Almost 10 years ago, Brendan Deck joined Nufarm’s North American business and grew it from $300 million to $1 billion in sales.
He is now passing the leadership baton to Ken Barham, a seven-year veteran of the company. Barham will assume the role of North America general manager on Oct. 1, and Deck returns to Australia in December to serve in a strategic advisor role.
Barham was most recently vice president of sales for Nufarm’s crop protection business in the U.S.
“We are uniquely positioned to bring value to growers and channel partners,” Barham says in an exclusive interview with Farm Journal. “We can leverage our domestic production capacity and capabilities. Our ability to serve with local supply is tremendous and frankly on par with our peer set.”
Barham says the catalyst for the growth of Nufarm North America has been its customer centric model, which has been its mindset for almost a decade.
“Our teams and our people are more focused and prepared to service the customers than ever before. I had helped implement this mindset in my time here, and it’s shown to be a model others are copying in the space.”
Barham says the company will continue to service its foundational products: glyphosate, 2,4-D, and dicamba.
“These are core to channel partners because they are core to the grower, therefore they are core to us,” Barham says. “The speed at which innovation has come has also led to us being ‘not just’ a post-patent provider. We have Duplosan coming, which is a fantastic resistance management tool. We’ve made investments in discovery parnters like in Enko and MOA to create new opportunities.”
He adds delivering new products will be key to the company’s main goal: create value for growers, and therefore create value for Nufarm.
“We are looking to evolve our business around our retailers and what their customers need,” he says. “This will be ever more important in the coming years to have product in place when they need it.”
For 2025, Barham says his team is focused on being up to the challenge of having crop protection supplies in the right place, at the right time, and in the right pack size.
“We are going to need a lot of help from retailers in sharing what they are doing and when they are doing it. Staying in communication is key to make us as economically efficient as possible—and we are up for it.”
Barham also sees Nuseed as a platform for growth.
“We are here to enhance capabilities and create new value for growers from the land they are growing on,” he says.
As for the next 90 days, Deck and Barham will work together to visit customers and aim for a seamless transition.
“We are focused on running forward, and we see tremendous opportunity in the market. Our goal is to not miss a beat in the service we provide,” Barham says.
