Sustainable Ag 101, with Brent Smith, VP of Marketing, Sustainability & Proprietary Products at Nutrien Ag Solution

There's an entire world of opportunity in sustainable agriculture, so let's start at the beginning.

We've all heard the buzz over sustainability. But what's it really all about? What are the opportunities for growers? How can growers get involved, or do they even want to be involved?

In this episode of The Future. Faster. we'll answer all these questions and more with our hosts Tom Daniel and Dr. Sally Flis, two prominent leaders on the Nutrien Ag Solutions sustainability team.

Plus, Brent Smith, Nutrien Ag Solutions Vice President of Marketing, Sustainability and Proprietary Products, joins us to talk about how the organization defines sustainability and why it has become a top priority. He'll speak to the momentum that consumer demand has generated within the industry and how it has evolved the company's approach to proprietary products development, positioning and adoption.

Visit futurefaster.com to learn more. We'll have new episodes every other week, so make sure to subscribe in your favorite podcast app.

Episode Transcript

Brent Smith:

What we try to do as Nutrien Ag Solutions is really develop end to end systems and solutions that are integrated around connecting all of the dots for our growers so it becomes simple for them to deliver the desired outcome that their customers are requesting of them.

Dusty Weis:

The future isn't just written by the past. It's written by the right now. And, right now Nutrien Ag Solutions is focused on what's next.

Dusty Weis:

Welcome to the Future. Faster. A sustainable agriculture podcast by Nutrien Ag Solutions, with our very own Tom Daniel, Director of Retail Sustainable Ag, and Dr. Sally Flis, Sr. Manager, Sustainability Field. This is your opportunity to learn about the next horizon in sustainable agriculture. For growers. For partners. For the planet. To us, it’s not about changing what’s always worked. It’s about continuing to do the little things that make a big impact...

Dusty Weis:

On this week's episode, Brent Smith, Vice President of Marketing Sustainability and Proprietary Products at Nutrien Ag Solutions joins us to talk about the organization's definition of sustainable agriculture. We'll speak to the momentum that consumer demand has generated within the industry. Why sustainability has become a focal point for the organization, and how it has evolved the company's approach to proprietary products development, positioning, and adoption.

Dusty Weis:

But, if you haven't yet, make sure you're subscribed to this podcast in your favorite app also make sure you follow Nutrien Ag Solutions on Facebook and Instagram.

Dusty Weis:

I’m Dusty Weis. And it's time once again to introduce Tom Daniel and Sally Flis. And, Tom and Sally you're both in regular contact with the growers who Nutrien supports. What are you hearing from the farm fields and coffee shops these days?

Tom Daniel:

There's lots of comments around when we talk about sustainability, we hear lots of discussion around what is sustainability? What's it all about? How can I get involved? Or do I want to be involved? And is this going to complicate my life? That seems to be the biggest discussions I'm hearing on a day-to-day basis with growers and Sally, what do you hear? You were at a meeting just last week.

Sally Flis:

Yeah, same thing. We're hearing that it's a big demand for data. It's a big demand for grower time. Do they have to make practice changes? How does it work if they don't have the opportunity to make new practice changes? What is that value that they're really going to get back? How much are they going to get paid? And, we keep working through that with the different sustainability programs that we have on the ground right now, to get growers involved and take that first step in data entry and collection.

Dusty Weis:

What I think is really interesting about it is both of you sort of have one foot in each world, where on the one hand you're familiar with the data you're familiar with the science. On the other hand, you're familiar with the people whose jobs it is to plant and grow these crops. And, so starting with you, Tom, can we just learn a little bit more about your background? What do you do at Nutrien and how did you get there?

Tom Daniel:

Yeah, Dusty. So, I come from a farm. I live currently in Kentucky. In fact, I've built my home on the original home farm that we have in Kentucky. So, I've been in agriculture basically from the time I was born on. And, one of the passions I have around sustainability, and one of the reasons I joined a sustainability team back in 2020 was because my father told me a long time ago. He said, "If we don't take care of the resources" and he was talking about water and he was talking about the soil, he said, "If we don't take care of it, then the next generation is not going to have anything to work with. They won't be able to raise food and fiber for the world."

Tom Daniel:

And, that's what we're called to do. That's our responsibility as farmers. And so my role has always been, even when I was in my previous role in a retail organization, that I helped start. We were very focused on sustainability simply because we believed it was the greatest opportunity for a farmer to get a return on his investment. So, if he did more to increase soil health, if he did more to maximize water efficiency, then he was always looking for better opportunities or he was given better opportunities to get a better return on his investment on what he was doing. So, it's all about soil health and those metrics.

Dusty Weis:

And what about you Sally? Like Tom, you've also got strong roots in ag.

Sally Flis:

Yeah, so Dusty, I started out walking alfalfa fields and taking soil samples with my dad in the summers, and then worked on dairies, growing up and went to school at UW Madison and dairy science and agronomy. And, then just kept going to school and did my PhD in plant and soil science, but spent the first seven or eight years after I finished up school, working with growers on the ground, writing nutrient management plans, trying to get growers to do cover crops where they needed them because of soil erosion problems, because of state or federal regulations that they had to follow. And, trying to always find that opportunity for growers to be able to see the value in the practices that they were implementing. The changes that they were making. What it was doing on the ground, how it was about more than just that regulation they were being asked to follow. And, find the opportunities to help cover the cost of implementing some of these practices.

Sally Flis:

Soil health has returns as we get further along in that journey on a field. But, that first three to five years is a significant investment without a lot of return for the grower. So, trying to find those funding opportunities for growers has really always been a part of what I've worked on.

Dusty Weis:

Well, let's talk about that a little bit more then. What is the vision for sustainable ag at Nutrien Ag Solutions?

Tom Daniel:

TO me, Dusty, it's really about Sally made the comment that she's always been involved in getting growers started in the sustainable practices. I think from a Nutrien Ag Solutions point of view, we had that direct engagement with the customer. I mean, we're at the farm gate with him every day. We see the localized needs that each farm has. Some farms are well-advanced in sustainability practices. Maybe they've been working with NRCS and different groups for a long period of time, and maybe they've got practices already implemented on the farm while other growers are just getting started. So, I think one of the key components that we as Nutrien Ag Solutions have is we have the ability to bring new technologies, and new ways and practices to the farm that can help each grower from where he is today and move him and advance him forward.

Sally Flis:

I agree, and it's exciting to work in this area. But, one of the things that's been really frustrating for us in the field as Nutrien Ag Solutions and working at the retail and the grower level is there's so much coverage of this carbon market piece. And what are carbon markets? And, it gets covered in the popular press or in the ag press. That it's an opportunity for everybody. And the reality is right now, it's really an opportunity for a small segment of the population. And, so one of our goals as we continue to grow our program is how do we include more growers geographies? Some of the specialty crops? Tree crops, vegetable crops in sustainability? And, hopefully these carbon market and payment opportunities that are really the icing on the cake for implementing those sustainable ag practices on the ground.

Tom Daniel:

And Sally, I'd say this too, Nutrien has a unique position in the marketplace today. We have over a half a million growers that we have direct contact with. And, each one of those growers, as you said, Sally, not all of them are going to qualify for carbon. But sustainability, or sustainable ag is something they can qualify for because that's actually making environmental changes to the farm that's going to lead into longterm return on investment. So, carbon is kind of that icing on the cake piece. We talk about for the growers that qualify for it. Then we want to be sure we can help that grower understand what he can do with carbon. But, there may be multiple other opportunities that we can generate for the grower too, that can bring in new revenue stream in the future.

Sally Flis:

So, Tom you and I have been out on the road, this spring meeting with different divisions, different branches, different growers, different crop consultants. And, I think a question we've had from all of them and from growers is why should we do all of this if all we're going to get paid is a dollar an acre? Or even if all we're going to get paid is $15 an acre? It's a big data lift. It's a lot of time. It's a lot of investment. It's a practice change. It's a culture change for these growers and crop consultants. So, what's a response that you've used in those situations?

Tom Daniel:

Well, one thing Sally, data is going to be the driver for this entire market. So, if a grower has a desire to participate, we'll talk about carbon. But, if he wants to participate in carbon today, then he's got to have baseline histories of up to three to five years worth of past history, brought into his field story, as we call it. He's got to be able to have all that information on all the passes across the field that he did over those last three to five years.

Tom Daniel:

"Why would I do it for just a dollar?" And, that dollar comes from different markets or different downstream processors that are asking for farm data on where their grain is coming from. Is it being produced sustainably? Are there food safety issues being addressed at the farm level? That's where the data needs are being asked for today. And, a dollar is really all they pay for that. It's just trying to pay the customer for the time they're putting into it. My thought is that over time, data is going to have value. Today, maybe it's hard to put a pinpoint on it and say, "This is what it's worth." But, in the future is going to have significant value for the grower.

Tom Daniel:

So, if we can start collecting it today so that when we decide to participate in a carbon program that asked me for five years worth of past history, I've already gotten started. That's always been my discussion when I've talked to a grower. If you don't do it today, that's your choice. But, sooner or later, if you want to participate in these markets, you're going to have to be willing to put your data into a system so we can model it and help you navigate through some of these sustainable ag processes and projects.

Dusty Weis:

And, if there are big opportunities coming down the pike and there certainly seem to be at this point, you don't want to miss that boat when it shows up. So, it's worth getting in collecting that data and modeling it for the future so that you don't miss the opportunity when it comes up in the future. No, it's good information. And, we're going to bring in the boss coming up in just a minute. Brent Smith, the Vice President of Marketing Sustainability and Proprietary Products at Nutrien Ag Solutions. More in a moment here on The Future, Faster.

Dusty Weis:

This is The Future, Faster, a sustainable agriculture podcast by Nutrien Ag Solutions. I'm Dusty Weis along with Tom Daniel and Dr. Sally Flis. And we're joined now by Brent Smith, Vice President of Marketing Sustainability and Proprietary Products at Nutrien Ag Solutions. Brent, thanks for joining us.

Brent Smith:

Thanks for having me.

Dusty Weis:

So, there's a real need and use cases for sustainable ag practices right now, even though there's still a pretty big range of definitions, what that means. So, in an exercise in level setting, tell us what Nutrien Ag Solutions defines as sustainable agriculture.

Brent Smith:

Well, I'll just go back to sort of the basic high level definition that we use and so it's really about delivering a positive environmental impact around soil, water, and air. And, so if you think about greenhouse gas reduction or air quality or water quality or carbon sequestration, all of those would be either air, water, or soil as a definition. And, then what we try to do as Nutrien Ag Solutions because we work with our customers the grower, is really develop end-to-end systems and solutions that are integrated around connecting all of the dots for our growers, so it becomes simple for them to deliver the desired that their customers are requesting of them.

Brent Smith:

And, so it really comes down to really three things for us. It's the three T's. So it's techniques, technologies, and tools to build that end to end solution. So, techniques would be things like cover crops or low or no-till. At planting nutrition, variable rate nutrition, nitrogen management programs, things like that.

Brent Smith:

Technologies we've invested heavily in technologies like Agrible our digital platform. Echelon our digital agronomy platform. Nutriscription, Ag Bridge, Way Point, which is the industry's leading soil and foliar testing lab. And, then tools is how do you bring that all together? And, we use a navigate platform, which is our solutions platform to really tie all of those things, whether it's products or it's services tying in all of the tools that we just talked about. The technologies we talked about and incorporating the techniques into that end to end solution and connecting the dots, getting to that positive environmental impact or outcome for soil, water, and air.

Tom Daniel:

Brent, one of the things that we talk about around sustainability is kind of changing the culture at the farm gate. And, when we say that, Nutrien Ag Solutions is obviously one of the biggest suppliers of ag inputs in all of North America and the world. And, we've been focused on logistics and delivery of products and getting those products and being that trusted advisor to the grower. We're starting to have this discussion now around a whole acre solution, where we're being more outcome-based than we are just talking about productivity. We're talking about things like carbon and things like water quality. That's a change for us. How do you see that at our retail level, how our growers are going to be engaged around this new concept of a whole acre solution?

Brent Smith:

Yeah, it's a great question. I think what you're going to hear from me pretty consistently today is a few things. Outcomes, which you just talked about. And, I talked about in the opening question and it really does start with the outcome. What are we actually trying to achieve around soil, water air, or any combination thereof? You're also going to hear me talk about at the same time, around how can we get a positive ROI for our growers? So, it isn't just about getting that positive impact for that environmental outcome. It's also getting that positive return on investment for the program and the solution that a grower is going to implement.

Brent Smith:

And, then you're also going to hear me talk about end to end solutions and you've already heard me talk about that. The other thing that we're going to talk about quite a bit is this portfolio approach. Our customer is a grower. All things sustainability from a climate and environmental impact standpoint have to start on the farm. Which means it needs to start with the grower. And, so we have a real opportunity to help our growers, but we have a real opportunity to also work upstream with our suppliers and innovators to bringing their technologies into that solution. But, also working downstream in the feed, food, fiber, fuel areas. So, taking as an example of food company, that we would then work with them and say, "Look, this is the quality that they're expecting. This is the environmental impact that they're wanting to get to." Let's say, greenhouse gas reduction.

Brent Smith:

And, so we will work with those downstream players along with the upstream innovators and suppliers to build that solution for the grower. And, we're also then going to augment those tools that we talked about. Products, whether it's ours or it's other people's products and technologies. The techniques, and then the technologies around Agrible and Echelon and NutriScription, Ag Bridge, Way Point, bringing all of that together. And, so when we talk about a whole acre solution, it's really this integrated end to end solution that we're delivering our customers and working really down to the field and to the acre level to deliver that solution and ultimately that outcome.

Sally Flis:

Brent, that's a lot of tools, technologies, techniques that we have in the toolbox available, how is this best implemented? You mentioned getting all the way down to the field level. How does that work and what are the opportunities for each crop consultant, retailer and grower to customize the use of those tools, techniques and technologies that we have available?

Brent Smith:

Great question. And so, I think about a toolbox with tools and you either have a lot of tools or you have a few tools. And, when you have a few tools, you can only fix a few problems. When you have a lot of tools, you can fix more problems. And, so what we're trying to do is build the most comprehensive toolbox that we can for our growers, our customer, and our employees who are going to work hand in hand with our customer to build that end to end solution. And, again, with the portfolio approach, working with the entire ag value ecosystem, and bringing in suppliers and innovators and bringing in downstream partners like food companies and grain companies into that conversation really allows us to have more tools in the toolbox.

Brent Smith:

So, you're not going to use every tool every time, but you're going to have the tools that you need to fix the problem that arises and ultimately get to that environmental outcome that you're trying to get to.

Tom Daniel:

Brent, one thing that I keep hearing from your discussion and what we face in the field every day is, as we work with these consumer products groups and these different groups in the field, there's a lot more interest today from the consumer about where his food's coming from or food safety. And, I think even the COVID situation has driven a lot more interest in "Where does my food come from?" Because, there was a period of time, there was a question, "Could I get bread?" You know, it wasn't on the shelf.

Tom Daniel:

So, my question is, why do you think that this has suddenly become such an important thing from the consumer side? And, why is that driving us to have to answer some of those questions?

Brent Smith:

Well, look, I personally, I think it's a good thing that we're getting pressure and we're being held accountable by the consumer and the consumer puts pressure on the food companies and the grain companies and the grocers, as examples. And, so what we're trying to do again, because our customer is a grower, we're trying to help our customer, help their customer meet those demands. And, so whether it's quality or it's quantity, or it's a sustainable outcome, like a reduced greenhouse gas or a low carbon product, we are helping them get there.

Brent Smith:

And, so I honestly think this is a good thing for our industry and when you think about sustainability and scaling sustainability, sustainability, isn't new. What we're trying to do though, is make it mainstream and make it scalable. And, I think having the whole ecosystem and the portfolio approach that we have focused on solutions to deliver specific outcomes, to meet the demands of the consumer all the way up that value chain through the grocers and the food companies. I think this is a good thing.

Sally Flis:

Brent, you've been getting out a little bit more this spring to visiting with different branch locations, talking to them about how the year's going. What do you hear back from them on why they're interested in sustainability in some of the areas where this has really taking off more?

Brent Smith:

Great question. So, there is a lot of interest and so again, because our customer is the grower and when we go out into the field, we're in the communities living in serving where our customers live and operate. And, when their customers are excited about the things that they can deliver to their customers, but also with the environmental impact that they can have on their crops and their land for future generations to come, our people get excited too. And, so it's sort of just all kind of rolls together and so it's a grassroots effort. It's been really great for us to partner with our folks that are really excited about the investments that we've made.

Brent Smith:

And, we've been investing for this day for a little over a decade and maybe sometimes we, and even people in the field, our employees maybe didn't connect all of those dots, but we're at a great place where all of those things are coming together, whether it's Ag Bridge or it's Way Point, or it's the nearly billion dollars that we've invested in soil health technologies and companies over the last decade. All of those things are now coming together and it becomes a really exciting place for our people to operate. And, so it's kind of a confluence of our customers are excited, but we also have the ability to have a really differentiated solution for our growers that they can't get anywhere else that can deliver an outcome that they can't get anywhere else.

Tom Daniel:

One followup question Brent, I can tell your passion for sustainable ag, just like Sally and I have too, but one of the questions you've asked us many a time, what keeps you up at night about sustainable ag?

Brent Smith:

Good question. So, I'm going to start with the positive and then get to what keeps me up at night. I think more what excites me is really three things. We've had an increased dialogue as an industry, which I think is a positive thing because this is going to take an ecosystem approach to have real global impact on climate and environment.

Brent Smith:

Valued partnerships. We've talked about the portfolio approach. My definition of that is these valued partnerships that we are creating up and down the value chain of ag, whether it's food companies, one would be Arden Mills that we just talked about or announced earlier this year. And, that's just an example. We've also announced Syngenta Corteva BSF as partners with us.

Brent Smith:

And, then thirdly, the material impact that we're going to be able to have. And, because of our size and our scale and the partnerships that we have, and the half a million grower customers that we have, we have real opportunity to have a material impact on the environment and, that's exciting to me.

Brent Smith:

Now, what keeps me up at night is it's not easy. And so you take carbon as a perfect example. We haven't gotten to a place as an industry where we actually have a high value asset verified credit that is tradable. We need to get there as an industry because that's what's going to be good for our growers. It's going to be good for our industry and it's going to be good for our climate, but it's going to take a while to get there. And, so what keeps me up at night is how do you prove all this out? How do you do that in a timely manner? And then how do you scale it quickly?

Sally Flis:

So, we all hear the word sustainability a lot. It's a buzz word. Everybody talks about it. It's all over the grocery store. It's all over the different products and places we travel all the time. I think I was even looking at my Delta app on my way here and I can go in and tell them how I'd like to offset my flight within my Delta app every time I travel. So, are we here doing this now because it's popular or what's the journey been for Nutrien Ag Solutions to get to where we are today in these programs?

Brent Smith:

Great question. So look, sustainability for Nutrien and Nutrien Ag Solutions and our industry isn't new. We've been talking about it for decades and we've been doing good things for decades. What I do think though, is we've got a renewed focus as our company, but also as an industry. And we have an increased dialogue among the whole ecosystem of agriculture. And, I've already said, it's going to take a village and that whole ecosystem to work together, to have that environmental impact. And, so I think all of those things are really positive. Now, we've been at this for a long time. I've mentioned the investments that we've made over the last decade. So, we've gotten to today, and I think we're in a really good place to be able to help our customers and help that ecosystem and partner with the people that we're partnering with already and others that we aren't.

Brent Smith:

But, we aren't just starting this year. You might hear about it a lot more this year, and to a lot of our employees, it does sound new. But, we've been at this for quite some time, whether it's building out our digital capabilities. Our investments in soil and foliar testing. Our investments in Agrible, our digital platform that we did three years ago. The investment in technologies with companies like Agrison and CH Biotech and Acti Grow, that really have happened over the last decade have all sort of come to a point now where we can talk about a portfolio approach. We can talk about end to end solutions that we couldn't have done before, because an end to end solution means that we have to bring a lot of things together. Again, the three Ts in technologies, techniques, and tools to be able to deliver the outcome that we're trying to deliver. And so I feel really good about where we are today. We still have a long ways to go, but it's already been a long journey.

Tom Daniel:

Brent, I'd ask you one question. I know you just mentioned our investments in Acti Grow and Agrison and these are specific technologies that have a real nice fit in what we would describe as a sustainable ag market. How do you see the role within our LPI group? Are we taking more focus on how products relate to sustainability benefits? Is that becoming a real focus in our LPI group now?

Brent Smith:

Yeah. So, Loveland Products is one of our main proprietary businesses that we have across Nutrien Ag Solutions. And, in the 12 years that I've been with the company, we've had a focus on what you would call the biological soil health, plant health, nutritional technologies. But, I think what you've seen really over the past few years is an increased focus on not just delivering quality and ROI, which are super important for our customers and for us. But, also then those positive environmental attributes that we're trying to get to and ultimately the outcomes. And, so there is an increased focus to be able to deliver that ROI and the quality, and the yield. But, also the environmental outcome, whether it's soil, water, air attributes.

Sally Flis:

Brent, we've been at sustainability for 10 years now, as we've tried to figure out what our place is in the marketplace and bring in new products and tools and technologies. And, work with growers as we've added different aspects to Nutrien Ag Solutions and the business as a whole, what is our commitment going forward to sustainability around grower involvement, retail involvement, and development of new products?

Brent Smith:

Great question. I think, look, first, I'm happy about the industry coming forward and coming out with their targets and being vocal about what their 2025, 2030, 2040, 2050 targets are going to be real around soil, water, and air. Around ESG environment social and governance targets. We came out with our ESG report earlier this year. Following that, we came out with our Feed the World plan that talked about our targets and having impact on 75 million acres with sustainable practices and products. We talked about our 30% reduction of greenhouse gas on a per ton of fertilizer manufactured by our company.

Brent Smith:

I think those are all good things because it puts your money where your mouth is. It holds you accountable. And, it puts a little bit of pressure on everybody that has to actually achieve those targets. And, it also is good that the whole industry is coming out with those targets. Because again, then it is more likely that people are going to work together to deliver those commitments.

Sally Flis:

So Tom, I know we were both a little scared probably, when we heard that 75 million acre number come out a couple of weeks ago. And, I know we've heard some pushback from the field on how do we get there? And, what are we going to measure for sustainability? What are you thinking Brent, around what is a sustainable acre as we move to meet that 75 million acre metric?

Brent Smith:

Again, I think I'm going to use all the buzz words that I've used so far. It's impacting positive environmental outcomes for soil, water and air. It's doing it through the three T's. So, technologies, techniques, and tools. It's building end to end solutions in a portfolio approach. So, when you bring all of those things together, why I believe we're in a really good spot as Nutrien and Nutrien Ag Solutions is we work directly with the grower. And, all environmental impact has to start on the farm. And, what we're trying to do is not do it alone. We're not trying to win this on our own. The way we win is for our growers to win our customers, to win for the industry to win. And, we'll all work together to get there.

Tom Daniel:

And Brent, I'd say one other the thing. 75 million acres is a big number, but we have lots of acres that have been in sustainability for years now. And, we've just not told the story for the grower. So, I think one of our key points in sustainable ag is we start telling the grower's story and we start putting a focus on what practices are already in place, and then being able to document it through the data off the farm and help the grower tell his own story.

Brent Smith:

I couldn't agree more. One of the things we're actually doing Tom, as you well know, is we're in the second season of our docu-series Two Track Mind. And, this year we're really highlighting those attributes around sustainability. We're going out to the farm. We're talking to growers that for generations have been doing sustainable practices and are continuing to learn and adopt new things. So, that's one of the ways that we're getting the word out. But, couldn't agree with you more that we need to tell those stories.

Dusty Weis:

Well, and certainly this podcast is going to be a big part of telling those stories as well. And so, Brent, I really appreciate you joining us today as the inaugural guest, The Future, Faster.

Dusty Weis:

Brent Smith, Vice President of Marketing Sustainability and Proprietary Products at Nutrien Ag Solutions, thanks for joining us.

Brent Smith:

Thank you.

Dusty Weis:

That is going to conclude this edition of The Future, Faster, the pursuit of sustainable success with Nutrien Ag Solutions. New episodes arrive every other week, so make sure you subscribe on your favorite app and join us again soon. Visit futurefaster.com to learn more.

Dusty Weis:

The Future, Faster podcast is brought to you by Nutrien Ag Solutions with executive producer Connor Irwin. Editing by Doug Russell. And, production oversight by Larry Kilgore the third. And, it's produced by PodCamp media branded podcast production for businesses PodCampmedia.com.

Dusty Weis:

For Nutrien Ag Solutions. Thanks for listening, I'm Dusty Weis.