A Message from Nutrien President and CEO Ken Seitz

Why we need to bridge the farming perception gap to overcome the challenge of feeding the world.

Ken Seitz, President and CEO of Nutrien

Feeding the world safely and sustainably is one of the most pressing challenges of our time, and farmers have humbly risen to the occasion. Yet with a population of 8 billion – and another 2 billion on the way by 2050 – our world is reaching a tipping point, and we face an urgent need to feed, fuel and clothe more people, more sustainably, than ever before. This challenge cannot be understated as farmers will need to produce more than they have over the past 10,000 years.

This isn’t the first challenge farmers have faced and it won’t be the last. We are fortunate that the agriculture industry is resilient, and that ingenuity, innovation and commitment are shared qualities of farmers across the globe. However, to meet this tremendous challenge, we all need to come together in support of farmers who produce the essentials of life. This will require understanding and support from consumers, policymakers, all of us, to help them lead the world into the next era of sustainable agriculture.

The good news is that people are very interested in learning more about where their food comes from, how it is grown, and under what conditions. While encouraging, there are also a troubling number of misperceptions about modern agriculture. With fewer people farming than ever before, a significant gap has formed in the perception about what people believe happens on the farm and what is actually taking place.

To address that gap, we first need to understand it. Earlier this year, Nutrien conducted research to quantify the perception gap around farming, polling thousands of consumers and farmers across North America to understand if there was a perception gap, and to demonstrate the urgency and the opportunity of finding common ground to meet our global challenges head-on.

Confronted by the pressing realities of climate change and population growth, farmers must feed the world as efficiently and sustainably as possible. Humanity and our planet need farmers to achieve these goals. Closing this gap is vital to that mission.

The world is asking a lot of our farmers, and it is incumbent on all of us to support them in safely and sustainably feeding the future.

With fewer people farming than ever before, a significant gap has formed in the perception about what people believe happens on the farm and what is actually taking place.