b'Is the Future in Food?The founder of the first Canadian Summit on Climate Actions in Food Systems says its time we look beyond big yields and commodity agriculture and focus on end users.Marc Zienkiewicz mzienkiewicz@issuesink.comBRENDA TJADENis well-known in ag circles. As co-founder of FarmLink Marketing Solutions, she spent years in the world of grain marketing, farm management and communi-cations. Left: Brenda Tjaden is Two years ago, she struck out on her own to discover afounder of Sustainable Grain.new career pathone that led her to form a company called Sustainable Grain, which is set to hold the first Canadian Summit on Climate Actions in Food Systems. Held Oct. 20-22, 2019, in Kelowna, B.C., its purpose was to create a safe place for stakeholders to explore the trends in global agriculture that threaten some models of farming and food distribution, and also to share information on the fast-grow-ing movement of regenerative agriculture and how it addresses the modern challenges of the planet. Regenerative agriculture is often perceived as being disrup-tive to current business models, so it doesnt get talked about a lot among people involved in mainstream ag, especially the seed industry, Tjaden says.Hence the idea of creating a safe space in which industry stake-holders can talk about it without fear of recrimination, she says.Above: Ananda Tjaden has a long history helping western Canadian farmsFitzsimmons, founder of respond to emerging profit opportunities in growing and market- Regeneration Canada.ing their crops. In the process of founding Sustainable Grain, sheLeft: Shane Paterson, vice-researched sustainability protocols and the organic value chain,president of Growers their opportunities and vulnerabilities. She also pursued an edu- International Organic Foods.cation in soil health and regenerative agricultureboth of which go hand-in-hand and have become a passion for her.Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitationexpensive seed technology? Thats why I wanted to create approach to food and farming systems focusing heavily on top- this event, which really looks past all the controversy that sur-soil regeneration. It counts intercropping and cover cropping rounds topics like this. This isnt about trying to get the industry both becoming increasingly popularas two farming methodsto change by throwing out pie-in-the-sky ideas and lecturing that fall under its umbrella. people about sustainability. Its about the future of farming and It really focuses on making farming more sustainable. Thatsseed, and thats food.become a loaded word these days, but at its core it really helpsMy personal interests take me to food. Im not interested in us to think about the future and what is going to work over thebig yields or commodity agriculture anymore. There are a lot of long term. There are so many things about todays agricultureemerging opportunities in food and the value chain that conven-that simply are not sustainable, herbicide resistant weeds andtional agriculture can take advantage of, and thats what this is nine-dollar canola being two big ones, Tjaden says.abouttrying to connect industry stakeholders to all different What do we do different? What do we do besides mono- kinds of farmers and end users so we can begin this conversa-crop canola and rotate herbicides and invest in even moretion, says Tjaden.64/ SEEDWORLD.COMJANUARY 2020'