Apr 16, 2025

Nutrien Ag Solutions opens new facility at Champaign Innovation Farm

Nutrien Ag Solutions has opened a new facility at its Innovation Farm in Champaign, Illinois, aiming to advance research and technology adoption for growers and retailers.

The company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 20 to mark the official opening of the facility, which serves as a hub for training, team meetings, and customer engagement. The 16-person onsite team, focused on agronomic research, moved into the building in November and has hosted 18 events since January.

“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,” said Thaddeus Bates, senior manager, applied agronomy, in a press release. “Many people have supported and put in a lot of work to get our Champaign Innovation Farm to where it is today.”

Nutrien purchased the 282-acre farm in 2019, with a vision to transform it into a research and demonstration center. The Innovation Farm focuses on integrating products, practices and technology to create data-driven recommendations for agronomists and growers across the U.S. and Canada.

The March 20 event drew employees, growers, supplier representatives, state legislators and members of the agriculture industry and media. Attendees observed demonstrations featuring drones, RTK precision-enabled machinery, weather services and proprietary agronomy programs.

The Champaign farm is one of four locations in Nutrien Ag Solutions’ Innovation Farm Network, which also includes sites in Selma, California; Winterville, Mississippi; and Owensboro, Kentucky. The network’s goal is to provide real-world insights that can be directly applied to farming 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,” said Paul Bonnett, senior director, Nutrien Agronomy, in the release.

Nutrien Ag Solutions continues to position its Innovation Farm Network as a resource for developing scalable agricultural solutions, ensuring that new practices and technologies are accessible and effective for farmers.