Season Three Premier With Special Guest Tamara Rebanks with the Homegrown Innovation Challenge

Our season three premier!  Well we are back, live on the mic, Sylvain is back in Halifax teaching at Dalhousie University after being a visiting scholar in Florida We have a great season premier episode with our very special guest Tamara Rebanks - chair of the Homegrown Innovation Challenge Taskforce, director at Weston Family FoundationNow before we jump in we wanted to dedicate this episode to our friend and colleague Xavier Poncin who sadly passed away this summer while we were on hiatus - a great supporter of food innovation in Canada.    We were chatting last week with the folks at SIAL, which will be in Toronto May 9th 2023 - again we’ll be the official podcastWhere on earth can we start…well lets start with the important stuff…after much discussion and encouragement…you watched Breaking Bad!  Now, say my name!   Okay, you have a new book coming out La Révolution des protéines and your last book Poutine Nation was nominated for an awardWell its September, and the price of Dairy has gone up again, the result of a rare twice in a year ask for price increases…over the summer what did you learn about the data behind this latest round of price increases, and where are we at todayWhat are you thoughts around U.S. firms like Driscolls growing berries in Canada…running out of water in the US…why can’t we just do that?Government policy and farmland…this has come up twice, once with a fertilizer policy and second this weekend in the Globe & Mail talking about an opportunity …What research from the lab did we miss, and what is coming up?Grocers don’t make too much money after all…. Tamara Rebanks - chair of the Homegrown Innovation Challenge Taskforce, director at Weston Family FoundationAbout TamaraTamara is a skilled funder with over 25 years of experience working with charities. She has worked on both sides of not-for-profits in Canada, the US, and the UK, and understands the challenges of raising funds for worthy initiatives as well as the pleasure of developing strategic philanthropic goals and executing them.She managed the corporate donations of George Weston Limited and Weston Foods for nearly twenty years and chaired the Weston Family Foundation, one of Canada’s largest private foundations. Tamara is the current chair of the Homegrown Innovation Challenge Taskforce, created and funded by the Weston Family Foundation and sits on the Advisory Board of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at UBC, as well as the boards of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall and Park People.About UsDr. Sylvain CharleboisDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph’s Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre’s Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa.Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus  Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  ,      The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext!  You can learn more about Michael   here  or on     LinkedIn. Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue,  his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!  About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Visiting Professor in Food Policy and Distribution at McGill University and a Professor in Food Distribution and Policy in the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University.Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. He is one of the world’s most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability with over 775 published peer-reviewed journal articles. Dr. Charlebois is also an editor for the prestigious Trends in Food Science Technology journal. He co-hosts The Food Professor podcast, discussing issues in the food, foodservice, grocery and restaurant industries and which is the most listened Canadian management podcast in Canada. Every year since 2012, he has published the now highly anticipated Canadian Food Price Report, which provides an overview of food price trends for the coming year. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, nationally as well as internationally. He has testified on several occasions before parliamentary committees on food policy-related issues as an expert witness. He has been asked to act as an advisor on food and agricultural policies in many Canadian provinces and other countries.With extensive experience collaborating with businesses, governments, and NGOs, Dr. Charlebois combines academic rigor with practical expertise, making him one of the most influential voices in the global agri-food landscape. His work continues to advance the understanding of food systems, fostering innovation and resilience in a rapidly evolving industry. In 2025, he received the prestigious Charles III medal recognizing his tremendous work in informing Canadians about food issues. Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast.  He has been recognized by the National Retail Federation (NRF) as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2025, and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.