Posted January 31, 2024 | By Liz Schmidt, Territory Sales Manager

We realize that money isn’t everything when it comes to embarking on a sustainability journey, but we also know that economic incentives can be an important catalyst to drive change. We recently featured a story that addressed the need to support sustainability and profitability in Canadian agriculture, which also honed in on the notion that there’s a role financing can play to address the challenges growers face in adopting sustainable practices.

That’s why we are proud to announce the launch of a new financing offer that complements our Sustainable Nitrogen Outcomes program. Sustainable Nitrogen Outcomes is a Nutrien Ag Solutions initiative targeting improved nitrogen management to reduce nitrous oxide emissions where growers implement 4R practices in exchange for emission reduction payments. Now, in addition to those payments, eligible growers can take advantage of a special financing offer on products and services required to advance through the program.

For eligible customers, promotional financing at 4.99% APR is available on purchases of qualifying sustainability products, offering considerable savings relative to the standard 12.99% APR financing rate. For example, let’s say you finance $250K in purchases of eligible products at 4.99% APR on May 15, 2024. This special financing offer translates to interest expense savings of $15K assuming the balance is carried until due in February 2025.

Carbon payments are 4R practice and location dependent, with growers at the 4R advanced level receiving higher incentives than those at the 4R basic level. For example, carbon payments for Manitoba-grown wheat can increase from $2.00/acre to $4.80/acre as growers switch from basic to advanced 4R levels, even though each operation is unique. Similarly, growers in wetter areas of the prairies can expect higher carbon payments relative to those farming in drier environments.

We realize customers have choices regarding  sustainability programs. An important distinction with our Sustainable Nitrogen Outcomes program is that it operates autonomously from other private and government funded programs. While we are all working to promote practice adoption, it is important for growers to stay informed about how their participation in any given program may affect their eligibility for other programs they may be interested in.

Nutrien Ag Solutions is an active proponent in the implementation of sustainable farming practices, which includes finding common threads among growers and members of the value chain. Nutrien has been working with growers to implement whole-acre solutions that achieve measurable changes at the field level that will drive sustainable outcomes. This new financing offer is one more way that Nutrien is meeting growers where they are currently at in their sustainability journey and working side-by-side to create positive sustainable changes.

Canada is a leading geography within the regulatory greenhouse gas (GHG) space, and Nutrien, in partnership with Maple Leaf Foods, is capitalizing on that framework to generate verified GHG emission reductions through a comprehensive, voluntary Sustainability Program centered on fertilizer nitrogen management.

“We are incorporating monetizable sustainable outcomes as another component of the cropping cycle throughout our network of talented Crop Production Advisors,” says Carlos Romero, Senior Sustainability Manager at Nutrien. “We have the agronomic knowledge and trusted relationships with growers to execute and scale a rigorous data-driven field-level program.”

Sustainable Nitrogen Outcomes is designed to model nitrous oxide emission reductions attached to a particular growing season, allowing growers to commit to a 1-year contract that offers a flexible, competitive advantage relative to 10 or 20-year agreements that are typically crafted in initiatives targeting GHG removals (e.g., soil organic carbon).

For more information about this new financing offer, talk to your local Nutrien Ag Solutions branch or visit Sustainable Nitrogen Outcomes program. If you’d like to learn more about Nutrien Financial, go to NutrienFinancial.ca, where you can find more blog stories like these.