The rolling West Australian wheatbelt is about 16,000 kilometres from the prairie township of Simpson, Saskatchewan, but Canadian-born Kelly Freeman reckons he could almost be back home.
The fourth generation farm boy, turned Canadian agribusiness executive, and now Nutrien Ag Solutions' Australian managing director, has discovered he has more in common with his `Down Under' customers than he fully appreciated when took on the "best job I've ever had".
"When we've driven into those wheatbelt towns, or as I looked around at Dowerin field days last month, it felt just like I really could be back home," he said.
Home has now become Melbourne since Mr Freeman transitioned into his new job at the farm services giant late last year, but originally it was an archetypal Canadian canola, barley, wheat and pulse crop farm just outside Simpson (population 1500).
He was aged nine when he got his first big break on his agricultural career path.
Young Kelly was assigned to the cab of a 4450 John Deere tractor, dragging an 18-metre harrow bar in preparation for planting while his older brothers and father were busy elsewhere.
Two of his four brothers still farm and the others, like him, went on to other ag sector jobs.
Getting to know you
Mr Freeman now spends up to 70 per cent of most weeks in places like Dowerin, WA, or Goondiwindi on the NSW-Queensland border or elsewhere across Australia, getting to know Nutrien's farmer customers, suppliers, and the company's staff, joint venture partners and independent retailers involved in its livestock agency, rural products, services and finance businesses.
Overseas, the North American-based, Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Nutrien is best known as the world's biggest fertiliser producer and the biggest retailer of crop inputs in the US and Canada, where it has 2000 locations, plus similar operations in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
Our business needs to look like our customers' business
- Kelly Freeman, Nutrien Ag Solutions
In Australia, unlike almost everywhere else in the 13 countries it operates, Nutrien's stock and station agency model has evolved over 150 years to span agriculture's full spectrum, from livestock and wool marketing to water infrastructure, agronomy services and farm hardware wholesaling.
The local business is also bigger than the Canadian division which Mr Freeman ran for two years before moving here to replace Rob Clayton who shifted to a US-based job.
"Our business needs to look like our customers' business," Mr Freeman said.
"In Australia the agriculture industry and our customers' businesses tend to be more diverse than the spaces we play in overseas.
"There are aspects of our Australian operation which are uniquely different to the global business, but that's to our advantage and they help us add value to what our customers and ag communities are doing."
Seeking value to add
If Nutrien believed it could help producers add value to their farm enterprises, including by bringing more farm farm chemical or fertiliser operations onshore, "we'll look at investing in it".
"If what we do isn't adding value at the farm gate and isn't profitable for growers, there won't be opportunities for everyone else in the ag supply chain to share the benefits," he said.
Adding value could vary from more tailored and digitised on-farm livestock or crop services, to improving efficiency and cost effectiveness in farm supply chains by building better warehouse and distribution networks.
"Australian agriculture is a very import and export dependent market," Mr Freeman noted.
"Investing to ensure we have reliable, efficient and safe supply chains will hopefully be reflected in reducing farmers' costs and lifting their productivity."
On both sides of the country Nutrien's fertiliser storage and farm chemical formulation capacities were being boosted, including big scale liquid nitrogen (UAN) fertiliser tanks in Kwinana and other west coast fertiliser storage sites, to help buffer farmers from global market gyrations and maintain consistent supplies as needed.
At its Laverton formulation plant in Melbourne, production capacity for animal health and crop chemical products had increased.
Innovative market
Back at global headquarters in Saskatoon, Canada, the Australian farm sector was seen as "a very attractive and innovative market".
That view was shared by the many North American investment funds and companies which now had significant farmland and other farm sector assets here.
"The long term curve in Australia, because of the innovation and adaptability that's going on here, is something we're very bullish about," Mr Freeman said.
Despite this year's slower market conditions causing "some headwinds" after recent years of bullish farm sector returns, Nutrien had enjoyed a track record of consistent growth in Australia, almost from the time it bought the former Landmark business from AWB in 2012.
In 2019 it absorbed rival, Ruralco, and the new-look Nutrien's sales have subsequently grown 245 per cent, largely due to a 197pc increase in its market footprint.
Reflecting Australian agriculture's general growth trends, Mr Freeman said Nutrien's livestock business was a mature and steady earner, while the cropping side continued to expand and diversify.
Specialty crops, particularly in horticulture, offered exciting potential, promising ag's biggest growth, by value, in the next eight years.
We're committed to investing through the ups and downs of the cycle
- Kelly Freeman, Nutrien Ag Solutions
Although this year's season and markets had forced "a reset" in expectations, Mr Freeman said overall Nutrien's business "is very stable and continues to prosper".
"We're committed to investing through the ups and downs of the cycle. That's how we operate."
He freely conceded he did not personally have a livestock background which matched half the local business skillset, however that had not made his new job particularly daunting.
"I do have an infinite curiosity about agriculture, and all the new things I can learn," he said.
"Anyway, it's not about me - I'm just one person.
"There are 3700 people in this business with different expertise and experience and great customer relationships under their belt."
Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
