Out in the field with Nutrien’s Sustainability Managers
Our team of Field Managers work hand-in-hand with agronomists, livestock agents and other specialists to deliver practical solutions to reduce environmental impact and secure further opportunities for our customers to be more productive and profitable in how they run their operations.
Charles Starkings, Nutrien Ag Solutions North-East Sustainability Field Manager is working to help farmers to demonstrate their sustainability, across Queensland and New South Wales.
“Producers in food, fibre and beverage supply chains are interested to understand what future market access will require and how partnering with a business like Nutrien will support positive business outcomes for them,” says Mr Starkings.
“Understanding emissions sources and practical mitigation strategies whilst maintaining productivity is a key focus, yet there are many other factors that will also be important. Education of our teams and customers to aid informed business decisions is fundamental to our work now, and in the future.”
Todd Price is Nutrien’s Sustainability Field Manager covering South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.
“Growers in the region have been very interested in learning about the sustainability space and getting a better understanding of the opportunities and potential, both environmentally and economically for their farm businesses,” says Mr Price.
“Growers are quickly identifying that this is an important management and marketing metric for their business. Undertaking this quantification process is enabling them to make better informed decisions and understand the key drivers on their farm.”
“In our work to date, it has been evident that ‘Best Management Practice’ often leads to favourable environmental performance outcomes. This has proven to be the case in our low carbon canola pilot, our work in potato production in Tasmania and dairy production systems analysis,” says Mr Price.
Kirsty Smith is the Sustainability Field Manager for the western region. Kirsty’s role is to help customers navigate the seemingly complex space of sustainability and develop programs that improve the sustainability outcomes in productive agronomic systems.
“Growers can be quite hesitant when they hear the word sustainability, but I am finding that once we clear up some of the misinformation in the industry, growers are really receptive and often keen to learn more and start the journey,” says Kirsty.
“A common misconception is that improving sustainability metrics will come at either a financial cost or a reduction in productivity (yield), but we are working on pilot programs and trials to continually prove that the opposite is true. Our reduced emission canola pilot is an example of this: we are expecting reductions in emissions intensity, through a number of agronomic practices that increase both yield and efficiencies whilst improving on-farm sustainability,” says Kirsty.
“From a livestock perspective, implementing strategies on farm to improve productivity and therefore output of the system is a key driver of improved sustainability, so the goal is really highlighting the link between good management and the benefit this can have on sustainability metrics.”
For more information contact your local Nutrien branch.