaitlyn Kasan grew up on

a farm in Saskatchewan, built her own business, sits on multiple boards,

and is deep in the middle of farm succession, all of that at the same time.

She's the kind of person who is selling homemade food at nine years old and

hasn't really stopped hustling since.

But what makes Caitlin worth listening to isn't just her drive, it's her

honesty about what that drive demands, about stress, about battery levels,

about the emotional intelligence that never shows up in a job description,

but makes or breaks everything.

Saskatchewan doesn't always get the credit it deserves from the rest of Canada, and

quite frankly, neither do the leaders who are quietly holding this sector

together while the rest of us catch up.

So today we're gonna try to fix that.

Now, a quick note on costume change.

You may notice that, uh, in all previous episodes, I was pretty

much wearing the same thing.

That was my winter uniform, and now that the heat has a come, come

upon us, like a very warm blanket, I've switched to summer mode.

So for the next couple episodes, you might see a little bit of discordance there.

And of course, a reminder to check out our website, the future herd.ca, or

we've got lots of activity, lots of new content really on a daily basis.

But enough of that, let's go listen to Caitlin.

Caitlin, welcome to the Future Herd.

Thank you for having me, Jesse.

Now I kind of have a ritual where the first question I ask

on every show is kind of abstract.

It's kind of a intuitive question.

I want, whatever comes from the gut, does the future mean to you?

I think for me, you know, I grew up in the province of Saskatchewan and

most of my growing up was under a premier wall, and he always had a saying of, you

know, his goal was to leave the place better than when he found it, the office.

Right.

And I think whenever, you know, I work within an organisation or sit on a board,

I have kind of carried that with me and it's really, you know, I wanna leave an

organisation a little bit better than I found it and leaving it in a really good

place for the next person that's gonna come on and, um, kind of take my spot.

Right on, uh, amazing answer.

And you know, I ran a community space for a couple of years and we had that

saying over the door, uh, partly 'cause we just wanted people to sweep up.

But philosophically I agree, it, it is essential.

And to

Yeah.

I do wanna spend some time today talking about

Saskatchewan, talking about the agricultural sector in Saskatchewan.

'cause I suspect, uh, those of us in Central Canada do not give the

respect, uh, that all of y'all deserve.

you know, part of what we do here in the future herd is we don't just invite the

best and the brightest, such as yourself.

Uh, we like to throw you the difficult questions.

And, and the, the first question I wanted to throw at you, I think is what are the

most difficult, uh, in the sector bar?

None.

And I suspect it's something that you have thought about, is

stress, stress and mental health.

Uh, in terms of not just everyone in the sector, but leaders in particular.

'cause we often ask even more of the farmers who are also

in a leadership position.

So, where are you at when it comes to stress?

Uh, how has your thinking evolved, uh, over your own experiences, uh, with

the stress that, uh, uh, permeates the sector and the hard work that,

that all of us are expected to do?

Yeah.

That is, that's a great question.

And I think for me personally, I, um, I've always been a high performer,

a high achiever, which I think, you know, you put more stress on

yourself when you're like that.

And continuing onto my entrepreneurial jour, um, entrepreneurial journey of

being, you know, an entrepreneur and plus coming back to the family farm, you

know, dynamics, you know, everybody's like, oh, become an entrepreneur.

So you can pick your own schedule.

Well, they really mean you work 80 hours instead of 40 hours in a week because

you're trying to get everything done.

So yeah, maybe I don't work eight to five, but I work.

7:00 AM to 11:00 PM instead.

Um, and then, you know, coming back to the family farm and, you know, going through

farm succession planning and like we all talk about the accountants and the lawyers

and everything you need at the table, but sometimes we forget about the motions and,

you know, the dynamics of farm succession.

And, you know, right now, personally, uh, my business has been very busy

this year, but then also we're having some stresses at the farm, right?

It's, we're, it's calling for snow all weekend here.

We've had flooding, um, you know, we've had, and we're behind on

seeding, you know, we just started seeding two days ago and that's,

you know, quite far behind for us.

And so just all those dynamics and I think, you know, sometimes

talking to people about like, how's your mental health?

Or where are you at from a stress level?

People there, there's still a little bit of a stigma that,

you know, lays around that.

And I really tried to change the conversation around your battery and

thinking about your mind and your body as you've got a battery and

where are you at at your battery.

And so I always like to, you know, ask back, you know,

where's your battery level?

You know, are, are you 75%?

Are you 80%?

Are you 50%?

And then understanding what you need to do to charge your battery so you're

ready to rock and roll every single day.

Right on.

And, and that's smart too in terms of, uh, uh, reframing it in a language and an

understanding that people can relate to rather than feel like they're being judged

or, or, or they're being admonished.

But, but you also alluded to something that, that I've heard other guests

o on the podcast kind of hint at, which is the emotional intelligence

that leaders increasingly need to have to be able to deal with people.

And, and you kind of identified it in terms of the stress of being an

entrepreneur and being a farmer, and being a daughter in terms of having to

deal with your own families and, and, and the complications that come from that.

But how much do you, as a leader think about your own emotional

literacy or your own emotional abilities, for lack of a better word?

I mean, do you take them for granted or is it something that you've cultivated

as you've, you know, uh, aspired to do what it is you want to do in the sector?

Yeah, I think for me it's, I've always been kind of like really working on

those soft skills, like people would say, I feel like those, you know, the knowledge

and stuff with AI nowadays and Google and calculators, like I don't need to be

able to do long, you know, multiply, you know, like there's a calculator, right?

To do stuff like that.

But, so where, where I've really focused and even through my university degree,

and then my professional development out of university is really honing

in on those soft skills, conflict resolution, communication skills, um,

people management, time management, because I lead a team of seven employees

from my, my business side of things.

Then I do a tonne of board work, and so you're working with a lot

of different boards and different personalities and different work types.

And then you come to a family farm or you have mom, dad, brother,

sister, and, you know, I always say sometimes, and yesterday was one of

those days, I'm like, people suck.

People suck.

And you know, I just sometimes have to walk away, go for a walk, go shopping.

That is my big stress reliever, you know, take a, take a minute and really

kind of remind myself that, you know, we're all trying our best and we're

coming to the table where we can.

And, um, you just have to kind of sometimes stop and walk away for a second.

Right on.

And you know, it also, thing I kind of want to throw in there, whi, which I,

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on.

'cause on the one hand it's self-evident, but the other hand

it's complicated that if you are working like 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM where

does sleep fall into that picture?

Because on the one hand, we're kind of talking about the need to

respect and value mental health, which to your point, not everyone

Yeah,

but it's getting better.

But sleep is the other

yeah,

And I, I struggle with that myself.

yeah,

I, I, I'm not trying to claim holier than, but,

but I'm curious how you tackle

yeah.

Yeah.

So sleep has always been important to me.

I'm an eight hour sleeper and I can fall asleep really easy, so I'm really lucky

that if I leave my laptop at 11:00 PM I'm probably snoring in bed by 1115.

So I'm really lucky at that.

I don't need downtime or, you know, um, my boyfriend always bugs me.

He's like, I just don't know how you do it, because he's like, I

need like two or three hours to like wind down and get ready for bed.

And I'm like working, working, working, working.

And then I just shut down and go to bed.

So I do value seven to eight hours of sleep.

There will be times where, you know, the to-do list is never done.

Um, but I always think better when I have my sleep.

And I was the same way in university.

All my friends would pull all nighters studying and I'm like, what are you doing?

Like you're gonna be exhausted trying to write this exam.

I'd rather come, you know, well rested.

And so at least I've got my best, you know, mat like brain

power that I possibly can have.

So I'm a value of a sleeper.

I try to sleep at least seven, eight is amazing.

Um, hours every single night.

And you know, some nights I don't get that, especially when it's event

season in your running and you've got all these meetings and stuff.

But then I make sure that, you know, on the weekends I don't book my weekends,

you know, back to back to back.

And that's something I've had to learn because since after COVID post COVID

there, all these events started coming up again and there were so many and

I wanted to do them all 'cause I had missed them for so many years and I make

it sound like so many years, really.

It was probably only two, but still you had missed them

for, you know, a few years.

And um, I've had to learn to, you know, say no.

And I'm still learning.

I'm the worst at saying no.

I'm a yes girl for everything, but I'm starting, I'm starting to learn and

starting to um, you know, balance that.

And the people around me are great at being like, well Caitlyn,

do you really have to do that?

And you know, sometimes I get mad at them.

But it's also a good just little checkpoint.

Like, do I really have to go to all of these events this weekend?

So if I don't get my sleep during the week, I really try to

make up for it on the weekends.

Right on.

And, and to your point, FOMO is real.

And, and I struggle with that myself, right?

It's, there's only a certain

Yeah,

in the day.

There's lots of things going on, and yes, my to-do list is, is

always growing rather than reducing.

But there, there's been a few

yeah.

said so far that are kind of shifting the usual approach because

one of our threads, for lack of a better phrase here on the show, is trying to

understand how, how, how engaged and super smart leaders like yourself, you

know, how, how you got into the sector, how you ended up being in the position

you are, but you've kind of answered that already, I I, in terms of your drive

and your personality and your curiosity.

So let me modify that slightly then.

As you've been, you know, enthusiastically embracing the opportunities in the

sector and, and as we'll get to really showing why the folks in

Saskatchewan have a hustle that, that, that is globally respected.

What have your peers been like?

Like how have you, you know, as someone who is driven, as someone who really has

that kind of thirst, h how, how, what have you seen amongst people your age

and, and I mean this in the positive and the negative in terms of people that

you were like, wow, I, I I like them.

I look up to them versus others where you're scratching your head

going, how come they don't see what

Yeah.

Again, as an old guy, I would love to tap into your thoughts on

young people and, and what we as a society could be doing better to get more people

like yourself who are driven and who are are, are eager to play their part.

Yeah, no, I, and you know what this is, I've been so frustrated

with so many of my friends that we just don't even talk about most of this stuff

when we get together because, um, I would say since, you know, high school

throughout university, you know, post, you know, university, and then now kind

of as I am working on my entrepreneurial journey, like I've always been a believer

of volunteer, volunteer, volunteer.

And I think this comes from, you know, the way that I was raised,

you know, raised in a, on a farm, our closest town was 300 people.

My dad was on the rec board, my mom was on the rec board.

And I think I was three years old and I was selling chocolate bars at

the canteen at a hockey game, right?

And we were, throughout growing up, like we volunteered and volunteered

and volunteered and you know, my parents always taught us you give

back to the community that raised you.

And you know, that's just been something that has really stuck with me.

And so wherever I have went in life, it's get involved, you know,

volunteer for different organisations, um, give back and, you know,

be involved in your community.

And so many of my friends, like you ask them for an hour of their time

or two hours of their time, and it's really like, what's in it for me?

How much am I getting paid?

What am I getting back from it?

And I'm like, what?

Like, it's just such a different mindset.

And I think we've seen this in society.

It's all about me, me, me, me.

And they don't see the larger picture of what are you doing

for the community, right?

Or I have friends, um, with kids now and you know, they're asked to

fundraise for the daycare or for the hockey rink or for a sports team.

And they were just like, how much can I write the checkout?

I don't wanna do any of that.

And I'm like, what are you teaching your kids by doing that?

Right?

Like, none of us probably have time to go do a bottle drive or

a, you know, whatever fundraiser.

But I said, if you're teaching your kids that money can buy out everything,

then you're not teaching them what I was, you know, taught as a kid.

And it was that hard work ethic, right?

And so that's probably like more of the negative where I'm just like so frustrated

and, you know, hiring employees, I see that and I see how people are raised.

And I always go back to it's how you're raised, because I see people who are like

amazing work ethic, you know, ready to go.

And then I see some people that I'm spoonfeeding, right?

And they, because they, they haven't had that opportunity.

Um, so it's been so interesting and I, I hate when people call it

the, um, rural and urban divide or the east and west divide.

'cause I, I truly think it comes back to your parents.

I was, you know, raised in a very traditional family where we worked

hard, but we played hard, right?

Like, that was kind of our, you know, mentality.

I know other farm kids who were raised as, you know, differently than I was.

And you know, so I always, you know, my parents, um, they were older parents.

I think they were 38 when they had me.

But every who I am today, I always point back to them truthfully

because, um, they made me who I am.

And they really showed me kind of who the leader that I wanna be within my

local community, but also my national community and my international community

of, you know, um, really well shaping me.

I see other people like me, right?

And I look, I'm like, what's our similarities in life?

Like, how are we both, you know, so driven and so, um, community orientated.

And I can also look back at their parents and be like, yep, they

were raised in a very similar way.

And so that's kind of what I have identified.

Now, I'm not a researcher, an academic, I haven't done a Reese, you know,

research paper on this, but just from my observations, it always seems to

come back to how you were raised.

Yeah.

And, and I, I affirm that if only because I, I am a, a, a reflection, positive

and negative of my parents and, and

Yeah,

I, I, I was always grateful that they were who they were

because I would look at other kids and realise the advantages I had.

Because to your other point, parents are role models whether they wanna be or not.

Like whatever

yeah,

do, positive and negative, the kids tend to emulate it.

And, and I think to

yeah,

that's why community engagement is so essential on

the multi-generational level.

it, it kind of

yeah,

to the, the entrepreneurial question, because

yeah,

hand, I, I've always regarded agriculture as having a,

a kind of entrepreneurial spirit to it as a whole in that you, you do

yeah,

of have to hustle, you do have to seize opportunities, but you are

obviously on a whole other level when it comes to not just entrepreneurial

confidence, but entrepreneurial curiosity.

Like you really seem to enjoy

yeah,

you're someone who has the

yeah,

in a very good way.

So before we

yeah,

that, where did you get that from, right?

I mean, the obvious answer could be your parrot, but you have something

special when it comes to that desire to build, to create, to make things.

yeah.

So for sure it comes from, you know, growing up on a farm, you know, going to

the cattle market every year and selling our cattle and grain and like, for sure

that, but it really probably started, um, lots of my friends were getting like.

Kind of jobs, like little like jobs after high school or even elementary, like

babysitting jobs in elementary school.

And we lived 40 miles, um, from our closest city of 16,000 people, you

know, lived 10 minutes to our closest town of 300 people, not a tonne of

jobs or babysitting jobs and that town.

And so I was kind of jealous, like all my friends had these little jobs

and I was like, well, I want a job.

And my parents were like, sorry Caitlyn, we're not driving you

there and back for you to make $10.

Like, we're gonna lose that in fuel so you can do chores around the farm.

And I'm like, well, that's not a job.

Like I don't wanna do that.

And so, um, I come from a Ukrainian ancestry and you know, my baba

taught me how to make beatniks, which is a traditional dish.

So I started making beatniks and selling it to family and friends at

the age of like nine or 10 years old.

And I was rolling beatniks and selling it.

And I, I truly think looking back, that's when I first became an

entrepreneur because I was like, I'm gonna find something to have my

own unique job and make some money.

Right?

And then, um, throughout kind of did that.

And in high school it wasn't super cool anymore.

So then I worked, you know, went and worked at a pharmacy or whatever, but

then I was in university and again, I was like, man, I wish I could just have

some like side money, you know, maybe hit up the bar or hit up a concert.

And, um, I started my Mary Kay, I became a Mary Kay consultant and

all my friends are like, you, you don't even wear makeup and skincare.

But I had met another farm girl who was doing it.

I'm like, well, if she can do it, I can do it.

And what I liked about it is like, I could work two hours and make

hundreds of dollars as my friends could work two hours and maybe make $20.

Right?

And so there was no like sky.

And again, so I kind of went through the whole Mary Kay

programme throughout university.

And I would never tell my professors this, but I think I learned more about marketing

and sales from Mary Kay, you know, educational models than in university.

But, you know, went through that in university and it was such a sweet gig.

Like I earned a diamond ring.

Like I was pretty high class in university doing that.

And then I went and worked in the corporate agricultural

world 'cause that's what you do.

And then it was my dad.

So my mom's being an rn, you know, unionised employee, government

employee, she's amazing.

But very, I wouldn't say super entrepreneurial because

she, that was her career.

My dad very opposite.

And him and I are like, business idea, business idea, business idea.

And we're always throwing things, um, around.

And my mom's always worried like, don't over commit yourself.

Don't over commit yourself.

And she's the one who's always usually checking in on my mental

health and my stress levels.

But, um, my dad and I were talking one day and I'm like, dad, I'm

killing myself on this salary job and I'm making, like, if I figure

it out, I'm barely making any money.

And I'm like, for who?

A publicly traded company.

Like, and my dad's like, well, let's figure out a business rate.

Like, he was very entrepreneurial and my mom thought we were crazy.

And now she's like.

So proud of me, you know, and how successful I am and

you know, has come behind it.

But it's even funny because um, I'm still very like every day I've got a new

business idea and my boyfriend's learning about this of like, and he, it takes him

about a week to think it's a good idea and like I'm like, it's a good idea.

And we investing in this right now.

And he always laughs at me when I'm coming cruising home, you know,

speeding into the driveway and slamming on the brakes and rip up our graphs.

'cause I took the corner and I'm like, we're building this and we're doing this.

And he's like, okay, just calm down a little bit.

But I, I think if it was up to me and if I had money, we would

have 20 businesses rocking and rolling here in rural Saskatchewan.

And don't get me started about how AI agents

could scale up that capability.

'cause this is not the podcast to have that particular conversation.

But to your point about learning, I am a big fan of applied learning.

And, and that's why I think both

Yeah,

Kay and with On the Farm, you end up getting far more

efficient and, and far more accelerated learning than you would in a classroom,

which is not to knock the classroom.

'cause there are lots of people who kind of require that environment.

there are others, and I, I suspect that includes present company who

are gonna learn way faster when, when you can learn and have hands

on and kind of move with that.

And so I, I'm, I'm curious how, and this, this kind of brings us, we're,

we're doing a, a non-linear way to talk about all the subjects, how has

yeah,

deal affected your agricultural leadership?

Because, you know, on the one

yeah,

kind of describing the, the joy of the entrepreneur and that you get

to decide what you do and you get to focus on opportunities, whereas agricultural

leadership is often collaborative.

You're often having to work with a whole bunch of other people

and really talk things through.

yet you are clearly an entrepreneur.

So I'm, I'm curious how you translate that, how you sort of take your

entrepreneurial self and maybe infect that enthusiasm with, with other leaders

within agricultural organisations.

yeah.

And going to kind of, to the hands-on learning, you know, also

a four H kid growing up hands-on learning, you know, learned that.

And then I just remember out of university I wanted to do my MBA

and my, um, I was reporting to a VP of this corporate company and

she's like, you wanna do an MBA?

She's like, don't pay 20 grand, we'll pay you 20 grand to do an MBA.

And she's like, I'll give you the M-B-M-B-A experience.

And so I'm so happy I worked in the corporate world for a bit because

the amount of like hands-on learning HR wise, finance wise, that I got.

I've never done an MBA, but I would challenge anybody that I learned a lot

in those few years of her being like, I'll give you the MBA experience 'cause.

I learned a lot and I appreciate her for that.

'cause it saved me probably more than 20 grand actually, if

I really figured out the math.

Yeah.

talking about, you know, being an entrepreneurial leader in the

agriculture industry, I didn't probably identify this till the last few months

and I, I was like, okay, some boards I'm really rocking and rolling with

and then some other boards like I don't even wanna go to the meetings, right?

Or be like, it's so hard.

And I'm like, why?

Like what's the difference between these two organisations or two different

types of groups of people even?

And I figured it out and it's kind of to answer like what you said is whenever I

take now on a new client or I'm working with a board or looking at sitting

on a board, I ask them like, what is their appetite for change innovation?

You know, like kind of being open to different ideas and new perspectives.

And just because we have done something for so many times doesn't mean that

we need to continue to do it that way.

And if they're like, no, like we're an organisation that here's our yearly plan

and we just rinse and repeat every single year and we don't wanna change anything.

Probably not a fit for my company and probably not a fit for me personally.

And we've learned to say thank you, but no thank you.

Right.

And move onto to a different organisation.

One of the organisations that I've recently taken on is the general manager

of sas, younge, sas, young Egg Farmers.

And that was one of my questions.

I sat on the board when I was in university and I

would say it was pretty good.

But we did the same thing every single year.

And that was pretty standard.

They had reached out to me 'cause they're like, we need to change.

Like we need to make some changes and we wanna kind of refresh.

And that's what I got really excited about.

And everybody on that board is so aligned and so very like, yes, let's try it.

Yep, let's try it.

You know, let's try it.

And that's where I really, really fit on an organization's like, these are

the three things we do every year.

This is what no change, no innovation, just continue to do it.

I've really had to learn to say no.

And even my volunteer time, I did a self-audit of everything that I

volunteer, all of my business clients.

And then I had created kind of like an Excel rubric of where it fits with

me, what brings me joy, does it fit with kind of who I am as a person?

Am I providing value?

Are they providing value back to me?

Like is it a good working relationship?

And I did say goodbye to a few organisations after that

because they weren't, you know, they weren't a good fit for me.

And you know, I always say you can bring a horse to the water

but you can't make them drink.

And you know, some of those boards, I tried pushing and pushing change and

innovation, but it was always a fight.

And I'm like, you know what?

There's only so much fight in me and so much energy and effort where

I could be directing that towards a different organisation, a different

group, and really driving change.

So.

And I think that's really crucial.

E especially someone with your exceptional talents.

And at the same time, limited time and capacity that you do have to be strategic,

but to be kinda idealistic at a moment.

Like I, if we imagine, and, and this is one of the questions

I like to throw at people.

If you imagine if resources weren't an issue, what would you say to those groups?

Like, I, if you could transfer, you know, the, the column A, which is the people

who don't want to change into the column B, the people who are innovative, who

are really serving their members and are ready for whatever tum mutualist

times we face, would that look like?

Right?

What, what would that conversation be?

And, and I say this in the ideal 'cause I'm acknowledging how stubborn

some of these organisations could be, and you are better off just finding

people who dig where you're at.

But again,

Yeah.

we could be theoretical.

I'm curious how we approach it, because I think you've identified a very real issue.

Yeah.

And I think sometimes A and B need to meet in the middle, right?

And I always think about it as a horseshoe, right?

Like, because sometimes we can be like, we can't change everything, right?

Like we can't just go in and clean slate and change everything

and try to like disrupt.

And sometimes I will be that person just because we have a whole bunch

of A's, and we need a disruptor, like an extreme disruptor.

But the end goal is really to meet at the middle of that horseshoe, right?

To meet kind of together where it's like, you know what, X, Y,

and Z is working really good, but let's try A, B, and C, right?

Like, let's come together.

And I think people need to, we need to be collaborative.

We need to compromise.

And I'm kind of bo you know, like, but if we have a whole bunch of B, sometimes in

the room, sometimes I act as the A right to be like, okay, people, like let's not

just throw everything in the garbage.

Like there is a few little things that we, tokens that we can hold

onto and then meet in the middle.

And so I really identified into rooms where do I need to be A B?

Or where do I really need to be C where we come together and kind of

identify, um, those different areas.

And then for people who are really stuck in a, and you know, I was recently sitting

on a board and I would say people were really, like, there was no other bs.

I was really lonely, kind of in that new innovative, and I was also really lonely.

And c like nobody else.

Everybody was really strong as, and like we're not changing anything.

And I really started to challenge them.

I'm like, so we're, our organisation is meeting the needs of today.

I'm not gonna deny that we are successful as today, but as we look

into the next three, five years, I don't see us meeting the needs

of, you know, three to five years.

'cause life is.

Everything is changing, right?

And so how can we make sure that we're not being reactive, but we're being proactive?

And so, um, leading them kind of through some exercises of

like, what does that look like?

What do we think three to five years?

And that's really hard for some people to even think one year out,

nevermind three to five years.

'cause they're not visionary people, right?

And, um, you know, trying to leave them to an exercise of really

trying to think longer term than what's right in front of them.

I think, you know, this backing up to it, it's really of creating

your board composition and really realising that you've gotta have

some visionary people on the board.

You've gotta have some practical people on your board.

You've got like, and if you have all practical people on the board and no

visionaries, you're probably gonna be stuck in a, and so it goes back

to like your board matrix and who do you have on your board and your

board recruitment and making sure that you're creating a versed team team.

Um, but all of them are coming to the table willing to collaborate

and nobody's so damn stubborn, um, that they're not willing to

come and kind of listen to others.

And, and let's unpack that for a bit.

'cause I, I, I think you've really identified both a crucial

opportunity, but at the same time a crucial pain point that a lot

Yeah,

face.

And, and I, with my kind of media background and even earlier, my theatre

background, I, I kind of think of it as players on the stage that if you

yeah,

the right cast of characters, no one's gonna wanna watch the show

and you could have a total mess.

So I'd love for you to unpack kind of how either you assess an existing board or

yeah,

the opportunity you could create a board, say

it's even a new organisation.

Where do you think about those different roles and, and how to ensure you get

all the right players on the stage?

yeah.

Yeah.

And it even comes from my business of who I'm recruiting, you know,

to be on my team business wise.

And I always, I learned from one of my great mentors, like always

hire, um, higher than you, right?

Like, hire people that make you look good, the team look good, right?

And I see so many leaders try to hire maybe people that they

don't feel threatened by, right?

And I never approach it in that way, but I see so many leaders, I'm

like, why did they hire that person?

Like, but I feel like so many leaders don't wanna be threatened by somebody.

And when my leader hired me, I had very different strengths than she did, right?

And we complimented each other.

We made a great team.

And so that's how I would hire from a business standpoint.

And you know, I always tell people, don't hire.

Because you might feel threatened by them.

Like that's, you know, that's not a great way to hire.

You wanna hire good people, hire people that are gonna make you look good, make

the team, and really move the needle.

From a board standpoint, one of my first things, especially if I'm coming

in as an ED or a general manager role and you know, gonna be reporting to a

board, is I wanna get to know the board.

I wanna get to know their strengths, their weaknesses, where they're coming from.

And I've kind of got a very simple board matrix that I make all of them fill out.

And then it really allows me to kind of analyse, um, you

know, who makes up the board.

And then leading up to board recruitment.

It's not like going to the A GM and hoping somebody's putting their hand

up or, you know, doing a call out.

We're really starting to, you know, tap some shoulders, right?

So maybe we're missing a lawyer or an ac somebody with a financial

accounting, banking background.

Maybe we're missing the visionary person.

Maybe we're missing, I find lots of boards or missing their customer

or their target audience, right?

So if you are representing your board, representing, like I

sit on a college board, right?

Like you should probably have a student right on the board 'cause that's

who you're really serving, right?

And so kind of identifying like what are some of those missing pieces?

I'm tapping shoulders way before we're putting a board recruitment out, right?

Because I want some people to be interested.

I want a conversation.

Not saying that I'm like slating my candidates, but you do want to think

of like who's interested and who's gonna be a good fit for the board.

Um, and then come election time, it makes go a little bit smoother.

Another thing that I am a very big fan of is since post COVID and during

COVID, the virtual world has taken over.

I love the virtual world.

'cause we can do this podcast recording virtually.

We can do meetings, you know, virtually, and there's time for that.

But boards need, I'm not saying every meeting needs to be in person,

but you do need to have one or two in-person meetings every single year.

And you also can't make them where you come in, do the business, go home.

You need to try to add some team building if it's a supper or if it's something

more structured like an escape room or, you know, going to do a tour together.

But you really, I'm seeing so many boards move away from in-person to

save on costs and to, you know, since COVID, we've done them virtually and we

don't need to go back to in-person, but we cannot forget what that in-person,

because what I might say virtually or what I might say over an email or a

text, sometimes it's a little bit more risky or a little bit more out there

than what I will say at a table, right?

And so I just really stress and I kind of have jumped around a few

places, but in person board meetings, really, and especially if you're

doing like a, I don't wanna call it a strategic plan, but if you're doing

like that visionary session or what can we change or how do we do better?

So much easier to do that in person with whiteboards in a room, you know, taking

ideas than trying to do it virtually.

And people are cutting each other off and then people aren't feeling

like they're being listened to.

Um, and so the board plays a really important role, but more importantly,

it's your staff and it's the operational too, because I've seen a lot of boards

are like, yeah, we wanna do this and this and this, but maybe the staff don't

agree and then they just don't execute.

Right.

And but boards, lots of boards don't wanna have to deal with performance

management or conflict resolution or any of those because they're, most of

them are volunteer boards, or they're getting paid a very little per diem.

And they're like, I do not wanna have to performance manage our

CEO or ED or general manager.

And I don't want to do have to deal with conflict resolution and approach them

and say like, Hey, like, we've given you direction you're not following.

And so I also find that lots of eds also drop the ball in their court, right?

So the board has done their work and then the ED hasn't,

you know, continued that on.

And, um, I always have to remind sometimes Eds and I have to remind

myself, we work for the board, right?

And even though the board might gimme direction, and I might not

agree with it, well I work for them.

Right?

And that's kind of where I need to carry out.

So, sorry.

That was a really long answer, Jesse.

No, that was, that was fantastic.

And, and you know, two things from that.

One, the value of body language, which you can sort of see in, in online meetings,

but that's often what makes in-person meetings so valuable is, is you can get

a sense physically of how people think about stuff, how they feel about things.

And it's far more efficient both at getting to consensus, but to

your point, having people feel that they've been listened to, right?

That, that they are being, uh, uh, generally respected.

similarly, I am very old fashioned in that I believe that those of us in the

AgriFood sector be eating together.

We should be meeting over food.

'cause that is literally

Yeah.

doing.

So I again, affirm your point about it's great we can meet

online, but meeting in person,

Yes.

essential.

I, I, I

Yeah.

this as a pivot to kind of talk about Saskatchewan as a whole.

You know, partly because we can, because the nature of your work allows

you to really see different aspects of the sector in your province.

it, it strikes me as I've been listening to you today, that there is, I think,

a bit of a paradox when you think about the Saskatchewan AgriFood sector.

Because on the one hand, guys are by far some of the most

innovative around the world.

And I

Yeah.

you guys know this, even though I think at times

you kind of take it for granted.

think the rest of Canada doesn't really know it sufficiently, like certainly

people in Toronto and Ottawa do not know it the way that they ought to know it.

So, on the one hand, you've got Saskatchewan as this global leader when

it comes to innovation, not just in agriculture, but in other areas as well.

But then you also have this real respect for community, for community values,

for, as you were saying, a, a kind of social responsibility again, doesn't

really exist in Toronto or Ottawa and may not exist in, you know, a, a lot

of other places across the country.

But it is kind of a paradox, right?

A desire to really do new things and a desire to make sure that

everything, you know, has a certain stability and a certain continuity.

Am I overreading this, or, or does this speak to kind of the secret

sauce or the elements that make Saskatchewan such a special place?

Yeah.

No.

And you know, I would say you hit the nail on the head there

and you know it, our communities are evolving and changing, right?

And so the community that I grew up, you know, in was very different than

it even the community it is today.

Right?

And you know, there's a few different factors to that.

We're seeing urbanisation, people moving to the cities, right?

And like our cities are Regina and Saskatoon and they're very different

than the Yorkton's, the Thes, like the communities that I grew up in.

Um, so we are seeing people move to the, um, the cities.

We're also seeing, um, immigration numbers, right?

Like it is very common in our small town communities to see Philippines

or East Indian or you know, we have got a good Jamaican community

here and a Nigerian community.

And so that wasn't like that when I was a kid, right?

In these communities.

And so I think, um, communities are learning as they evolve.

Um, how do they continue to keep that, you know, great community spirit?

So like initiative that, um, I am responsible for in the

community of Yorkton is, we call it Downtown Culture Fest in June.

And so every Thursday in June, we, it's a big party in the park.

We bring the community together, there's food, and then it's featuring two

different cultures every week, right?

And what I've been hearing is, yes, it's an opportunity for those cultures

to gather and meet each other within our community, but more importantly,

it's an opportunity for me who have lived here my entire life to learn

more about the Nigerian community or the Filipino community, right?

And so it has turned, we've done it for five years now, and it has

turned into this, like, you don't miss event every Thursday after work.

You come, you bring your kids for supper, you do the bouncy castles, you listen

to some music, you watch some dancers.

And it's really, I feel like, connected our community to the different cultures.

'cause they're new to us, right?

My dad doesn't know what Filipino food is, or Filipino.

Right.

Like, but it's really bridged that opportunity.

So I would say our communities are evolving.

I think where, um, we're struggling a little bit in small town Saskatchewan

is where some of these cultures come with kind of the, I don't

wanna say the homesteaders, but the homesteaders and the people who have

been there, how do they come together?

And, you know, instead of them creating all their own, you know, rec associations,

like where do we, how do we all come together and have one rec board or,

you know, support the rink or support.

Because I, my dad always said like, as soon as you lose the

school and the rink in your small town, you lose your community.

Right?

You've gotta keep your school and your hockey rink in this community.

Right.

So I think there's some challenges in there of how to bring them together.

Um, I would also say our farming and rural communities have changed too, right?

Like, innovation has led the agriculture industry in the last,

you know, over the last few years.

It's, um, we're being recognised for it.

We're really proud of that.

Um, but yeah, there's just kind of this intergenerational, you know, challenge,

you know, and I see it between my dad and me where I'm like, Hey dad, like,

we're now these innovative farmers and we're being recognised on world stages.

And he's like, I don't care.

Right?

Like, he doesn't really care as I'm like, this is amazing, right?

Like, and so just, it's been an interesting dynamic

of like, you know, I care.

He doesn't, and I think it's okay, right?

And I'm just like, you keep doing what you're doing.

He's like, yeah, I've been no-till since before you were born, Caitlyn.

And I'm like, okay, well, but now we're being celebrated for it, right?

And he's like, that was like 30 years ago.

Like, I, I don't, I don't know why.

And so I think it's just understanding that everybody's

coming from it from a different perspective and a different thing.

And really, um, I think, you know, we're being recognised as innovative things,

but I would say what's more affecting our small town communities is just

they're evolving and changing and, um, it's hard to keep up with all of it.

Like there's so much change happening and, um, how do you stay on top of it all?

And your anecdote about your dad at no-till farming, I mean,

I follow a bunch of old cranky farmers on TikTok, and point, they have that

attitude, like they're incredibly impressive in terms of their skills, in

terms of their knowledge, while at the same time they have that Canadian self

effacing of like, oh, it's no big deal.

Or like, like they're always downplaying themselves.

So, you know, to your point, is there a new generation of leaders

like yourself kinda emerging across Saskatchewan who are like, wait a

minute, we gotta claim the title.

It's been ours for quite some time.

Everyone around the world

Yeah.

what we do a decade later.

Uh, I, I'm curious if there is a, a kind of resurgence of that Saskatchewan

pride coming, uh, amongst your peer set.

Yeah, there is.

And I think I'm an international traveller, lots of my friends who are

international travellers, and it's pretty cool that you don't have to

say, oh, you're from Canada anymore.

You can say you're from Saskatchewan.

And they, they might have heard of us before.

And that's like, as I travelled through India and China and Peru and, you know,

doing different, like business trade mission type of work, like pretty cool

that like, obviously I'm proud to be Canadian, that will always be number one.

But it's also pretty cool that they know we're Saskatchewan and you know, we we're

the bread basket and you know, we've got some like amazing, um, things as well.

So Yes, for sure.

And I would say one of the main reasons I came back, um, to be the

general manager of Sask Young Egg is that board right now is phenomenal.

It is.

Everybody is.

So that is so committed to showing what we do in Saskatchewan agriculture, what young

farmers, how they're doing it, um, you know, by raising their families, being,

you know, the best farmers in the world.

And it inspires me every day.

And I feel like those are, I am the general manager, but

they're like all my peers, right?

And when we meet, like, I'm like, we're gonna change the world, like

this little group with like, I think our funding is like $50,000 a year.

Like with $50,000 a year, we are gonna change the world like this group.

And we're just all so pumped about it and we wanna fly our, um, flag high and far.

And so that group has like really inspired me.

Um, I'm also a part of, you know, the Wheat Growers Association and I

would say it's mostly guys who have been on there a quite long time.

But what's so cool to me is now all their kids are getting involved and so we're

seeing, you know, their kids, like all their dads and moms, they're great people.

I've, you know, they've become really good mentors to me.

They become almost like a mom and dad to me.

They're all amazing people.

But now seeing that next generation, they've just got a little bit

more like fuel in the tank and they're like, okay, we'd be doing

it this, but let's do this now.

Right?

Like so much more.

And um, yeah, there's, there's quite a few in Saskatchewan that are really starting

to be like, and I, I think it does also help that we're seeing our premier travel

and go internationally and tell our story and we're like, how do we go with him?

Right?

Like, how do we help to be the voices to tell our story wide and far?

And to your point, I, I, I kind of feel on certain

levels, and I'm biassed here, that Premier Mo kind of stole a bit of

the spotlight on that China trip.

You know, not just because the China trip was so substantive, but

because, you know, he really carries himself in a way on the world stage.

That, to my point, reflects I think the reputation that Saskatchewan is building

globally in, in terms of being such a powerhouse, not just in agriculture,

but agriculture counts for a lot.

on that point,

Yeah,

you credit, Caitlin, you, you've been hitting it out of the park.

Your, your answers today have been spectacular.

and this is the part of the conversation where with exceptional leaders like

yourself, we, we talk about policy and, and policy is one of those

yeah,

where some people shy away, some people are really excited.

But again, assume that I have taken over the Prime Minister's office and I've got

access to all sorts of resources, and I'm like, Caitlin, what should we do?

What, what are the policies you think that we should be focusing on?

yeah.

I think for, you know, I was actually in Toronto this weekend,

um, for a Blue Jays weekend.

So go Blue Jays.

And, um, you know, I, I was talking to some local people and, um, I

always just said like, my dad knows our land better than anybody else.

He's been on it.

He is 66 years old.

He has, was born and raised on our farm, grew up on our land.

And all he wants to do is to continue to farm his land to the best of his ability.

And he is not gonna want to do anything to wreck our soil or our

water because we have no other land that's available for us.

And he really wants to see the next generation and his, you

know, his dad's legacy lives on.

And so I would just like to see government policy that allows farmers

to farm the land because how, and they're going to, I truly believe that

they're gonna be stewards of their land.

'cause it's not like they can just go to the store and buy more land, right?

Like, they have to be stewards of the land, the environment,

'cause it's what we live off of.

And, um, so that's like my, you know, number one that I always say.

Um, number two is we selling commodities and with everything happening with

tariffs and international trade, like I truly believe in free trade.

And we as farmers need to have the options to be able to trade our

products to wherever we want, right?

And without that, I feel like government needs to negotiate free trade and

then let the farmers do the rest.

And so I'm all about, you know, let farmers do what they do best, just

create them that platform, give them the platform to do so, right?

And so, um, by environmental policy, farmers are gonna take care of their

land, make sure there's free market trade so we can sell our products and

our commodities because we do produce ama like great food, great quality food,

um, abundance of food for the world.

Um.

And yeah.

And then the last, but not least, do not block innovation, right?

When we are seeing innovation coming from maybe different countries or even

grown within Saskatchewan, looking at different, you know, seed varieties,

different fertilisers don't, we've gotta speed that up because I don't

want, you know, if a technology has been adopted into the states, I don't

wanna have to wait two or three or four years before I can use that innovation.

I wanna be able to use it just as soon as my American farmer friends can.

So those are kind of the three like policy things.

And then something that I am, you know, just passionate about too is

being from the town of Yorkton, 16,000, you know, people, we are turning

into a value added hub for the world.

We have the largest canola crushing plant Richardson.

We have Louis Dreyfus that just doubled their canola.

That, um, expansion plant that's opening up.

Louis Dreyfus has also done a pea protein plant.

We've got Grain Millers, which is one of the largest oat milling,

and they do all the Quaker oats.

We've got TA foods, which is flaxseed.

We've got harvest meats, which is hot dogs and you know, sausage and

all the, like, you have to have a harvest hotdog that's like tradition.

So we have so many value added companies.

Um, we're just in my town of 16,000 people.

And so I would love to see more government policy of how do we

add value to our commodities before they leave this country.

And so it doesn't have to be Saskatchewan, but wherever.

I think there's a huge missed opportunity that we're sending

way too many commodities and raw products where we could be actually

maybe doing some of the processing and packaging right here at home.

A hundred percent.

And, and I, I'm, I thank you.

Because I didn't know that Yorkton was such a, a, a, a

hive of value added activity.

Uh, I, I think of anything, is an example where, you know, not to fault you guys,

but more people should know that, right?

Like that's, again, that kind of speaks to the exciting activity that's happening

in Saskatchewan that tragically people outside of Saskatchewan, at least

people outside of the prairies do not know and understand and value enough.

So thank you, uh, for sharing that, uh, here on the podcast.

And, and let me ask a follow up again, both as a nerd, but

also as an Ontario person.

You know, I hear a lot, and, and notwithstanding your point about value

processing before we ship stuff away,

Yeah.

I hear a lot about issues around railway and backlogs

in terms of grains and other commodities being shipped out.

Can can, can you educate me a little bit on, on, on how that plays out

and how we could be fixing that?

Yeah.

So, um, Saskatchewan is landlocked, right?

Like we have no access to ocean, we're landlocked.

And so most of our goods is sent by rail, by train to the port of Vancouver.

And there's some other ports that are goods, but I would say majority

of our goods in Saskatchewan are sent to the Port of Vancouver.

A few different things.

Agriculture, commodities are usually lower, um, priority than like oil and gas.

So like we need to get oil off of trains and into pipelines to free up rail space.

So that's like, like one of the problems.

Number two is, um, labour issues.

So if somebody, you know, if any trains port people, if anybody goes

on strike, that halts everything.

So when they go on strike during harvest time, when we're trying to

ship all of our grain out to the port of Vancouver, nothing is moving.

We have no place to store, you know, grain 'cause we're at capacity of

bins, the elevators aren't taking grain and it really causes an issue.

It also causes a cashflow issue because I don't get paid till my grain is delivered.

So that's labour, like labour stoppages and labour issues is another big one.

And then once you get to the port, again, labour backlogs, you're

dealing with the city of Vancouver.

Um, some of that infrastructure is hundreds of years old.

It needs updating, it needs efficiencies.

But that's not like, I feel like right now we've been just throwing a little

bit money to kind of put the bandaid on the problem where we probably need

to be looking at the bigger picture because there's one bridge right now

to get to some of those terminals.

If that bridge a ship hits it, it collapses.

Like we're halted for, I don't even know how many, I wanna say years it's

gonna take to build a new bridge, right?

And so those are like a few of the major issues of getting

our stuff out and exported.

I've had, um, the opportunity to go on two trade missions, one to China

and one to Peru, and then have, have heard from a lot of other people who

have travelled to trade missions.

What we keep hearing is Canada produces the best, the best wheat,

the best lentils, the best peas, the best beef, like best oats like you

name it, they say Canada produces the best food, but your guys's um,

transportation reliability sucks.

It completely sucks.

They're like, we can order it and you say it's gonna be delivered then

it's never gonna be delivered then.

And so I think it's actually a national crisis, a national priority where

we need to figure out, because we are such a trade driven company of

how can we make sure that our, um, transportation infrastructure allows us.

'cause I wanna be known to be the best, but I also am like.

I need to be able to deliver my goods on time.

Right.

And that's really important when we're talking to some of the large millers

in these countries, they're like, we can't wait weeks for wheat or we

can't wait weeks, um, weeks for oats.

Right.

And so I think, um, you know, I've talked to people at the federal

government, I've talked to people in the provincial government and they all agree.

We just have to almost as a country decide we're gonna invest into

our transportation, um, corridors.

Right on.

And, and what was it?

We can't wait for wheat.

Say that five times fast.

And that'll be very difficult.

know.

Now, uh, we

Yes.

out of

Yeah,

uh, but I do like to,

yeah.

uh, uh, say to the guest, you know, is there anything that we haven't

touched upon today that you would like to talk about, you know, before we wrap up?

No, I just think, um, you know, if you're listening from outside of

Saskatchewan, I feel like Saskatchewan is always sometimes mixed a mist.

'cause we don't have the mountains, we don't have the ocean, we don't.

But you know what?

We've got the land of living skies.

Um, we're, we've got the beautiful prairies, but it's the

people that make Saskatchewan.

It is the hardworking hustle people.

And I always invite people to come out and experience Saskatchewan, experience

supper in the field, experience, um, what we do great here in Saskatchewan.

And um, also like we don't, we're not like the hillbillies of the

west or we're not the wild west.

Right.

Like we are, we're part of Canada.

We want to be seen to be a part of Canada.

And I just say, you know, come and come and visit Saskatchewan,

come and meet, um, the people.

And, um, I don't think you'll regret it.

I've had quite a few Ontario friends who are like, I feel like I'm

wasting a trip out to Saskatchewan.

And they've come to visit multiple times after because, um, it's such a beautiful

province and it's the people who make it.

So, no, I would just, you know, thank you Jesse, for having me on today and

um, I think it was a great conversation and we covered a lot of topics.

Though the last question, often the most difficult because

people wanna go on and on and on.

This is meant to be a quick, short answer, kind of whatever's in the gut.

But this is the shout out section of the show.

are the leaders?

Who are the people that you look up to, that you think we

should be paying attention to?

And again, this is not an Academy Words accepted speech.

This is just the first few names that come to mind.

And, and we won't fault you for the names that you think of after,

like, oh, I forgot to mention

Yeah.

Okay.

Well I think people you should follow.

Number one, my biggest mentor, um, Alana Cook, she was Deputy Minister

of Agriculture for many, many years.

Deputy to the premier for many, many years.

Ran for leader of to, ran for Premier in Saskatchewan.

Didn't get it, but she's a mover and shaker in agriculture.

She's a trailblazer, um, of women.

So that would be number one.

Um, and number two, 'cause I don't think they get enough credit.

Again, I go back to my parents.

Um, I think, you know, they, especially with my dad of, you know, being the

grumpy old farmer, but he, he has done things for our farm that changes.

So, 'cause there's, I probably can name 50 to a hundred amazing

leaders within Saskatchewan.

But I have to say to my, you know, my role model, my mentor, and then

my parents because I, I wouldn't be doing this podcast without them.

right on.

And, and all the parents listening and all the children listening feel that

moment of love that we all do when we express that kind of f appeal to.

thank you Caitlin.

Uh, this has been fantastic and, uh, we'll definitely have to have you

back, uh, if only because I think this just really scratches the surface

of the Saskatchewan Appreciation Society within the future herd.

Uh, so thanks again.

Thank you.

It brings us to the close of another fantastic future herd episode.

Of course, uh, all credit for that goes to Caitlin.

Caitlin, thank you very much.

Uh, the way you think about leadership, community and, and what it actually means

to leave something better than you found.

It really resonates with me and I suspect our audience as a whole.

I also think the battery analogy is something that doesn't just apply

to farming, but applies to life in our technology saturated society.

I think those of us who are farmers feel a certain amount of gratitude that

we get to touch soil, that we get to hang out with animals, that we get to

be part of the natural cycles of life.

But anyone listening, quite frankly, would benefit from that battery analogy and the

need to recharge it on a regular basis.

Speaking of recharging, if you wanna recharge your knowledge, if you want

to recharge your hope, if you wanna recharge your pantry, uh, go check out

our website, uh, the future herd.ca, where we've been generating quite

a knowledge base about the AgriFood sector and all things connected to it.

Uh, this includes our episodes, it includes our daily briefs, uh, it

includes our knowledge articles, and increasingly it's going to include other

links to resources within the sector.

And of course, if this episode meant, uh, something to you, the best thing

you can do is share the podcast.

Rate the podcast, follow the podcast, engage the podcast.

Think of it as the wind in the sails of any digital content.

Uh, so until next time, take care of your cells, check that battery

level, and we'll see you soon.