Feeding the Future: Why It's Critical to Tell the World Our Sustainability Story, with Tim Faveri

The global spotlight on agriculture has never been brighter than it is today.

Farmers have spent decades producing food, fuel and fiber for the world, all while serving as stewards for the land and the next generation.

But increased global attention to the ongoing climate crisis means that every agricultural practice is under the microscope.

And if growers aren't telling their sustainability story, they risk being left out of key discussions that will shape the future of agriculture policy.

So in this episode, we're talking with Tim Faveri, the Vice President of Sustainability and Stakeholder Relations at Nutrien.

His team works across the organization to integrate sustainability strategy and advance environmental stewardship with partners across the globe.

We'll talk about how they are helping growers shape common sense policy, how fostering partnerships with external stakeholders are an important facet of the strategy, and what they've learned in the last several years of helping farmers share their sustainability story.

Episode Transcript

Tim Faveri

The world is watching and critiquing agriculture now. Like, we’re under a big spotlight. And so farmers are super important to have at these global conversations. 

Dusty Weis

Welcome to the FARMSMART Podcast, presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions, where every month we're talking to sustainable agriculture experts from throughout the industry. As the leading source of insight for growers on evolving their sustainability practices while staying grounded in agronomic proof, FARMSMART is where sustainability meets opportunity.

Sally Flis

We don't just talk change, we're out in the field helping you identify the products, practices and technologies that bring the future to your fields, faster. I'm Dr. Sally Flis, Director of Program Design and Outcome Management.

Dusty Weis

And I'm Dusty Weis, and we're joined now by Tim Faveri, Nutrien’s Vice President of Sustainability and Stakeholder Relations. Tim, thank you for joining us today.

Tim Faveri

Thanks, Dusty. Thanks, Sally. It's a pleasure to be here with you.

Dusty Weis

Happy to have you. And of course, we wanted to start by talking about Nutrien’s stated purpose, which is feeding the future. First of all, I love that notion. I think it really focuses us on where we want to be to have this conversation. But I'd love to start here by having you elaborate on the company's mindset that's allowed it to take this industry-leading approach.

Tim Faveri

Yeah, that's a great question. You know, when organizations invest in developing purpose for their company, what's rooted in the development of a purpose is defining why a company truly exists, why people come to work every day, basically. And feeding the future for Nutrien speaks to that critical role that the company plays in helping the future of our people and planet through the sustainable production of food and fuel and fiber for future generations to come.

And that's linked inherently to sustainability. It's really about the actions we are taking to help agriculture and the communities where we operate thrive for future generations. And I firmly believe and I know the company believes, that over the long term, we can achieve this by managing our impacts on people and the planet and at the same time, purposefully maintaining our profits too.

So, it is rooted in that notion of food security and doing it in a sustainable way.

Sally Flis

Tim, you joined Nutrien about two years ago in this role. I got to know you before that in your previous position and a couple of questions here, sort of a little bit about your career before coming to Nutrien and what brought you to working in agriculture from the various positions that you had before arriving at Nutrien?

Tim Faveri

Okay. Yeah. We're going to go back a little bit. I have a science background in biology and ecology and a master's degree in environmental health, and I started my career on the west coast of Canada in Vancouver, doing environmental impact assessments and working in a space and building a practice with an engineering firm in what we used to call environment, health and safety.

And in around the early 2000s, I made a move to Deloitte Canada, back to Ontario and this whole notion of corporate social responsibility came up and started to take hold in Canadian corporations. And that's something that our practice at Deloitte jumped in on. It went beyond just environment, health and safety. It brought in all the other aspects that we know are so commonplace today: climate and nature and diversity and inclusion and stakeholder relations, etc.

One of my biggest clients at Deloitte actually was Tim Hortons, and we developed the first CSR strategy, and I was very proud to have been asked to join them in-house to lead that first strategy. And that was my first foray truly into the food system, even though we worked with a lot of food system clients.

Dusty Weis

If we can pump the brakes a second for our American audience here, Tim Hortons, pretty big deal.

Tim Faveri

Pretty big deal. Largest coffee company in Canada and still is at this time. And that's where my foray into agriculture started, actually. We developed sustainable agriculture projects and programs for smallholder coffee growers, where the company sourced the coffee beans in central and South America. And what was super interesting was kind of the passion that I developed for what I would, I would call for a smallholder coffee farmer kind of being the champion for the underdog. Smallholder, you know, two hectares of land trying to carve out a living and selling coffee beans through a very complex supply chain to rich people in North America.

Right? And that that's the story all over the world when it comes to a lot of agriculture. Tim Hortons was the victim of somewhat of a hostile takeover at around 2015, and I found myself at Maple Leaf Foods, Canada's largest pork producer and poultry processor, again in the heart of animal agriculture there. And the CEO, who had been the CEO for a couple of decades, had a strong corporate culture, was passionate about sustainability, which eventually led to the partnership at Maple Leaf Foods and Nutrien, developed in 2021.

So I kind of swum upstream in the food system right from a restaurant and retail through manufacturing, food manufacturing up to crop inputs and fertilizer. And I've always considered that the right direction to go. I see others in the industry at my level around the world that came the other way and think they were at the be all end, all because they landed at a TPG company where it's kind of easy down there at that end of the supply chain, because the hard work is done on the field, right?

Sally Flis

I would agree with that for sure too.

Tim Faveri

Yeah.

Dusty Weis

You know, to that point, Tim, this is now the 50th episode of the FARMSMART podcast. But we typically focus on the retail sustainable ag initiatives on most of the episodes, the stuff that is happening out in the field. You lead our corporate sustainability initiatives. Can you summarize what you and your team's priorities and responsibilities are? What's falling inside of the Venn diagram?

Tim Faveri

Sure. Corporate sustainability, global sustainability, at Nutrien, I lead that, and my team and I are here to develop and truly try and embed our company's sustainability programs initiatives right across the overall organization with an overall aim to create value and at the same time, mitigate the risks that have been identified by our team that are challenging for the organization.

So, you know, I have a team of subject matter experts working on sustainability strategy, ensuring that we are transparently reporting and disclosing our sustainability commitments and goals to the public through our Global Sustainability Report. We built a strong governance program and are required to maintain that governance program for sustainability, right up to the Safety and Sustainability Committee of the Board of Directors.

Sally knows this well. We're trying to advance environmental stewardship through climate, water and nature strategies and then as well, which is more relatively new to sustainability and stakeholder relations, and that's the bringing together of community relations and investment for the organization and indigenous relations. So broadened scope. But we try and work in the same system and processes and governance as we do with some of those other issues.

Sally Flis

Tim, I'm sure you've heard it too, but I've been asked, why do we have two sustainability teams at Nutrien? Why don't we just have one? So what is your perspective on the cohesiveness, how we work together, what the relationship is between our retail sustainable ag team and the corporate sustainability team that you lead?

Tim Faveri

Well, that's a really good question. I personally think retail is very unique compared to the other business units. You don't have four walls per se with respect to an operational footprint, for example. And, you know, as Ken has articulated very recently, we are one Nutrien. And I think the overall concept of sustainability extends to everyone and everywhere in our business.

And we're unique. We're somewhat of a unicorn in our space. We manufacture fertilizer, we mine potash and phosphate, but the retail side of our business is truly unique, and that differentiates us within our peer group, for sure. And from a governance perspective, I truly think we've done it in the right way, where Matt Marshall and the team are leading sustainable ag for retail because of its uniqueness and that connectivity to the grower.

I don't want to get too technical, but you can also think about it from a risks and opportunities perspective, right? So we have a lot of risks in our operations side of our business. Lots of greenhouse gas emissions, direct to atmosphere, scope one, scope two. And that operational footprint has a lot of impact on water, etc. The same thing that can be said for the retail side of the business.

But I think there are more opportunities there than risks for our organization. And it's great to have a strategic approach specific to retail.

Dusty Weis

I wanted to dive in a little bit into the second part of your title as well, which includes stakeholder relations. For anyone out there that isn't aware, how do our stakeholder relations influence our sustainability targets and commitments at Nutrien?

Tim Faveri

Great question. Stakeholders both have a pushing and pulling effect I think overall on an organization depending on how influential they are. For us, stakeholder relations is both internal and external. We've got employees, a board of directors as key stakeholders. And then externally we have investors and shareholders, our customers, farmers, communities where we operate, governments, the supply chain, etc. And in particular, what has evolved over the last decade or so, the emergence of global non-governmental organizations or NGOs that are having a significant influence on Corporate across the world, big global corporates, and governments to drive ambition and change on big issues like climate and nature and equity.

So we have to try and balance that. And, you know, we're actively listening. We have to listen to those stakeholders. We have to respond to requests, but we also have to take that input and look through it through not only a sustainability lens, but a risks and opportunity lens as well.

Sally Flis

Tim, part of your role is going out and interacting with other global sustainability leaders. So, what do you hear from them about what they think growers should be doing in the field to improve sustainability footprints for the goals that they've set as downstream users of what the farmers are producing?

Tim Faveri

I think, as we all probably know, in our company and particularly in the retail space, is that there is a chasm or a Grand Canyon that exists in relation to the understanding of what is done on farm and what farmers do to grow healthy and sustainable food, to what consumers think. Right? So this massive gap between consumers and the farm gate, and a big part of what we're doing when we interact globally is to try to educate these downstream actors on current farming practices and recommending opportunities for them to engage, because downstream consumer products and goods companies have such huge supply chains and such control over those supply chains, they basically take a command and control approach and say, oh, we're going to do this. So we'll make all our suppliers do that. 

And our own life cycle assessment now shows that, you know, 22% of greenhouse gas emissions comes from farming. So we should tell all our farmers to do regenerative agriculture. Well, we're trying to bring the farmers’ voice to these big global NGOs and takes a lot of time in listening and then feeding back education and educating them on what's actually happening on field and really trying to hammer home that a broad brush of something like regenerative agriculture isn't going to work, and we need them to understand that each acre is quite unique, each farmer is unique, and believe me, it takes a long time. 

And what's challenging about this, too, is that most of these organizations are based in Europe. Farming practices are much different there. They don't understand North American farming practices, Brazilian farming practices, Australian farming practices. So we try and use our voice as best we can to influence their metrics development, their standards, their policies.

Dusty Weis

Well, it's certainly a big plate, Tim, and there's a lot on it. But when it comes to external partners and stakeholders, one of the really cool things about the people that we have in this conversation right now is that you both have intimate knowledge of a really great example of an external partnership, and we want to dive in a little bit more specifically on where Nutrien is working with partners to meet its sustainability goals.

That's coming up in a moment here on the FARMSMART podcast.

Dusty Weis

That this is the FARMSMART podcast presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions. I'm Dusty Weis, along with Sally Flis, and we're talking today with Tim Faveri, Nutrien’s Vice President of Sustainability and Stakeholder Relations. And Tim, certainly you're uniquely positioned to hold that job because before you joined the team here at Nutrien, you previously worked at Maple Leaf Foods, which is now a huge partner of ours.

Why was Nutrien the correct partner to help Maple Leaf Foods meet their sustainability goals?

Tim Faveri

Maple Leaf Foods is a purposeful company like Nutrien. The purpose of Maple Leaf Foods is to raise the good in food, and they have a very audacious vision as well, just to be the most sustainable protein company on Earth. And so while I was executing that strategy at Maple Leaf Foods, as we looked at areas that we can position that a company to have a positive impact, particularly in the scope three emissions categories, the largest contribution to Maple Leaf’s scope three emissions at that time was the feed grains that were provided to the pigs that all reside in Manitoba.

It was very easy, once we got to know the Nutrien folks initially, to realize that Nutrien has such an advantage of reaching farmers than any other organization that we had talked to at that time. Those direct relationships with the growers and the ability to influence on products and practices and services for a midstream food manufacturer that actually understands how the supply chain works, like Maple Leaf does. That's a no brainer, right? And I think we're starting to see this more and more now as more corporates globally, kind of better understand the whole value chain and realize that Nutrien is a unique space.

Sally Flis

Tim, in 2021, Nutrien started our Carbon Pilots across North America, and we enrolled 40,000 acres in Canada, on which Maple Leaf partnered on a portion to be in that right supply shed for the hogs that you mentioned in Manitoba. We're now over 500,000 acres in the program, and Maple Leaf Foods is pretty close to meeting all of their feed procurement needs coming through our program based on what they're feeding those hogs.

As you've been involved from both the Maple Leaf Food side and the Nutrien side, what are some of the learnings been throughout the process of developing, designing and getting to the scale that we're at today?

Tim Faveri

Yeah, that's a really great question. And I think one of the biggest learnings for me, and I know my team, is that all the aspects that feed into that carbon program are inherently very complex and take a long time to implement and to measure outcomes. I would describe it as a journey within a journey, sustainable as a journey.

This carbon program is a unique journey within that journey. I personally thought that it would happen a lot quicker. But you know, the carbon program, establishing that validated pathway with sustained support to create a verified carbon inset for Maple Leaf Foods, first of this kind in Canada, I think it might be the first globally. That's huge. That is really huge.

And I remember distinctly having initial conversations with the Nutrien team about this vision of trying to do it and investing and doing this and investing in the growers as a pilot program. And I'm just thrilled that it's been so successful and I think it's such a great example that we've proven we can drive scale and that when farmers are successful, we are in turn going to be successful too.

Dusty Weis

You know, as long as we're talking about acreage here, Tim, let's look broad picture. The retail organization as a whole has grown from 200,000 acres of pilots in 2021 to just over 2.5 million of official program acres and counting. So when you hear a number like that, what are you most proud of or what impresses you regarding how we've grown and adapted over the past two full growing seasons?

Tim Faveri

I am super proud, impressed with the entire team. The commitment to science and outcomes, commitment to the farmers in the program. And this has happened all in a very turbulent time as well, not only for the Nutrien business, but globally with geopolitical issues and other things. So I think one of the hardest things to do when you build something new is finding those participants that are willing to invest and to keep them there, you know, the changes that are happening, the fact that we are still working with the same growers that we started with and that's growing by hundreds of thousands of acres a year and we've got certification, is just a game changer.

The focus on data, collective impact, science and certification is so important, and that's what makes me the most proud, I think, is the people and that commitment to those things.

Sally Flis

Tim, as you interact with other global sustainability leaders, you've mentioned a little bit that connection that the ag retail part of the business has to the grower to help drive practices. But what other  opportunities do you see across ag retail and the Nutrien business as a whole to help drive a better global footprint for agriculture and sustainability?

Tim Faveri

With our unique position and with our team out in the field, advising and writing scripts and supporting growers, the reality what we're doing is we're giving our growers skin in the game, in this thing called sustainability, in this journey. Right? You know, I heard it from when we hosted that Canadian Carbon program summit in very cold Saskatchewan, I think in November of 2022, right from one of the farmers mouths was that they wanted to be part of the solution and not pegged as being part of the problem.

If we can make them successful and resilient to these things they can't control, through our products and our programs and our services, then we're giving them that skin in the game to ensure they can pass their business down to their future generations. Right. And I think that's it. Like, that's what we want when they're successful, we're successful.

Dusty Weis

Well, and as more growers find success using the products and practices that we talk about a lot on this podcast, certainly we've talked a little bit about the importance of making sure that that sustainability story is being told, and to the right people. And we've talked a little bit about the role that you play in making sure that the right people hear about the sustainability efforts of our growers.

But what other roles are there for our growers to play in that process?

Tim Faveri

Yeah, this is super important. The world is watching and critiquing agriculture now, like we're under a big spotlight. And if we thought the spotlight that's been shined on the farm with respect to greenhouse gases is bright and getting hotter, wait until it's amplified around nature and biodiversity and water as well. Right? And so farmers our growers are super important to have at these global conversations.

We need to get them out in front of global corporations and non-governmental organizations and governments much more, and demonstrate to them that farmers are people. And these people are concerned about their field, their soil, the planet, all aspects of sustainability and have been for a very long time. 

And farmers inherently have high trust. You know, we look at all these surveys out there, who's more trustworthy? Governments, corporations, NGOs, etc. and farmers always end up on top in terms of the trust quotient. As we work with farmers, I know Sally, I'm going to quote you, I think you said “practices change at the speed of trust.” So there's a dynamic there or a friction there that those big corporates and NGOs need to understand. 

So those stories, any story we can tell about the success, how we pilot and work with growers. And we've got science and measured certified outcomes for that. That's gonna I believe cause a groundswell of interest and hopefully get the farmer voice included in more of these policy decisions and NGO standards.

Sally Flis

In that light, Tim, how should our growers that are listening to the podcast or our retail crop consultants that are listening to the podcast, find a way for growers to be involved in telling their story, or if they know growers that would be good advocates to participate in some of these arenas. How should they reach out? Or who should they be talking to in order to help make that happen?

Tim Faveri

You know, that's a great question. We certainly would love to engage with them on a more 1 to 1 basis, integrate them into our storytelling if they're part of our programs, and then, you know, like what we try to do when we go to these big global conferences… we had the privilege of representing Nutrien on a small team we sent to Dubai to speak at the Conference of Parties COP 28 last year as part of the delegation we visited with included were farmers.

We partnered with USFRA, US Farmers and Ranchers in Action, with the Canadian Alliance for Net Zero Agrifood. Both brought farmers to the table to participate in those activities, side events and consultations with policymakers and again put them in front so that they can tell their own story. The other area that I think is very helpful is showing the link between sustainable agriculture and increased food security, because we're moving quickly to a global population that may be unsustainable from a climate or water or food security perspective.

So there's a very, very important story to be told around ensuring that agriculture is sustainable, it's going to meet the needs of that growing population. And that's our purpose, right? Feeding the future. So I do think there's great opportunity for those growers. And we can help amplify those stories.

Dusty Weis

You know, Tim, when you talk about feeding the future, well let's look at the future end of that. So much of what we do is focused on tomorrow and next week. And do I have enough water on the field right now? And do I have the inputs that I need for next season? But what does feeding the future look like 25 years from now?

Tim Faveri

Wow. I've never had that question before. Actually, that's a really good one. 25 years is a long time too. And I think by nature, particularly when we're in a corporate environment, we think quarterly or annually. For me, it kind of goes back to that theme of future generations, right? One of the things I'm most proud of through our community relations and investment work, is the youth education programs that we're doing, Seed Survivor, Caring for our Watersheds, all educating youth on agriculture and the importance of agriculture and the importance of sustainable development roles in meeting those.

If we can do a good job of educating that next generation. And I'm hoping that 25 years from now, feeding the future will still be alive and well. It'll just take on different risks, different opportunities. You know, the world from an ecosystem perspective will be a lot more focused. By that I mean better understand of where we need to focus on water issues, on climate issues, on biodiversity issues that our kids, our grandkids are going to be engaged and part of that journey.

Dusty Weis

Well, certainly it's a long journey and certainly it's never boring. But I think you've done a really great job of summing it up for us today and sort of helping us take a look behind the curtain of what's going on at Nutrien Corporate Sustainability. So we appreciate your taking the time, Tim. It's been a great conversation. Tim Faveri, the Vice President of Sustainability and Stakeholder Relations at Nutrien Corporate, thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the FARMSMART Podcast.

Tim Faveri

Thanks, Dusty. Thanks, Sally.

Dusty Weis

And Sally, of course. I'd be remiss if I didn't call out one more time that this is the 50th episode of the FARMSMART Podcast. Speaking of looking far, far, far into the future. Congratulations. That's an impressive run, Sally.

Sally Flis

Thank you, Dusty. I can't believe it's 50 already.

Dusty Weis

I can't believe it's 50, and about three years we've been doing this now. But as we've been telling these sustainability stories here, what strikes you the most about the way that the conversation has changed, either between us or globally throughout that time?

Sally Flis

I think globally, the conversation seems very similar to me, but I think what I've seen change from what we're presenting and the way we're operating in the field is we've really kind of got almost to the top and over that hump of trying to show the value of our programs to people wanting to sign up and be interested and come to us about programing.

When it's a grower or a crop consultant or a stakeholder, as Tim mentioned, we're kind of over that, pushing the rope up the hill part and kind of on the top and hopefully headed down a nice slope to get lots more people signed up and continue growing these programs over the next couple of years.

Dusty Weis

Kind of like rolling a snowball down a hill. I think at the end of the day, it's an analogy that we appreciate here in Wisconsin and upstate New York and Canada, where Tim is from. But once you get that snowball big enough, it just sort of picks up some momentum of its own. So that's awesome. 

I've had a few opportunities over the years now to see you in action with the growers face to face. And boy, they look to you as a leader, and they certainly do appreciate the knowledge and expertise that you bring to the topic as well. 

But congrats again on 50 podcast episodes, and certainly we should take a moment as well to recognize the hard work of your colleague Connor Erwin, the executive producer of the podcast, who does all the behind the scenes work that makes this show possible.

We wouldn't be at 50 without his efforts as well. It's certainly been a lot of fun making this show with you guys, and more importantly, an honor to be a part of helping growers tell their sustainability story to the world. So thank you for letting us be a part. And here's to many, many more podcast episodes down the line.

Sally Flis

For sure, thank you Dusty. And yes, thank you Connor, for making sure that what we put out is what we want to be saying because as Connor knows, I don't always have the time to listen to things before they go out. And so I really appreciate all the time and effort he puts in making sure we have the quality that we want to have as we publish our podcast.

Dusty Weis

Thank goodness for Connor. I don't know what we’d do without him.

Dusty Weis

That is going to conclude this episode of the FARMSMART Podcast. New episodes arrive every month, so make sure you subscribe to the FARMSMART Podcast in your favorite app and visit nutrienagsolutions.com/farmsmart to learn more. 

The FARMSMART podcast is brought to you by Nutrien Ag Solutions. Our executive producer is, of course, Connor Erwin. Sound engineering by Matt Covarrubias and editing by Emily Kaysinger.

The FARMSMART Podcast is produced by Podcamp Media. Branded podcast production for businesses. PodcampMedia.com. I'm Dusty Weis. For Nutrien Ag Solutions, thanks for listening.