Leaders in Agriculture: The Sustainable Success Champions Program

The Sustainable Success Champions Program, initiated in 2022 by Dr. Sally Flis, Director, Sustainable Ag Programs at Nutrien, aims to recognize the vital relationship between growers and crop consultants in supporting agriculture. This program, now in its third year, presented awards at the 2025 Commodity Classic. Dr. Flis shared, “The program is designed to recognize that relationship between the grower and the crop consultant that we have for helping to drive better efficiency, conservation practices, implementation of new products and data management in the field on a daily basis.”

Each year, pairs of Nutrien growers and crop consultants from five geographic retail regions are selected by Dr. Flis and regional managers based on their responses to a detailed questionnaire about their practices, data collection methods, community involvement, and the nature of their working relationship.

The program's goal is to highlight the farm management solutions being implemented in the field. The winners wereselected based on the successful implementation of a diverse set of farm management solutions such as nitrogen management, cover crops, crop rotation and/or reduced tillage, with results pulled from field-level data such as crop yield, quality, and maturity, soil and crop tissue testing, nutrient, weed and pest management applications.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the program, according to Dr. Flis, is seeing the connections made between growers from different regions and backgrounds. Last year, there were growers from Georgia who grow peanuts, a dairy farmer from Virginia and a California vineyard owner all sharing their practices and challenges. “It’s really exciting to get them all in the same room and sit back and watch them interact with each other, have new connections and learn from each other,” she shared.

The Sustainable Success Champions Program is important because it not only fosters these valuable connections but also aims to recognize how much of what growers and crop consultants are doing in the field every day helps lead the industry as a whole.

The 2024 Sustainable Success Champions winners announced at the Commodity Classic include:

Grower: Brent Rogers

City/State: Hoxie, Kansas

Nutrien Ag Solutions Crop Consultant: Tyler Sauvage

Grower: John Cato

City/State: Altus, Oklahoma

Nutrien Ag Solutions Crop Consultant: Bobby Don Riggins

Grower: Aaron & Brannon Black (N.S. Farms)

City/State: Aylett, Virginia

Nutrien Ag Solutions Crop Consultant: James (Jimmy) Ward

Grower: Mark Thomsen (Thomsen Bros.)

City/State: Waterville, Washington

Nutrien Ag Solutions Crop Consultant: Angie Deishl

Grower: Chris Page

Province: Brandon, Manitoba

Nutrien Ag Solutions Agronomic Innovation Manager: Gary Topham

Nutrien describes sustainable agriculture as aiming to increase farm productivity, support farmer profitability and livelihoods, and foster environmental stewardship. This approach was developed in general alignment with the approach of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.