Sustainable, system-wide resilience in Canada’s agri-food system will never be achieved by any single entity working alone. It will emerge as people from across the ecosystem—with different experiences, priorities, and responsibilities—come together with a shared commitment to shaping a climate-smart, equitable, and economically vibrant future for food in this country.
That spirit defined the Fall 2025 Cultivating Resilience Summit, which convened researchers, Indigenous leaders, producers, innovators, government representatives, and policy specialists for focused dialogue. Together, they explored genomic advances, climate adaptation, Indigenous food sovereignty, sustainable infrastructure, and the persistent challenge of turning evidence into meaningful action.
A broad cross-section of interest-holders shaped these conversations, helping ensure that insights were grounded in scientific evidence, lived experience, and operational realities.
Summit Sponsors
These organizations helped make the summit possible and demonstrated their commitment to advancing climate-smart agriculture:
- BeriTech Inc.
- Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN)
- Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-food (CANZA)
- University of Guelph
Summit Co-Hosts
Each partner played a distinct role in convening, grounding, and advancing the dialogue:
- SFU Public Square
- BC Agricultural Climate Action Research Network (ACARN)
- BC Centre for Agritech Innovation (BCCAI)
- Agricultural Genomics Action Centre (AG-Act)
During the summit sessions, a unifying message was clear: knowledge is static until it moves. Knowledge mobilization—co-producing, translating, exchanging, contextualizing, and applying what we know—is what drives real change.
Continuing the Conversation
In the weeks following the event, the broader community has kept the discussion alive across public platforms. Inspiring comments emphasized the importance of ensuring that producers and innovators are not occasional contributors but essential participants in shaping Canada’s food future.
This perspective aligns with, and reinforces, the summit’s intent.
Those working across Canada’s food and agriculture sectors know well that a resilient system requires complete representation—scientific, cultural, operational, commercial, and community-based. When those who live the realities of production and innovation sit alongside researchers and policymakers, solutions become more grounded, more actionable, and more likely to succeed.
To this point, the summit featured farmers, producers, and innovators who brought forward practical insight and field-level knowledge, including:
Gurleen Maan – Maan Farms
Gurleen shared experiences from running a multi-generation, 100-acre berry farm, highlighting how climate pressures and cultural expectations intersect.
Bahram Rashti – UP Vertical Farms
Bahram noted that Canada lags global competitors and emphasized the need for policy modernization to enable innovation at scale.
Rodrigo Santana – BeriTech Inc.
In a discussion about commercialization costs and intellectual property strategy (IP), Rodrigo highlighted why IP is foundational to advancing novel technologies.
Mike Manion – Bioenterprise Canada
Representing Bioenterprise, Canada’s Food & Agri-Tech Engine, Mike brought insight into industry adoption pathways and the realities of bringing technologies to market.
Sean Lacoursiere – Maia Farms
In a discussion about innovative protein production, Sean described IP as the “immune system” of your invention/work.
Participation was also noted from additional agricultural and industry partners, including Van Raay Farms, Westberry Farms, Holm Potato Farm, BV Builders, EverGen, Perkins & Will, and others, further demonstrating the breadth of interest-holders engaged in this dialogue.
Together, these voices—alongside dozens of researchers, Indigenous knowledge-holders, and policy leaders—reinforced that the future of food must be co-created, not delivered from any one individual, organization, region, or sub-sector.
Considering this, we might view resilience as a braided system: scientific expertise, Indigenous knowledge, lived experience, commercial innovation, and policy framework must be woven together rather than developed in isolation.
This respectful, integrated approach strengthens decision-making, accelerates adoption, and ensures that climate-smart solutions reflect both community needs and on-the-ground realities.
A Shared Path Forward: Co-Creating the Future of Climate-Smart Agriculture
The objective of this summit is to cultivate a community that learns together, challenges assumptions, and builds solutions that are both ambitious and grounded. The 2025 summit made meaningful progress, and the work ahead involves deepening representation, expanding accessibility, and continuing to strengthen pathways from discovery to deployment.
One takeaway stands above the rest: Canada’s agri-food future is a shared responsibility.
No single sector—not academia, not producers, not industry, not government—can deliver a food system that is climate-smart and economically strong, alone.
The work is complex. But this community is capable, committed, and growing.
Get Involved in the Next Cultivating Resilience Summit
The Cultivating Resilience Summit is not a one-time event—it’s an evolving, collaborative process. As we plan the next summit, we invite producers, entrepreneurs and innovators, Indigenous knowledge-holders, policymakers, researchers, industry, and ecosystem partners to help shape the agenda, share lived experience, and co-create solutions that move climate-smart agriculture from insight to impact.
Whether you’re interested in suggesting content, contributing perspectives, partnering as a sponsor, or participating in future conversations, your voice matters. Join us as we continue building a resilient, inclusive, and action-oriented agri-food community—together.
Connect with the AG-Act team by email: ag.act@climatesmartagrifood.ca
Learn more about the Cultivating Resilience Summit.