Since joining Nutrien exactly three years ago to head the Brazilian operation of the Canadian company of agricultural inputs and solutions, André Dias has exercised two styles of executive. One of them in boots, to set foot in the field and check on the spot the challenges of rural businessmen. The other with shoes, to enter the company’s modern office located in the dynamic neighborhood of Vila Olímpia, in São Paulo. From the incursions in the fields, he brought ideas, which were joined to the experiences reported by most of the company’s 1,500 employees in Brazil. Many became projects and were executed from the administrative headquarters. The series of actions has changed the face of commercialization of fertilizers, pesticides, seeds and services for agribusiness, especially for medium-sized producers. And it has generated results. After four years in the country, Nutrien earned BRL 3 billion in 2021, 70% more than in 2020.
To enhance these numbers, Dias announces an investment of R$ 600 million for this year, without counting other millions of reais already set aside for acquisitions. “We are creating and consolidating a different model. I see some Walmart popping up [no agro], I don’t see anyone creating Amazon or something post-Amazon”, said the now responsible for Nutrien throughout Latin America. What he calls a different model is supported precisely in his visits to farmers. In them, he observed the lack of integrated and digitalized solutions for producers, especially small and medium-sized ones, from areas between 100 and 3 thousand hectares.
“Agricultural retail is practically the same as it has been for 20 years,” said the executive. Meanwhile, trade in consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, construction material and many other sectors underwent a revolution. Taking that delay is Nutrien’s challenge. The first step is to break some manpower barriers. Agricultural input retail has been less able to attract talent over the years. The lack of a player with global know-how and operations throughout the national territory contributed to this. The Canadian company, which in 2021 had a global turnover of US$ 27.7 billion, came to break this stigma and generate career prospects.
The other necessary advance is in innovation. Nutrien has transformed traditional agricultural input sales stores into experience centers. Of the 52 units spread across Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Tocantins, ten already have a new concept: without stocks, with a space for coexistence and relationship between the farmer and specialists – including by videoconference -, training and area of shared work that help in the planning of crops and harvests. Until December, all points of sale will be in this model.
Improved logistics are also in the company’s plans. Distribution centers gain greater importance. Purchases made in experience centers or through digital platforms have scheduled deliveries at the customer’s property, with 24-hour online tracking. Service not widespread among small and medium rural producers. And the aforementioned digital platforms – website and app – are being formulated to work as a marketplace, where products will be available, whether from Nutrien’s own brands, such as Loveland and Sementes Goiás, or from other manufacturers, as well as access services to financing and even rural insurance. “Producers feel the need to aggregate all these possibilities in a single place”, stated André Dias. “Brazilian farmers are more open to change. He embraces technology more.”
STRUCTURE With these innovations and a large market to be explored, Nutrien has grown far above the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Brazilian agribusiness – 8.36% in 2021, in a calculation made by Cepea (Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics), from Esalq/USP, in partnership with the CNA (Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil). To ensure the company’s development, it will double the number of fertilizer mixers — currently there are four, in Araxá (MG), Cristalina and Morrinhos (GO) and Itapetininga (SP). Production will jump to 1 million tons per year. Sales consultants will increase from the current 400 to 1,000 by the end of the year. They will work on the mission of reinventing agricultural retail.
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