Live from the Land of Living Skies, a farm outside Mossbank, Saskatchewan, in the middle of harvest, host Michael LeBlanc's guest is Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel. She’s a farmer first, and a farmer advocate second, part of a fourth-generation farm family on land the Nagels have worked for 120 years. They grow canola, durum, and lentils, the crops behind your pasta, canola oil, and soup. We talk about how Prairie crops reach your grocery shelf, why Cherilyn is a proud champion of global trade, and why modern farming is one of the most science-driven industries anywhere. We also get into a tough harvest, and what happens when diesel prices double and hail pummels the crops. And she has one piece of advice for all of us: ask a farmer.
Cherilyn left her hometown intending never to come back. Answering questions about food from people who had never set foot on a farm showed her she could explain agriculture in a language people understand, and led her into advocacy and policy work. And back to the farm.
Recorded at the tail end of harvest, after a day in the fields with host Michael LeBlanc, the conversation traces how her crops become everyday groceries: durum in pasta, canola in oil and animal feed, lentils and chickpeas in soups and pet food, barley in beer and beef. Roughly 90% of what Saskatchewan grows is exported, and Cherilyn makes a proud case for global trade and more value-added processing on the Prairies.
It has been a hard season, with hail and a July heat blast after a promising start. Diesel has doubled, fertilizer, seed and land costs are up, and every link in the chain passes its costs down to farmers, who are price takers.
She closes with advice for consumers, fellow farmers and grocers, starting with a simple one: ask a farmer.