Partnership harnesses the power of innovation, sustainability to promote rice and waterfowl conservation.

Nutrien joins forces with the USA Rice and Ducks Unlimited Rice Stewardship Program to further encourage the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices on U.S. rice acres. Jeff Tarsi, president of Global Retail for Nutrien, discusses the wide selection of proprietary products that work hand in hand to promote the conservation and sustainability efforts of the program.Photo, Whitney Haigwood; Inset, courtesy of Nutrien

At a Glance

• Nutrien joins Rice Stewardship Program, commits $1 million over four years to encourage sustainable rice production.

Farmers understand the importance of conservation, and as a leading provider of crop inputs and services, Nutrien understands the importance of supporting their growers. Recently, the company announced its collaborative partnership with the USA Rice and Ducks Unlimited Rice Stewardship Program. 

Nutrien’s commitment to the Rice Stewardship Program is a $1 million contribution over four years to further encourage the adoption of sustainable practices in all six rice producing states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, and California. 

For over a decade, the Rice Stewardship Program has helped growers adopt and improve sustainable agricultural practices on over 1,000 rice farms, collectively totaling over 800,000 acres. 

Jeff Tarsi, president of Global Retail for Nutrien, said the company has a wide selection of proprietary products that will work hand in hand to promote the conservation and sustainability efforts of the Rice Stewardship Program. 

“These are exciting times. I look for us to form a strong partnership that everybody can be proud of, from our growers and the agriculture community to the general public as well,” Tarsi said. 

Grower encouragement and sustainability 

Sustainability is more than a buzzword. For consumers, it means making environmentally sound choices. For farmers, it means being good stewards of the land that produces their livelihood. 

“Sustainability is a word you hear thrown around a lot, but nothing happens in a sustainable way in agriculture until a grower accepts that practice and puts it into place,” Tarsi said. 

Nutrien works to provide solutions and build programs for farmers to not only grow their crops in a sustainable way, but to also gather the data needed to quantify their efforts. 

“We sit in the middle between food companies and producers. We take what consumers are looking for and put it into viable programs, so our customers can document and produce a burden of proof that their crop is more valuable now, because it was grown in a sustainable manner,” Tarsi said. 

From Nutrien’s perspective, Tarsi said it is their job to find ways to better support their growers, conservation and stewardship, and sustainability. 

“The general public is very conscious of these things, so we have to be conscious. It is our job with our grower-customers to make them conscious as well. At the end of the day, everything we do is geared toward building a demand that a consumer desires,” he said. 

Partnership with ducks and rice 

In its 11th year, the Rice Stewardship Program supports and encourages conservation practices for waterfowl on working rice lands through 1,300 different projects. These projects run parallel to Nutrien’s commitment to their growers. 

In a press release, Ducks Unlimited Director of Agriculture Support Scott Manley said, “Our collaboration with Nutrien is a vital step towards achieving widespread adoption of sustainable agriculture practices among rice farmers.  

“This partnership will focus on working with local agricultural communities to promote the benefits of sustainable farming and conservation efforts. The support of industry-leading corporations like Nutrien demonstrates a strong commitment to sustainability and is critical to our ability to make this level of change happen.” 

Nutrien products like seed and fertilizer, digital and financial tools, and the 4R Nutrient Stewardship System are geared toward sustainable ag production and improving the bottom line for their customers. This includes Nutrien’s sizable investment in its proprietary platform, Loveland Products, which has a portfolio of biological products, adjuvants, surfactants, water conditioning agents, and drift controls that work to increase soil health and plant-based efficiency. 

“We are going to be sharing a lot of information. I am just as interested in looking at the data they have from their stewardship program as we are in sharing data we have with our sustainability programs,” Tarsi said. 

In Tarsi’s 40 years in the business, he said no two years have looked identical, but one thing remains constant. “As long as I have been in this industry, the greatest conservationists we have in this country are our growers.  

“I have seen them adopt practices and change the way they do things without enticement. They did it just because it was the right thing to do. They are great caretakers of our land, our soil, and our wildlife.” 

Published Date: July 30, 2024