The Truth About Where Ag Needs to Go Next with Arlene Dickinson

Kristjan and Evan are joined by the renowned Arlene Dickinson, who shares how her early experiences with food insecurity shaped her thinking about food, business, and opportunity. From growing up without reliable access to groceries to building one of Canada’s leading marketing firms, her path into agriculture was not linear, but it was intentional. Through her work in venture capital, she began to question why a country with such strong agricultural production was not creating more value from what it grows. That realization led her to invest directly in the agri-food and consumer packaged goods space, where she now has a front row seat to both the opportunities and the gaps in Canada’s system.

Arlene challenges the idea that agriculture ends at the commodity level, pointing to the missed opportunity in processing, branding, and commercialization. She speaks to the need for better access to capital, stronger partnerships, and a willingness to think differently about how agricultural products move from field to shelf. At the same time, she highlights the importance of understanding markets, building products people actually want, and recognizing what skills are needed beyond primary production.