The Sophistication of Nutrient Stewardship
April 23, 2026 The agricultural industry has embraced nutrient stewardship and is working toward improving the segment’s credibility. For example, The Fertilizer Institute developed its 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification Program, which urges ag retailers, consultants, and nutrient service providers on how to employ best practices.
One crucial step to nutrient stewardship is an increased focus on understanding what products are needed and how soil can be enhanced.
“We’re seeing a strong interest in moving from salt-based to carbon-based products,” says Fred Nichols, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, at Huma. “Soil health is driving this, as are revelations from tools such as the Haney test and yield maps.”
Soils around the country are becoming more degraded largely due to the use of salt-based fertilizers, Nichols says. Fortunately, he continues, soil can be returned to a healthy state.
“We’re seeing it happen when farmers make the switch to carbon-based products,” he says. “Feeding soil microbes ultimately means feeding the crops. There’s no better way to feed microbes than with humates.”
The industry really began to pay attention to nutrient stewardship about two decades ago, says Adam Herges, Sustainability Agronomist Advisor for The Mosaic Co.
“Growth and development of nutrient stewardship was driven by the fertilizer sector and the research community, looking at both agronomic performance as well as environmental performance,” Herges says. “This was in response to public perceptions, as well as state and federal policies addressing environmental impacts from the application of crop nutrients, both fertilizers and manure [water quality and greenhouse gas emissions].”
Retailers Role
According to Matt Fryer, Agronomist, Koch Agronomic Services, retailers play an important role in helping their grower-customers understand how to better develop their nutrient stewardship programs.
Because retailers have a deep understanding of their grower-customers’ operations, they are uniquely suited to help educate those customers on best-practice approaches, such as the highly respected 4R Nutrient Stewardship Program.
“Often, ag retailers are naturally the most influential at the farm level, and rightly so, since many of them have spent their whole careers building relationships, trust, and their reputation with the farmers they serve,” Fryer says. “Because of this, I don’t take it lightly when an ag retailer allows me to come in to help educate on our products and how they can benefit the farmer.”
Nutrien Ag Solutions’ Dr. Sally Flis, Director, Sustainable Ag Programs, agrees that retailers “sit at the intersection of agronomy, technology, and grower relationships.”
Flis offers four things retailers can provide to growers:
- Deliver data-driven, field-specific recommendations.
- Provide access to enhanced efficiency products and precision application tools.
- Help growers document practices for sustainability programs.
- Translate environmental modeling and reporting into practical, actionable plans.
The next step for the industry is to build on that energy. “The greatest challenge is keeping momentum,” Mosaic’s Herges says. “We do this by proving nutrient stewardship works and providing credit to farmers and the larger agricultural community for adopting these practices over the past 10, 20, and 30 years.”
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