b'Germination:How does aging influence this predicted population decline?DB: We have doubled human life expectancy in the past century. Were getting bad at making new people and get-ting really good at keeping existing people alive. In 1920, the average Canadian lived to be in their 50s. Today, its 81. By 2036, life expectancy will be 87. Kids born today can expect to live to be 100 if medical science keeps pro-gressing, and it assuredly will.Germination:Why is this important for industry to consider?DB: When I think of agriculture, I dont think of young peopleI think of older people. Thats the market you should be going after. Millennials and members of Gen Z, in general, have no money. Theyre having a hard time starting their lives. Half of all Canadians age 18-35 live with their parents, some because they have to take care of their parents because theyre living so long. Houses are hard to find not because there are too many people out there, but because the older people who live in those homes arent moving out. Theyre aging in place. Grandma and grandpa are very happy to stay in theirDarrell Bricker notes that COVID-19 has emphasized the importance of home well into their golden years. This has many implica- food delivery services.tions for the entrepreneurs out there.Germination:Like what?DB: During COVID-19 people have been talking a lot about food delivery and how important a service it is to have when people cant leave their home to go to a storeWHEN I THINK OF AGRICULTURE, I DONT THINK or restaurant. Thats what older people deal with every day even when there is no pandemic. When you haveOF YOUNG PEOPLEI THINK OF OLDER PEOPLE. mobility issues, you cant just go out to dine whenever you feel like it. Heres a thoughtdeliver food specifi- THATS THE MARKET YOU SHOULD BE GOING AFTER.cally with older people in mind. And what restaurant makes anything for older people in particular? Eighty per cent of Canadas wealth is with people over the age of 50. They have all the money and there are more of them every day, yet no one caters to them.the knowledge, we just have to adjust our workplaces Germination:Thats a great idea actually, a restaurantfor them. Is your workplace based on an open concept? designed for older people. Thats fine for millennials and members of Gen Z, but I DB: Yet no one seems to have thought of it. Turn downfor one like to have some quiet, some privacy, so I can the music so I can have a conversation, and I dont need aconcentrate. Designing things for young people who we bunch of TV screens and lights flashing at mealthougharent creating in the first place doesnt make sense. As I would like enough light to read what Im ordering.for the crops you breed, breed with older people in mind. How about a place at the front of the restaurant whereThey generally dont have the fancy, exotic tastes you see I can leave my mobility device? If people know theyin the average millennial foodie. What are we breeding can get inside your establishment, they just might come.and growing with older people in mind? Not much. And Mainstream consumer culture doesnt really give a hootfinally, with more and more people moving to the city, about older Canadians. Theyre all around us and yet wewhos going to grow that food? mostly ignore them.Germination:Whats your advice to agriculture and the seedListen to our podcast interview with Darrell Bricker for his insights on how the COVID-19 pandemic might affect a world of shrinking industry specifically? population numbers (hint: get ready for robot farmers). Listen at DB: Think about older people. Hire them. They want togermination.ca/darrell-bricker-says-the-problem-with-robots-is-keep working. Theyre healthy enough and they havethey-dont-buy-things/SEPTEMBER 2020 GERMINATION.CA 43'