New on-site building supports agronomic research and technology adoption across North America.
Nutrien Ag Solutions® opened a new facility at its Innovation Farm in Champaign, Illinois, furthering its commitment to advancing whole-acre solutions through agronomic research and real-world trials.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held March 20 to mark the official opening. The new building serves as a central hub for Nutrien’s 16-person agronomy team based at the farm. Since moving into the space in November, the team has already hosted 18 events, including training sessions, team meetings and customer engagements.
While designed for collaboration, the primary focus of the new facility is to accelerate the adoption of innovative products, practices, and technologies across the Nutrien Ag Solutions network. On-farm trials at the Innovation Farm generate insights that support confident recommendations for growers and retail partners throughout the U.S. and Canada.
“Our Innovation Farm Network runs off five essential components: equipment, technology, products, practices, and people. In my opinion, people are the most important component out of the list,” Thaddeus Bates, senior manager, applied agronomy, said in a recent news release. “Many people have supported and put in a lot of work to get our Champaign Innovation Farm to where it is today. There have been many hands involved in this project, and we’re grateful for everyone’s support in bringing this vision to life.”
Nutrien purchased the 282-acre property in 2019 with the goal of creating a research hub that mirrors real-world farm conditions. Over the past six years, the team has focused on building soil health, running research trials, and supporting educational programs, including a national award-winning FFA project led by the farm’s first student ambassador, Avery Watson.
The recent ribbon-cutting event welcomed Nutrien employees, growers, suppliers, state legislators, media and local community members. Attendees participated in field tours highlighting key areas of focus, including drone and RTK-enabled equipment, proprietary product trials, weather service integrations and precision agronomy initiatives.
Expanding Innovation Through a National Network
The Champaign site is one of four locations in the Nutrien Innovation Farm Network, which also includes farms in Selma, California; Winterville, Mississippi and Owensboro, Kentucky. The network is designed to generate scalable insights that reflect real farming conditions and provide growers with a clear view of how integrated solutions can work on their operations.
“Our goal with our Innovation Farm Network is to grow agriculture by sharing the knowledge that we gather on these farms, not by promoting specific products, but by sharing the practices, products, and technology that have been demonstrated to successfully work together as a full-acre approach that is efficient, attainable, and repeatable by farmers across North America,” Nutrien Agronomy senior director Paul Bonnett said in the release.
For more information about Nutrien Ag Solutions and the Innovation Farm Network, visit www.nutrienagsolutions.com.
