Launching a Strategic Alliance with Bunge to Pay Growers for New and Existing Sustainability Practices, with Fernando Candia

Climate change is an issue that's global in scale.

So when two companies that are global leaders band together to address the problem, it's sure to make some real headway.

Bunge, the world leader in oilseed processing, and Nutrien Ag Solutions are launching a strategic alliance and commercial agreement to support U.S. farmers in the implementation of sustainable farming practices that will help increase the development of lower carbon products. The initiative is expected to expand sustainable agriculture across shared supply chains in North America, bringing more whole-acre solutions to food, feed and fuel customers and end-consumers.

The initial program will focus on soybeans grown in the regions close to Bunge’s crushing facilities in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Decatur, Indiana, with the opportunity for future expansion to other locations and crops such as corn and wheat. The program is targeting the 2023/2024 crop season and is expected to include practices such as cover crops, reduced tillage, nutrient management and responsible pesticide use.

So in this episode, we talk to Fernando Candia, Vice President of Carbon Solutions at Bunge, to discuss how it will work, why it was important to incentivize both new and existing sustainability practices, and how this strategic alliance utilizes the separate expertise of both companies.

Plus, Tom and Sally discuss some tools that are available during the growing season to gauge and minimize nitrogen needs, like tissue sampling and micro-nutrient management, allowing growers to incorporate new sustainability practices on fields that are already planted.

Visit agrible.com to sign up for Nutrien Ag Solutions' free digital toolkit, and info.nutrienagsolutions.com/SNO to learn more about Sustainable Nitrogen Outcomes.

Episode Transcript

Fernando Candia:

We will be paying competitive rates. I mean, for planting a cover crop and no tillage for newly implemented practices, we'll be paying 30 bucks an acre. So the value proposition that the local team will be communicating together with our Nutrien partners, I think will be very attractive for the grower. 

Dusty Weis:

Welcome to The Future. Faster, a sustainable agriculture podcast by Nutrien Ag Solutions with our very own Tom Daniel, director of North America retail and grower sustainable ag, and Dr. Sally Flis, director of sustainability program design and outcome management. 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. 

On this week's episode, we're joined by Fernando Candia, vice President of carbon solutions at Bunge, the world leader in oil seed processing, and we're going to learn about a new strategic alliance between Bunge and Nutrien Ag Solutions that creates new incentives for growers to implement sustainability practices. And of course, we'll talk about how you can benefit. But if you haven't yet, make sure you're subscribed to this podcast and your favorite app. Also, make sure to follow Nutrien Ag Solutions on Facebook and Instagram.

I'm Dusty Weis, and it's time once again to introduce Tom Daniel and Sally Flis. And Tom and Sally, since we last talked, the temps have warmed up, the fields have dried out in a lot of places. In fact, it's getting to the point where it's a little bit too dry here in the upper Midwest, but that's another story altogether. And crops have gone into the ground. We probably even applied that first round of crop nutrition. So what can a grower start planning or doing now to either get enrolled in a sustainable ag program maybe this year or next? 

Sally Flis:

I think one of the easiest things to do is check out some of our websites. There's the sustainable nitrogen outcomes website. There's also the Agrible website where you can start playing around with some of the eligibility questions or enrollment questions that are part of the initial signup for an Agrible account and start tracking some of your data and mapping fields in there. But there's still opportunities in season this season to make sustainable changes or even potentially consider enrolling in a program. If you're in a corn nutrition program and you've only done one nitrogen application, there's still potential to think about improving that nitrogen management or adjusting that second or third nitrogen application you might be doing to participate in a program. Tom, what are some of the other tools that get used in the field that can help a grower decide how much more nitrogen they should put on in a particular cropping season? 

Tom Daniel:

Well, there's all kinds of testing things that we can do in the field, and obviously one of the first things that most growers will want to do is a soil test. Hopefully it was done last fall or sometime before the spring crop was planted, just so we know what nutrition's available in the soil and we got an idea of what we're working with. And then obviously as the crop is growing, what does tissue sample look like? We can pull off some of the active growing foliage of the plant and we can send it in and within just a 24, 48 hours, we can get back a report that tells us exactly what's the missing ingredient to a maximum production crop. So I think I was telling you earlier, Sally, most of our regions right now are recording lots of tissue samples in the field today. And you're picking up lots of deficiencies, especially in some of the micronutrients that we see out there today. 

And a tissue sample is somebody might question, well, is that a sustainable practice? And the answer is yes, because it allows us to pinpoint exactly what the weaknesses are in the production cycle for nutrition, and it allows us to address it now. So there's multiple ways we can do that through several of the products that we have that are foliar nutritionals that can be added to the crop and fix those gaps that we have in the field today.

Now, Sally, I'll also ask you on this, I know that there's a lot of side dressing getting ready to happen in the field today. A lot of corn side dress and other crops and split and reduced rate nitrogen is a key component we call a spoon-feeding. How can split or reduced rate nitrogen actually be an opportunity to gain a carbon offset or an inset on a particular field? 

Sally Flis:

That reduced nitrogen is really the key, Tom. So our strongest program right now, our sustainable nitrogen outcomes program is based around a rate reduction. It's that minimum 5% rate reduction, and then the addition of a nitrification inhibitor or other enhanced deficiency product can often help you get to a higher outcome payment because you're paying on the tons of nitrous oxide carbon equivalent emissions that you achieve in that reduction of rate. But it's really tied to rate reduction as the first thing. And so if you're at a point where you're able to go out and pull some tissue tests or I don't know how many still get done, there used to be the pre-side dress nitrate tests for soils, that's also an option to really fine tune the amount of nitrogen you're going to put on the field. 

And if you end up thinking about being in a place where you're going to apply less nitrogen than you have in previous cropping seasons on that crop, then you could get enrolled for a program that'll pay you for that emission reduction in our sustainable nitrogen outcomes program. Tom, you mentioned micronutrients being really one of the things that comes out in these tissue tests. Why does it matter the micronutrients that we balance those during the cropping season? And what is the opportunity a grower sees when they take the time to balance those micronutrients during a cropping season?

Tom Daniel: 

Well, most of the time when we talk about nutrition, most growers think about nitrogen, phosphate and potassium. Those are the big three. But in truth, some of the micronutrients can have a direct impact on the uptake of other nutrition that's in the soil. So if you don't have enough boron for instance, then the reproductive cycle of the plant is not going to be as vigorous as it should be. And so the idea is if I can foliar apply boron type product later in the season, I can gain increased optimization for grain fill, for instance, or some of the different things associated with that. But micronutrients are a lot of times the limiting factor. So we may have plenty of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, but the limiting factor may be some micronutrient out there that we're not even thinking about for the most part. But it could have a direct relationship as far as how do I optimize nutrition and Sally, we both know that one of the key things that we see around nitrogen optimization is sulfur use, right?

And a lot of times we see tons of sulfur lacking soils right now, and the reason for that, we're not using coal-fired electricity plants anymore. So we're seeing that sulfur that was naturally in the atmosphere is not there anymore. So we're having to add sulfur as an amendment now so that we can maximize nitrogen uptake, but we need to look at all of these micronutrients and macronutrients and how do they balance with each other because they all interact with each other on how the plant can metabolize nutrition. Sometimes we don't think about variable rate as actually getting to a reduced nitrogen rate, but when we think about variable rate applied nitrogen, we're applying more nitrogen in the areas where we have maximum production, less nitrogen in the areas with low production, and in some cases, that leads to an overall nitrogen reduction. 

Sally Flis:

Very true. So Tom, you mentioned earlier soil sampling as a part of this in addition to tissue testing. What's the one thing as growers and crop consultants are looking at, if there was only one thing to decide on, we know there's lots of things on that soil test we probably have to maybe make some management changes on, but if there was one thing that a grower could consider doing this late summer or fall, would their soil test that's going to improve new nutrient use efficiency in their field? What would it be? 

Tom Daniel:

Well, I guess one of the main things that most growers take a look at would be pH. And obviously you want to pull that pH after the spring crop has come off sometime early in the fall and have an opportunity to actually make a lime application, whether it be a dolomite or a calcium based lime, you want to make an application here in the fall so you have an opportunity for that impact or effect on the crop coming up in the next season. But I think one of the limiting factors we usually see are pH problems. And I will say this, a lot of times as growers and I farm too, we'll go out and we'll take a composite sample over our whole field and we'll take our pH rating off of that. What I've seen, and especially in Midwestern crops, is that you'll see hotspots of high and low pHs all across the field, and those particular high and low spots will inhibit maximum production in those areas. 

So we need to be taking our pH samples and we need to be looking at variable rate even spreading our lime products on those acres because we want to take care of the low pH areas, but we also don't want to overly lime in the high pH areas. So once again, variable rate technology and using a good precision ag program is going to be a benefit when you're talking about pH. So Sally, one of the key things that we see as an advantage in the field, it's when we're working around these agronomy pieces, is key to having someone you can talk to and where does Nutrien provide that help in this whole process of helping a grower plant a crop year out?

Sally Flis: 

Those crop consultants that boots on the ground, Tom, are there probably talking to growers at least five days a week, some growers maybe seven days a week, helping troubleshoot as you pull a tissue sample, getting the results back, figuring out what the next step is that's needed, diagnosing things other than nutrient, problems in the field, pest management, crop scouting, taking those soil samples, getting them scheduled, analyzing the data to create those variable rate maps that you were mentioning. So those boots on the ground are just a huge part of how we help support the grower, make those sustainability and just every day cropping decisions.

Dusty Weis: 

Tom and Sally, a lot of good information that we've covered here. And if someone's interested in learning more, maybe figuring out how they can get involved, where should they start?

Sally Flis: 

Dusty, they can visit our sustainable ag webpage at nutrienagsolutions.com/farmsmart, and they can submit a form to inform us of their interest in sustainable ag programs signing up for Agrible, anything that the sustainable ag team has going on, and that's both for crop consultants and growers in the field.

Dusty Weis: 

And guys, another great reason to get enrolled is that so many of the sustainability incentive programs are geography specific because of course we talk all the time, not all practices are right for every climate and every farm field. And so coming up after the break, we want to talk about a new strategic alliance with the world leader in oil seed processing Bunge that is going to bring new sustainability incentives online for growers in parts of the Midwest. That is coming up in a moment here on The Future. Faster.

This is The Future. Faster, a sustainable agriculture podcast by Nutrien Ag Solutions. I'm Dusty Weis, along with Tom Daniel and Sally Flis. And we're joined now by Fernando Candia, vice president of carbon solutions at Bunge. Fernando, thanks for joining us. 

Fernando Candia:

Thanks for having me, Dusty. 

Dusty Weis:

So Fernando, in late May, Bunge and Nutrien Ag Solutions announced a joint grower incentive program for soybean growers around two soybean crush facilities in Midwestern North America. So for anyone who missed the announcement or might not be familiar with Bunge, can you elaborate on what your organization does and what your role is in the agriculture supply chain? 

Fernando Candia:

So we're quite old company. We were established in 1818, so a long time ago. We started in Europe and have been kind of migrating to South America now headquartered in the US. We're a publicly traded company with about 23,000 employees. We got about 350 facilities globally, and we operate in over 40 countries. But our purpose when you think of Bunge is we connect farmers to consumers basically to deliver essential and sustainable food, feed and fuel. That's our purpose. And we basically bring products from their grown or where they're processed to where they're consumed. We're currently the world's leading oil seed processor by in terms of crush volume, and we're also a leading producer and supplier of specialty plant based oils, fats, and also proteins. Basically what we do at the end of the day is we process the oil seeds into vegetable oils and protein meals, principle for food, animal feed and biofuel industries. 

And our products are used in a wide range of applications such as animal food, cooking, oil, flowers, bakery confectionary, dietary alternatives, plant-based meat, et cetera, et cetera. We also now, and this has been one of the key new drivers in the industry, we have a very important role to play in using our crop infrastructure to help basically expand the renewable energy industry. So that does in a nutshell, and what I do, Dusty, in Bunge is I've been in the company for 22 years, mostly as a trader in commercial roles. And up until recently I was running our business in Mexico, which we divested, and now I'm focusing on basically all our growth initiatives around novelty, regenerative ag, and also the origination partnerships that drive it.

Tom Daniel: 

So Fernando, you talked about regenerative ag and you talked about sustainability. Those kind of get to be a lot of used terms in the marketplace today that some people have different definitions for. So my question would be can you kind of give me an understanding what is Bunge's goal around sustainable goals and strategy around sustainability?

Fernando Candia: 

Thanks for the question, Tom. So I'll start with the overall macro and then get into a little bit more of the strategy, how we're seeing it. We've been in this journey for more than 20 years and our sustainability, we have always focused on sustainability and as it evolved. But now we truly see this climate lens as it's fully integrated and as part of our business strategy. And the way we look at it is basically through a lens of three, call it pillars. One is action on climate, the other one is focusing on responsible supply chains. And then lastly is the accountability that comes with doing those three. So when you think of how we bucket these three things, when you look at action on climate, you're basically talking about scope one and two, we've committed to reducing that by 25% by 2030. Our scope three by around 12% by 2030 as well, focusing on biodiversity in the environment, so reducing water, waste and energy usage.

Regenerative ag is a big part of that on action and climate, right, novel seeds, and I'll get into that. Responsible supply chains is making sure we end deforestation. We have a commitment for zero deforestation by 2025. Today we're at 97% already, but it's not just about that. It's also making sure that we respect human rights and our supply chains. Again, we're promoting by diversity and being responsible, how we approach and our flows within our supply chain. And then lastly is accountability. I mean, we're not just talking about it. Our board is actively engaged and driving our sustainability journey. It oversees our strategy. It's not just our CEO, so there's teeth to it. We've committed, as I said, to third party verifiers with SBT as our key driving force around our action and climate. But we're also working with many partners that have a stake in this with us as well. 

So we take accountability seriously, but more importantly that we're thoughtful in these commitments and making sure that through a lot of the partnerships that we're driving, we choose the right partners so we make sure we deliver on them. These are the three pillars. And then when you think about what are we doing about it, how do you do these three pillars? Well, we're focusing on four things that are driving a lot of these action on climate. One is regenerative ag, which I'm sure we're going to get into novel seeds and cover crops, which you think play a key role. Renewable fuel feed stocks, we feel we have a role to play. So it's not just about... We provide a lot of soy oil and canola oil from our crush plants for the renewable fuel industry, but we also provide a lot of the oils that end up turning into EUCO to a lot of the customers that use the vegetable oils.

We sell a lot of the proteins, so a lot of the customers that ultimately produce animal fats that come out that also are used for the renewable fuel industry. So we're a key part of this supply chain. And then lastly, plant-based foods, lipids and proteins, which we also see as one of the pillars of making sure we have an action on climate. And in these four pillars, if you want to think of these strategic pillars we're working on with many partners to make sure that we can deliver on that and ultimately drive our action on climate, making sure we have responsible supply chains and the accountability around it. 

Sally Flis:

Fernando, looking at what we put forward for the 2023, 2024 program that we've announced with Bunge, can you describe that offering in a high level to the audience? Where are we going to be operating? What are the crops we're looking at and what are some of the outcomes that we plan to calculate working in this program? 

Fernando Candia:

Sure. I mean, the initial program, we'll be focusing on soybeans grown in regions that are close to two crush facilities. One is our Council Bluff, Iowa facility, and the other one is our Decatur, Indiana. And then obviously it's part of the future and seeing how our partnership evolves and how this program evolves, we have a lens on potentially expanding this to other locations and also expanding other crops, or at least that's the ambition and hopefully that's where we can get. We ultimately don't want to just focus on two plants. We want to do it at scale. That has always been one of the key principles of how we look at solving for regenerative ag. And basically what we're initially focusing on is on practices so basically cover crops, reduced tillage, nutrient management, and responsible pesticide use. Those are going to be the target that we're going to focus on initially, but ultimately we want to focus on outcomes. 

Sally and Tom, and this is at least through the lens that we have, and I think we share that vision, it's about outcomes. It's about delivering reduction in tons of CO2. These practices obviously are key drivers of that, and we're going to be starting by paying for those practices, but ultimately we want to move on to outcomes. We're going to be using your platform, your experience in driving this. We're going to be using Agrible to basically collect the data, track the data, but more importantly, and I think this is why we're excited about it, is using your expertise and your advice that you're going to be driving ultimately with a grower in how to achieve this and how to work on this. And I think that's one of the key anchors of our partnership, at least that we see it is your expertise combined with our franchise to be able to move these products and these environmental attributes. We really think is going to be very attractive for the grower to sign up.

Tom Daniel: 

So Fernando, one of the key things that we've seen is obviously a lot of what we're talking about are started with agronomic practice changes on the farm. So we're trying to drive unique changes on the farm, whatever they are. Cover crops is going to be one of those, right? But we've got no-till biodiversity, multiple different things. Obviously Bunge is also engaged in novel seeds. As you've said earlier, we're going to see some introduction of oil producing crops that also act as cover crops in the winter. But one of the things that I think makes a real difference in program that Bunge and Nutrien are working with is that there is some significant robust grower compensations involved in this process through the Bunge Alliance and through the grain that's being purchased through Bunge. Can you kind of talk about that a little bit and how we're seeing growers being compensated now for making practice changes?

Fernando Candia: 

Sure. So I think we're in the process of that, of kind of setting those levels, but we'll definitely be competitive with what you're seeing in the industry. We've seen levels... Will depend on the practice, but we're certainly be in line with what the market is paying. But I think Tom, in terms of the compensation for us really is, and this I think is one of the principle share, is that whole acre solution is really key, is driving that change and ultimately making sure that this is repetitive and that we can sustain it over a long period.

So the value aside of what we're going to be paying the grower, I think ultimately what we're excited about Tom and Sally is how the agronomy is going to be driving a lot of this. And that's been one of the key drivers of our partnership for us is we realized very early on that it's not just about paying for practice, paying the growers well to make sure that not only they establish new practices, but we're also paying for existing practices and making sure that the growers that are in the program that are already during these practices, that they also benefit from this. 

But more importantly is that there's repetition and there's that stickiness to the program. And this is why I think we recognized early on through the discovery of multiple partners out there that Nutrien was leader in this and the key driver of the partnership for sure, and making sure that not only existing practices are continued and done potentially in a better way, but also new practices done potentially in the wherein that are sticky overtime.

Sally Flis: 

I'm going to change up our questions a little bit here. And Tom, I'm going to go to you with a question, even though Fernando is our guest today. So Fernando has mentioned a couple of times how the important part of this partnership or collaboration with them is that agronomic expertise that we have in the field. So what are some of the things that your team in the field is working with our crop consultants on to find those different ways to drive reduced emissions, soil organic carbon sequestration, and how does that fit in that whole acre solution piece to what we're trying to do to drive sustainability on the acre?

Tom Daniel: 

So sadly, that's a really good question, and I think it's one of the reasons that Bunge and Nutrien have been a good alliance with our two companies because our field consultants who work with the grower every day are working with the grower and to helping the grower take him for where he is today, what his operation is currently doing, and then helping to guide him and lead him in a way that will get him to that outcome that Fernando's talking about. And look, our number one goal with our growers is to make sure that they're sustainably producing whatever commodity is. We're talking about soybeans, but it could be canola, it could be corn, all of those different commodities. How do we sustainably produce them? How do we use the right amount of inputs to produce the maximum production we can on the acre? Because just like Bunge, Nutrien is wanting to make sure that we have enough food production in this world to feed this world, so we can't do things that are going to reduce the amount of food that's being produced. So we want to maximize that production on the acre.

And that's where that on the farm crop consultant, someone who's engaged with the grower every day, who understands the limitations or the opportunities that a grower can get into, can lead through these things. So I'll use a good example, Sally, just the introduction of a cover crop is keeping a green and growing root on that acre 365 days a year. Well, that's a great opportunity for the grower to sequester carbon and do those things that we view are going to be value for him down the future, whether it be soil health, water optimization, all of those things that come with that. 

But there is an agronomic piece to that that has to be managed. How do we terminate that cover crop? How do we plant into that cover crop situation? All of those things are going to be issues that we have to address and have to deal with, and we want to make sure that we have that crop consultant on that acre with that grower to make sure that he's getting the right amount of information and doing things that are going to add sustainable economic practices on the farm. So Sally, you know, ask a question to me. I'll ask a question to both you and Fernando right now, both our companies have a global footprint and we are both seeing external pressures, global pressures. How do you think each of our companies, do we have a different perspective around these global pressures or do you think we share that same global pressure footprint today?

Sally Flis: 

I think we share a lot, Fernando, on that global footprint and our ability to impact. And I just would be curious from Bunge standpoint, what else are you guys hearing in the field outside of North America around sustainability and some of the pressures on reporting? We hear very similar things to what we hear in North America in our Australian business. And then I think you mentioned it earlier, as we look at some of our South America business, there is a bit different focus there where it's about deforestation, it's about welfare of employees and that kind of stuff. So I was just curious from your side, what are you hearing from a global perspective because we tend to get so focused on what are the outcomes we talk about in North America?

Fernando Candia: 

Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, for sure we're seeing the same things, right? 25% of global emissions come from agriculture. So by definition we're in this together. And then when you look at regionally, there's different pressures if you want to call it. So you know, mentioned Australia, where you have a footprint in South America. For us, it's been mostly deforestation that's been one of the key drivers. But it's not just about that, responsible supply chain, human rights, traceability of these crops and attributes, usage, energy, water, waste that's in South America, mostly deforestation. When you move to Europe, it's kind of all of the above. And there it's even more intense because then you're looking at pesticides, you're looking at seeds, technology, which is very, very restricted. So when you think of kind of the different regions that we're operating, each one has its challenges, and we have similar sustainability demands, some with the full menu, others with less.

But overall, the approach we're taking, Sally and Tom is a global one where you know what we're looking at when we think of deforestation, we think of our entire footprint and how we can do better when we think of energy waste and water usage, we think globally. And the same is when it comes to novel seeds and regenerative ag. This is a global lens that we're looking at. Our partnership is most focused in the US at the moment, but we are have programs now in South America as well. We're starting them in Europe as well. And the lens is the same as we want to be able to provide our customers products that have environmental attributes that we together with our partners have helped drive reductions in carbon through our products and through our partnership. And that lens is global for us. So I think that's not going to go away. 

I think the challenge in front of us is very, very tough because reducing carbon is tough. Land use change is probably the biggest driver of this, and deforestation plays a big, big role. Particularly in our supply chain, in our scope three that is one of the biggest driver of our scope three emissions and one that we're working hard to reduce, but regenerative ag is also one of the key drivers of it and one area where we can reduce it, but it takes scale, it takes partnerships to accomplish that. So it's not an easy thing to do and that's why we've been very thoughtful, who we're choosing our partnerships and why we chose Nutrien as our partner, because we feel it's the right partner to drive scalability and to make sure we deliver on those outcomes and not only reduce our own scope three together with you, but also help our customers.

Sally Flis: 

Fernando, we've touched a few times on Nutrien Ag Solutions footprint in the field. You guys have field level staff as well. So what does that interaction between the ground field people from Bunge and on the ground field, people from Nutrien going to look like as growers start to see this program roll out in Iowa and Indiana?

Tom Daniel: 

As Sally said, Fernando, y'all got a great staff of people out in the field that are working on the marketing side of all the commodities in the field today. And obviously we're coordinating with those people that are in the field today to make sure that we're making contact with the growers that are selling their commodities back through Bunge, within those source areas, as we call them, around those crush facilities. And then we want to make sure the Nutrien staff want to make sure that the growers understand the outcome they're trying to generate for, in this case, we're measuring carbon intensity on a given soybean acre, and how can they make improvements or changes on that acre that will actually drive a better carbon intensity and help create value for that soybean crop through the marketplace.

But the guys for Bunge are the ones that are actually driving the contracts and helping the grower to understand the requirements of the program, along with our guys helping on the agronomic side. And we have to remember this part too, Sally, we have to record all the data off these farms, so we've got to make sure that this data is coming into the Agrible platform today, and that gives us the ability to do measurements on those acres. But Fernando, I'll let you talk about your guys a little bit. 

Fernando Candia:

Yeah, the Nutrien team is fantastic. The footprint that Nutrien has is truly remarkable in the occasion when you have locally, particularly in these two plants that we selected to start the program, the contract will be driven mostly by Bunge around the contracting of the product. But the data collection and ultimately the solution and the advice comes from nutrient. And we didn't touch too much on values in the program because I think the essence of the partnership is really what's driving this, but we'll be paying competitive rates. I mean, for newly implemented practices, we'll be paying 30 bucks an acre for planting a cover crop in no tillage. For existing practices, $15 an acre, reduced tillage, no tillage, $7 an acre for new practices, and 5 for existing. So the value proposition that the local team will be communicating together with our Nutrien partners, I think will be very attractive for the grower. 

The simplicity of the program is also easy, and the both teams are very aligned on how to communicate. And this will be essentially one season programs, although there'll be requirements that have one to three years of practice information that we're going to need to collect. But ultimately we design a program together that I think is going to be relatively simple, easy to understand, and what we feel, again is... A key driver of this is we're going to have the right agronomic advice, which we think is key for regenerative ag and a key driver of it.

Sally Flis: 

Fernando, it's been a long path to get here, but I would totally agree. I think we took the time and care and dedication to design a program that's going to be beneficial up and down the supply chain, and I'm just really excited to see the acres come in and what we can impact on the ground this year.

Fernando Candia: 

Definitely Sally and Tom, I mean, we are convincing the company, it's the right partnership to get this done, and hopefully this is part one of part two or part three or part four that's coming, and we can expand on this program as we build on its success, which I'm pretty positive we will.

Dusty Weis: 

It's certainly a game changing opportunity to really build some momentum in this space. And when the issues that you're dealing with are global in scale, it's going to take global mobilization to fix them. So when you see two global leaders in agriculture like Bunge and Nutrien Ag Solutions banding together in a strategic alliance like this, it's a sign that we're starting to make some headway. So Fernando Candia, vice president of carbon solutions at Bunge, thank you so much for joining us on this episode of The Future. Faster.

Fernando Candia: 

Thank you, Dusty. Thanks, Tom. Thanks Sally. Always a pleasure.

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 month, so make sure you subscribe in your favorite app and join us again soon. Visit futurefaster.com to learn more.

The Future. Faster podcast is brought to you by Nutrien Ag Solutions with executive producer Connor Irwin and editing by Macky Mikunda. And it's produced by PodCamp Media, a branded podcast production for businesses, podcampmedia.com. For Nutrien Ag Solutions, thanks for listening. I'm Dusty Weis.