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Welcome to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s podcast series that explores the freshest ideas in agriculture and food. Each episode explores a single topic in depth—digging deep into new practices, innovative ideas, and their impacts on the industry. Learn about Canada’s agricultural sector from the people making the breakthroughs and knocking down the barriers! Farmers and foodies, scientists and leaders, and anyone with an eye on the future of the sector—this podcast is for you!
Alison: I did find that I started thinking about what could I have done better in my company? When you're in the storm, you don't really think about what you could have done differently. Even though I had a very successful exit I felt that I should have kept on building. I looked at the two things that challenged me over my lifetime and the first was I couldn't find mentors in Canada that could help me scale globally. The second thing was access to capital. I could never find capital when I really needed it. And so I thought, okay, how do we solve this?
Kirk: That was Alison Sunstrum. She is a pioneering entrepreneur turned investor, now on a mission to fix the gaps she once faced—mentorship and access to capital—by investing in exceptional talent and bold ideas in agriculture. And we’re going to need those bold ideas for sure. Listen to this….
Graeme: The UN estimates we need upwards of 50% more food than we currently produce by 2050, which is an amazing increase in food of an essential good. We need to do so with, you know, by and large, lets call it the same amount of arable land, arable land, which is succumbing to more extreme weather events, soil degradation. And we need to do so with certainly on a per unit basis, less inputs. And so, if you need 50% more of an essential good with less inputs, the single way you solve that problem is with innovation.
Marie-France: That was Graeme Millen. He is part of the team at FCC Capital, which is a new effort from Farm Credit Canada to provide what he calls 'patient, and reliable capital' to agri-food and ag-tech companies across the country.
Kirk: Alison and Graeme, those two, they know innovation doesn’t happen on it’s own, it needs support systems, relationships and financial backing.
Marie-France: What it needs is Innovative money.
Kirk: That’s a great way of putting it. Alison and Graeme are our guests today.
Marie- France: Welcome to the First Sixteen a podcast about innovators and innovation in Canadian agriculture. I am your co-host Marie-France Gagnon.
Kirk: And I am your other co-host Kirk Finken.
Marie-France: Listeners, for todays episode we each spoke to a venture capital investor in agriculture.
Kirk: I spoke to Alison Sunstrum. She is a managing partner of The 51’s Food and AdTech Fund. It’s a $51 million Canadian venture capital fund dedicated to early-stage companies using science and technology to transform the ag sector.
Marie-France: And I spoke to Graeme Millen from FCC Capital. FCC Capital was created to offer direct equity investments—stepping beyond traditional lending to meet the market where it is, and support the kind of innovation the sector really needs.
Kirk: They’re both working to close the gaps that hold innovation back.
Marie-France: Totally. So, let’s start with Alison. What I really like is she’s a woman with a mission.
Kirk: Absolutely, she’s been in agriculture for a long time and saw the potential of technology early on—which eventually led her to co-found a global data and analytics company in animal agriculture. And her passion for ag was part of her next move, that’s where I wanted to start.
Alison: I would suggest that anyone who is in agriculture has a passion. And if you look at feeding the world and doing so sustainably, I think that drives a lot of people. Agriculture is one of our biggest industries alongside energy and I think it's the people from my perspective, they're just some of the most exceptional people that you can encounter. You can't help but fall in love with the industry.
Kirk: I totally understand that as somebody who has been in Ag for many years, I whole heartedly agree. You’ve talked about two big challenges you faced during your career—finding mentorship and accessing capital. What did you do to start solving those?
00:09:45:15 - 00:10:30:21
Alison: So the first thing that I did was, I joined the Creative Destruction Lab out of the Haskayne business school. I feel like I'm mentored every day that I am there, but, passing that mentorship on is super important.
The second area is I looked at raising capital, I started thinking about if was my gender part of the reason why I couldn't access capital. And I met an astounding group in Calgary called the 51, named so because women in Canada are 51% of the population. But they were looking at activating capital, women's capital, women are wonderful donators. Whether your audience knows this or not, but the majority of wealth is controlled by women in Canada, or at least held by women. Maybe not so much controlled, but held. And women tend to be more interested in feeding their family, more interested in purchasing groceries. And I just thought, you know, women could see investing in agriculture as incredibly important.
The three co-founders of the 51, Judy Fairburn, Shelley Kuipers and Alice Reimer all had an interest in agriculture. Shelley was very interested in food as health, Shelley is a serial entrepreneur in her own right. Judy Fairbairn is a fourth-generation farmer. And more recently, we've been joined by general partner Yuan Shi. Yuan grew up in a farm in rural China. All of us have a love for agriculture, so we set off to raise a fund.
Kirk: That’s the Food and AdTech Fund, right? Can you tell us about it.
Alison: So the 51 and myself undertook a joint venture to raise a fund. To invest in deep science and technology that’s transforming agriculture. ethe fund that we created to invest in deep science and technology that's transforming agriculture. The fund is managed by Naya Ventures.
Most recently, we closed 51 million dollars to invest in Canadian startups, Canadian and North American startups, but predominantly in Canada. And our complete and total objective is to see four sectors, succeed. And that's ag biotechnology, we're looking into automation and robotics heavily, new digital tools for on farm and ways to innovate food production and processes.
Kirk: Congratulations! There are obviously some foundational principles at work there. Can you speak to those?
Alison: I think the principles is first, trust, transparency and integrity. We are trying to be as motivated about, preserving our limited partners capital or those that invest in us, but we also have a deep respect for founders.
Being a venture capitalist has a kind of a nasty reputation around it, often referred to as vulture capitalists. Definitely you have to be financially responsible. But founders are what build your future companies. And, we're very founder-focused.
We're also very data driven, and we're trying not to make investments based on our gut feelings, but really trying to make investments based on the best knowledge that we can have. So we try to bring really solid business fundamentals to our founders, try to bring them support, not just capital, but also human capital. Resources that can support them through their scaling.
Ag tech companies have a really tough road ahead of them, and a really tough wall to climb maybe different than someone in consumer tech or fintech.
Kirk: When you say “tough road” what are some of the challenges here for Canadian Ag Tech companies?
00:17:41:01 - 00:18:16:08
Alison
Theres a lot. If you're a Canadian entrepreneur, you have to export. No matter what it is. You definitely can be a big business from home and we have several examples of it. But you have to be able to operate in the global world. And I think this is going to become more of a challenge for entrepreneurs as time goes on.
Going back to business fundamentals, the ability to grow a company and build a company not on grant-derived funds. So in other words, we've been creating a bit of a grant-primeurs, I call them, people who are more focused on, uh, acquiring grant funding and subsidies rather than perhaps those that build a solid commercial, proposition. So those are some of the things that we really focus on in bootstrapping and how you make every cent.
Kirk: Yeah, and that's a nice segue into this next question. Can you talk about other sources of funding like us and Farm Credit Canada, FCC, for example?
Alison: So, full disclosure, FCC is my lead investor. I would say it's one of Canada's greatest agricultural strengths. And I would say this before, they were my lead investor, and I never did avail myself of any of their credit sources. But, they've done a couple of things which I find are very unique. The first thing they did is they created a QuickBooks Lite kind of program in AG Expert that I think is used, I don’t know the numbers exactly, your would have to ask FCC, in perhaps as many as 30,000 farms across Canada. What that actually did was the first step to digital. By helping farms go from paper invoicing to digital it was actually a big start to get the transition running in Canadian Agriculture. At the other end they are assisting in building venture capital funds.
I think that we need a strong VC ecosystem, and it's not for the faint of heart if you want to invest in sector specific funds, but, being able to access credit when you need it. Back to my first problem that I had as a company. Having capital when you need it to scale with good business fundamentals is really important. And if I draw a parallel, if we look at the success of the Netherlands, it has a large part to do with the financing provided by Rabo Ventures. So as a parallel, FCC is a secret powerhouse in Canada.
Kirk: They are going to love to hear that. So, talking about that eco-system a little, the innovation eco system. What is the role of universities in all this?
Alison: Just like FCC is kind of a silent source of power. I really think that the amount of research that we've done has been amazing. Our failure, though, is to commercialize that research that comes out of our universities. I think it’s hard to train a university researcher to be an entrepreneur. Some do it so effectively, but I think we have to have a more commercial focus on some of the particularly practical research that we undertake. I don't want to ever see us not do foundational research, but I can give you so many success stories. We were the leaders in AI research, if you look across our country, Geoffrey Hinton, who's referred to as the godfather of deep learning, University of Toronto. Rich Sutton, University of Alberta, another deep learning.
The number of people who have built the stuff that everything else is built on. We need to understand how do we keep that talent here? How do we develop that talent here? And how do we commercialize the application? If universities can tap into those mentors and individuals who have successfully scaled their corporations, that's the kind of goal that startups need. They need that intersection and the Dutch have a name for it, they call it the triple helix.
Kirk: And so for people who are investing in the ag and food and ag tech space, what do you what are they most either miss or misunderstand about it?
00:27:13:29 - 00:28:40:21
Alison: I don't think anybody understands where our food comes from and it's not just an investor, it's all of us. The complex supply chains that deliver our food, the highly technical supply chains that deliver our food, and, the technology that's being deployed on farm right now to really make a more sustainable farming industry is, It's exceptional, and I think we need to understand that.
The average kid coming out of university right now doesn't realize what a wonderful lifestyle being involved and the depth of the science and technology involved. So we're also seeing farming becoming more of a woman-led operation. The physical constraints that have been removed by new technology, new equipment is fascinating. So the limitations that once might have been physical are no longer there. So it's a, it's a huge opportunity for anyone who wants to take knowledge of technology and science into agriculture. Um, there's great career opportunities waiting for you.
Kirk: So if you look to that future maybe 30 years into the future, what do you see?
Alison: I think that looking into the next two years might be as concerning as looking into….or exciting, as looking into the next 30. We know we have a big challenge in agriculture, and I've probably been saying the same thing since 2009, and I, look we got a double food production, we're going to have to feed 10 billion. We have to do so efficiently and sustainably and we're challenged by climate effects. And it's real. It's very real.
And I think we have to look to science and technology for that. So I'm bullish, but let's have a reality check on the innovation report card for Canada. We are failing in a productivity sense. And I did a little back of the napkin kind of economics. The Netherlands, if we look at their investment in food and ag, if we look at our investment in food and ag, they're about four times more productive than we are in our export values and our return.
They have about 900,000 employed by agriculture. We have over 2 million people. We could be far more productive. We need to set better goals and objectives. We need to see where we can unlock capital. We could be a sustainable agricultural superpower. And I think we've got a lot of challenges that we have to solve to get on that journey.
Let's keep understanding that we are an export nation. We need to understand how to compete in this new...conflict filled world. But we have so many, so many blessings in Canada that I think we can see our way through this.
Kirk: It looks like we all have some challenges ahead. And I would imagine this is where you are turned to as a mentor and their tough conversations. Can you talk about your role as a mentor as companies navigate the future you just described?
Alison: So mentors are not cheerleaders. The mentors are people who can suggest directions, who can suggest methodologies, but they're really trying to bring the very best out of the founder themselves. It's not about the fund partner. It's about the founder being the best founder they can be.
Marie-France: I am very inspired to up my game at the moment.
Kirk: I like the way she puts it, mentorship isn’t hand holding, it’s about providing guidance, structure, and accountability to help founders grow…it’s great to have her and people like her pushing Canadian Ag forward.
Mare-France: Exactly. And it’s something that came up also in my conversation with Graeme Millen from FCC Capital.
Kirk: Right—Farm Credit Canada’s been in the agricultural space for a long time, mainly as a lender, right?
Maire-France: Yes, for over 60 years, FCC has been one of Canada’s biggest lenders in agriculture. They have a very deep understanding of the sector and to Alisons point; 80% of their loan book is still in primary Ag.
Kirk: And this new division, FCC Capital?
Maire-France: Yeah so FCC Capital is a new arm of Farm Credit Canada focused on direct equity investing in agri-food and ag-tech companies, designed to support innovation where traditional lending doesn’t always fit. It’s new, they're building the team and laying the groundwork for this new kind of support.
Kirk: And so for me the question is why is FCC doing that now?
Marie-France: I had the same question for Graeme Millen who is a Vice president of Business development a ecosystem support at FCC capital.
Graeme: Agriculture and food uniquely sit at the intersection of so many of the most important priorities in the world today. And so that could be human health, food security, economic prosperity, climate, both impact and contributions to climate change. And so when you've got an industry that sits right at that intersection and has the ability to drive so much positive influence and outcomes, in addition to the size and the need for that innovation, it truly is a generational opportunity, not just for FCC, but for, frankly, everyone. It's an incredible landscape to lean into. I am really thrilled that FCC is, appropriately given it’s role in the industry, taking up the charge of doing more.
Maire-France: The intersection you speak of… there are some high risk factors at play. Can you speak to us about these types of risks?
Graeme: Fundamentally we're I mean, this is FCC wide not just FCC capital. We're interested in driving innovation and impact across the food system. And some of that can be done with senior lending. So to your point, it's not just higher risk. It's some businesses need different types of risk. And so an early stage company that is developing truly impactful technology to drive productivity on the farm to provide extreme weather resilience, whatever it might be in many cases just doesn't fit the senior debt lending risk profile.
We have a different team that needs to think about companies and how we provide capital differently. And so we're building the team, building the processes, building the playbook, building our strategy to be able to reliably, consistently and sustainably provide capital to this market over the long term. We're when you make an equity investment, you're implicitly in it for the long run. That's the game.
Marie-France: That’s an interesting point to remind us that FCC has already been involved in agriculture, and has been for years. So what other value does that bring?
Graeme: When you look at FCC as an organization, we're disproportionately well positioned to provide strategic value, connectivity, access to our smart farm network, access to accelerators and incubators, conversations and information from growers directly. That ability to support the success of the businesses is not only something which is just good, important work for us to do, but it's fundamentally part of our risk management strategy. And so that creates an incredibly virtuous cycle where we're going to take more risk, we're going to write checks, but we never do that on its own. We marry that with value creation. We say, if we can support the success of this entrepreneur, not just the success of that company being built to make them the best versions of themselves, but also increase the probability of success of growers out there who want to adopt innovation.
Marie-France: So when it comes to investment, what kinds of companies is FCC Capital really focused on supporting—and why?
Graeme: There's kind of two categories of organizations that we're really focused on supporting out of the gate, very broad.
The first is innovation, innovative businesses. And the way we think about innovative businesses is companies who are scaling and building the business around differentiated intellectual property. So this is going to be your ag tech, food tech, more the venture capital style of investment.
And we know that that's an important area to deploy capital and support because it is where technology and innovation will emerge that will have the ability to have exponential impact in the industry. Small stage company that can move the needle on productivity, on yield, on input demand, whatever it might be, can have massive impacts on the rest of the industry.
The second big category that we're focused on, which is really important to call out, is we're calling this great Canadian businesses that are scaling on the basis of excellent operations, really good fundamental business acumen. They may not have differentiated IP and technology, and that may not be their core service and offering. But if we think about the ability to drive sustaining, enduring value in the Canadian food system, we want to make sure that those Canadian businesses that are showing escape velocity, that have got their products in market and they're ready to launch another product, scale up their manufacturing, explore international exports. They have access to capital that meets that need as well.
Marie-France: When we spoke with Alison Sunstrum, she talked about how important mentorship is when it comes to investment. So I am curious for your take on how that idea of mentorship shows up at FCC Capital, and more broadly within FCC’s work across the sector?
Graeme: When I think about FCC, there's a variety of approaches to how you provide the information, insights to make better decisions. So mentorship, I mean, Alison's a great example. Alison Sunstrom does fantastic work across the industry, providing mentorships not just to the portfolio companies of the 51, but she's an outspoken, engaged advocate in the industry to help share the lessons, provide those insights, and our industry is better for it.
So within FCC capital, we've got a couple of programs that we're really focused on. So the one is we support incubators and accelerators across Canada. And that's really important in the spirit of how do we help entrepreneurs be the best versions of themselves and build the best companies possible? Right. Let's build great companies that have the ability to be differentiated not just in Canada, but globally, that have the ability to drive the kind of value on farm or within the food system that we need to see, to see those exponential gains in productivity and efficiency.
Another initiative program that FCC has set up over the recent years, which I'm super proud of, is our Smart Farm program. So FCC, currently in partnership with AAFC and many of the in many cases, partners with organizations that have physical farms that are dedicated to supporting the testing, trialing and adoption of innovation. And so our partners have north of 10,000 acres across five physical sites across Canada. This is an incredible platform to move beyond the lab and not hope to go from the lab straight to a commercial farm. It's a it's a landing spot in between the test trial validate. To showcase to the agricultural community what innovation exists and for it not on day one to be in a commercial transactional environment, but in a learning opportunity. Because at the end of the day, everything we're doing, if it does not lead to the adoption of new innovation and technology, it's for nothing.
Marie-France: This all sounds like a good foundation to build on. And I know it’s still early days with FCC Capital but do you have an example of a company you have invested in?
Graeme: Yeah it’s funny, I was just snaking on three farmers snacks. We recently announced our investment in Three Farmers, which is a phenomenal Canadian business, it's so squarely fits in the great Canadian business profile that we want to support. So three farmers, entrepreneurs, built this business from scratch. The founders were based in agriculture. They're showing great prominence in the Canadian market, but they're at a point where their product is really in demand internationally as well. And so when we look at organizations like Three Farmers, we say, okay, what's the opportunity to take this and make it a national, an international, a global leader. You can't do that without capital. We want to be there to help them do that, both with capital and as I mentioned some of that strategic value as well.
Marie-France: That’s nice to hear, I will look out for them.
Kirk: Marie-France, those two just opened my eyes, blew my mind.
Marie-France: I think what we heard from Alison and Graeme shows that innovation in agriculture doesn’t move forward on ideas alone—it needs people willing to invest their time, experience, and capital.
Kirk: Very inspiring! I want to thank both Allison and Graeme for joining us today. They are a great reminder of what we need to do, and a great segue to our motto.
Marie-France: Try something new….and make sure you have a good team around you.