Nutrien is applying an updated strategy with its internal structure to improve supply reliability, speed up decision-making, and consistently deliver products and technologies.
To help lead the effort, the company has named Chris Reynolds as executive vice president, global sales. Reynolds has 22 years of experience working at Nutrien and its legacy companies, and in his new role he’ll be unifying operations from both wholesale and retail sides of the business.
“With this organizational change, we’ve got a total sales team that I’ll be leading focused on the customer, and then behind me is a supply and logistics distribution team focused on getting that product to that customer base,” Reynolds says. “In a way, it’s realizing the vision that we originally had in 2018 when we formed Nutrien with the reliability that scale can bring.”
In total, Nutrien has more than 1,900 locations in seven countries today—in North America their retail location count is 1,200. Reynolds says this strategy will provide the necessary balance is being the world’s largest potash producer and third largest nitrogen fertilizer producer while also being reliant on the very relationship-driven business provided by its on the ground retail teams directly with farmers.
“It’s a game changer, and I just think it just provides the reliability and surety that growers need in this uncertain world,” Reynolds says. “We’ve seen plenty of those (supply chain issues) in the last couple of years, whether naturally made through weather events, or policy, or whatever it is. We’ve built a system that is going to be robust enough to absorb some of those challenges, and our aim is to get that product there on that acre exactly when that grower needs it.”
He ways with 28 million tons of nitrogen, phosphate and potash derivative products produced by Nutrien, evaluating its full chain from supply to field was important to strike the balance of efficiency to run lean and redundancy to know contingencies are necessary at times.
“It’s unmatched in the industry. The scale is unmatched. It’s something we’re proud of, and it’s something that, when we do have supply chain challenges, we can pivot to alternatives so that our customers don’t feel that disruption in the supply chain. And so that’s really what we’re talking about here,” he says.
Timing For The New Strategy
The new organization is being rolled out now, and Reynolds expects retailers and customers will start to see and experience changes this spring, while benefits to the businesses will come to fruition by the second half of the year.
“Where we’re bringing together our two channels to market– the retail channel, which is Nutrien Ag Solutions, as we know that today, and then the wholesale fertilizer channel that I’ve been leading up until this point– under single leadership, to really get coordinated in terms of how we go to market,” Reynold says.
He emphasizes the 4,000 agronomy crop consultants serving Nutrien’s 500,000 farmer customers are key to the company success.
“If anything’s going to change, it’s going to be an improvement in our service level for both of those channels, and what I mean by that is better coordination of our logistics, of our distribution network, and so it’s really enhancing some of that back office logistics and efficiencies to provide a better level of service to, all of our customers.”
He adds, “The needs of the growers are changing. Every single dollar needs to be very carefully thought about and directed to where it’s going to create the most value for the grower. And that’s what our crop consultants are absolutely laser-focused on. If we’re not changing and getting better, we’re standing still, and at that point, we’re starting to fall behind.”
Reynolds new role comes after Jeff Tarsi retired as Executive Vice President and President of Global Retail at the end of 2025, but he’s remaining on an advisory role capacity in 2026. Rob Clayton, who was senior vice president of North American retail for Nutrien Ag Solutions, is no longer with the company.
When asked if the unification of wholesale and retail will lead to a reduction in force, Reynolds says streamlining and finding efficiency are important, but not at the sake of having the resources directed to where they have the most value for growers.
“The customer base at the grower level is changing and quite often those enterprises are getting bigger, the cost of making the wrong decision is getting bigger as well–the risk is higher,” he says. “As a leading ag input solution provider, we have to change as well. We have to be sure we’ve got the attributes that they’re looking for from an ag input supplier to service what they need. We’ve got to pivot and be flexible and nimble enough to service those needs as well.”
As its proprietary input brand for crop nutrition, seed treatments, adjuvants, crop protection and biologicals, the Loveland product range is another focus for Nutrien’s growth and continued improvement in operations. This coming year, Loveland will introduce 25 products under its brand.
“The evolution of ag is changing. There’s not more arable land being created in North America. We have to extract even more yield potential and production from every acre, and I think Nutrien’s in the best position to do that,” Reynolds says.
