The Programmable Farm
A book about technology, autonomy, and food, written from a working farm and published as it is written. Read the web edition at programmable.farm.
Jesse Hirsh
Researcher, speaker, and strategist working at the intersection of AI, media, and governance.
What I work on
AI adoption and governance, media literacy, disinformation, institutional trust, and the systems pressures reshaping how we lead, decide, and communicate. I bring these to conference stages, executive briefings, podcasts, and public commentary — and to the agricultural sector through The Future Herd, a podcast and leadership forum at the intersection of technology, policy, and farming.
Where the work lives
Three projects carry most of this work. Each has its own home:
The Future Herd
A podcast and gathering space for agricultural leaders navigating technology adoption, policy change, and systemic disruption in food and farming.
Metaviews
An open-source intelligence and media practice: a long-running analysis archive, the Pressure Systems report, and the Metaviews to the Future podcast.
Media host and guest
For more than three decades, media has been part of my work: hosting, interviewing, guesting, moderating, and translating complex issues in real time. I am available for podcasts, radio, television, documentary interviews, recurring commentary, and hosted conversations where the goal is clarity rather than noise.
There is only one Jesse Hirsh
Chatter That Matters, April 16, 2026. A wide-ranging conversation on authority, platforms, education, farming, and the media, technology, and culture systems shaping public life.
Book Jesse for media
Live guest, long-form podcast guest, host, moderator, recurring commentator, and documentary subject for AI, governance, media power, public trust, agriculture, and systems change.
Current focus
After the Platforms
The media infrastructure most institutions built their public presence on is fragmenting. X, Facebook, and legacy media are losing coherence simultaneously while AI-mediated information systems are taking over. This talk maps what's replacing them — and how organizations can build credible, durable public presence in what comes next.
Feeding Intelligence: AI Meets the Farm
Agriculture is where AI confronts physical reality — soil, weather, labour, supply chains. The farm is the most honest test of what AI can and cannot optimize. This talk uses food systems to cut through AI hype and show what resilient, grounded automation actually looks like.
Thriving When the Future Is Uncertain
The strategic frameworks most organizations depend on were built for stable conditions. They are failing under accelerating change. This talk gives leaders practical disciplines for navigating genuine uncertainty — not strategies for avoiding it, but tools for making consequential decisions when the ground keeps shifting.
The Human in the Loop
Every organization deploying AI is asking the same question: which decisions do we keep? The gap between what AI can do and what institutions know how to govern is widening fast. This talk gives leaders a practical framework for mapping decision authority, designing meaningful oversight, and building accountability structures before something goes wrong.
The Future Herd
Bringing together farmers, policymakers, and technologists to think clearly about the future of agriculture. Hosted by Jesse at the intersection of technology, policy, and practice.
Topics
Future of Authority
Institutional legitimacy and power in networked environments.
AI Literacy for Leaders
Decision frameworks for AI capability, risk, and governance.
Media, Disinformation, and Democratic Resilience
Countering narrative manipulation and trust erosion.
The Agentic Turn
Governing autonomous AI systems before they govern you.
The Human in the Loop
Deciding which decisions to keep.
The Trust Recession
Earning credibility when authority no longer transfers.
The Power of World Building
Who constructs reality, and how.
Food Systems and the Future
The pressures reshaping what we grow, how, and who eats it.
Info War for the Rest of Us
A field guide to information warfare for non-specialists.
After the Platforms
Building credible public presence after platform coherence fails.
Feeding Intelligence: AI Meets the Farm
What the farm reveals about what AI can and cannot do.
Thriving When the Future Is Uncertain
Practical disciplines for leading when stability is not coming back.
What people say
"Brilliant, ethical, and forward-thinking — I recommend him to any group that values deep insight." — CEO, Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada
"Engaging, thought-provoking, and absolutely fantastic." — Canadian Health Informatics Association
"Smart, grounded, capable of lifting complex ideas into actionable insight." — Chairman, Harris/Decima
"Speaks with energy and provokes lasting discussion long after the event ends." — Communications Consultant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
"Everything went very well… super smooth and very engaging." — Senior Program Manager, Local Government Management Association (LGMA)
"Deep understanding of modern society and technology." — Hon. Bob Rae
Selected engagements
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Exporttag (Vienna) (Keynote / conference session)
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Canada’s Innovation Corridor Summit (Talk / presentation)
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ITUofT (conference session) (Featured speaker)
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Digital Main Street Forum (Speaker)
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Toronto Insurance Conference (Black Tie Dinner) (Speaker)
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CPJ RPC 150th anniversary event (Speaker)
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Agri-Food 2050 (Headline talk)