Innovation Isn't the Problem. Policy Is.

Saskatchewan grew one of the largest crops in its history in a year drier than 1988. Alanna Koch's point is that the science was never the constraint.Alanna joins Dan to walk through three careers that overlap far more than they should: building a grain farm near Edenwold from a single quarter section bought in 1994, serving more than a decade as Saskatchewan's Deputy Minister of Agriculture, and chairing the board of the Global Institute for Food Security.What's Inside- Why she and her husband describe themselves as late bloomers, and what the last ten years of buying land, taking on rented acres and building a line of equipment actually required- What a decade inside government teaches you about how slowly the machine turns, and why the real win is often getting government out of the way rather than adding a program- The practical lens a working farmer brings to a table full of scientists and academics, and why strategy that is not grounded in the field does not survive contact with it- What GIFS is, how the public-private partnership behind it works, and the precision spraying research she points to as a template for commercialized innovation- Why the gap between Ottawa and Western Canada keeps widening, and what agriculture and energy need in order to be treated as part of the environmental solution instead of the problem- Why Saskatchewan used to export its young people, and what changed- The one thing that actually keeps her up at night, which is not a scientific question Connect with Alanna on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanna-koch/Interested to know what The Global Institute for Food Security "GIFS" is all about?! Here is the link: https://www.gifs.ca/ Connect with Growing the FutureWebsite: growingthefuture.caYouTube: Growing the FutureInstagram: @growingthefuturepodcastLinkedIn: Growing the FutureSubscribe to the Growing the Future Podcast wherever you listen, and register for Convergence Conference 2027 at convergence.ag. Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.