Whether you're dealing with tight margins, volatile costs, or unpredictable weather, a clear financial roadmap can make the difference between sustaining your operation and struggling to break even. Tracking metrics like net profit margin, cost of production, ROI, and liquidity ratio gives you the clarity to make smarter decisions.

We talked with two experts at Nutrien—Jason Newton, Chief Economist and Head of Market Research, and John Maman, Senior Director of North America, Nutrien Financial —about practical strategies that can positively impact your bottom line. Here's their checklist for enhancing profitability, spotting strategies that work versus those where a pivot is productive, and strengthening your farm's financial position no matter what the market throws at you.

Are you focusing on what you can control?

Volatility tends to be the only constant for growers, which can make financial planning feel pointless. But, it’s important to remember that a solid plan isn't meant to be set in stone. It’s more useful as a reference point to understand your numbers and have your finger on the pulse of your operation’s financial baseline—and how market conditions will impact that.

“We’re in the third consecutive year of income compressions from a row crop farmer perspective so it’s a challenging time, but growers can manage what is within their control,” says Jason. “Take advantage of incentives, work with knowledgeable professionals, look for good financing offers.”

Checking these boxes will give you visibility into all these variables. It’s less about using the plan to forecast what’s going to happen and more about using insights from the plan to remove the guesswork and optimize where possible.

“There are efficiencies to be had if growers want to save money to get the best rates,” says John. “Having a prudent economic plan paired with the right agronomics is really the best way to positively impact your bottom line.”

Other levers John says growers can pull to influence their success include:

• Review of your capital management strategy and make sure you are considering diverse sources of capital
• Optimize financing solutions to capitalize on terms, rates and incentives that meet your needs
• Maintain good credit
• Time purchases to secure the best prices where possible through incentives
• Embrace technology and digital tools (like the Nutrien HUB) that affords deeper level of planning and transparency with trusted advisors

Are your decisions supporting your goals? 

Success in ag can't be left to chance. Yes, weather and markets will have an impact, but the agronomic and economic decisions are critical to your long-term success, whether that's increased yield, improved ROI, or both.

"Yield optimization remains the biggest driver of profitability under a grower’s control, which is why you have to connect agronomic and economic insights to see a return," says John. "Working with people who can connect an agronomic cropping plan with a financial cropping plan will help you make informed decisions on seed selection, crop protection strategies, and nutrient management based on your specific fields and goals."

That planning also puts you in position to capture the best value. November through March typically brings the most economic deals on seed and crop protection, but you can leave value on the table if you don’t know your position or what you need to take advantage of those early-season prices.

Precision ag tools and data management systems like the Nutrien HUB take planning a step further, combining expert insight with technology that turns recommendations into action such as crop planning and financial account management. The growers seeing the strongest returns are integrating data-driven learnings into a cohesive strategy that connects agronomic performance directly to financial outcomes.

Are You Leveraging the Full Value of Partnerships? 

Asking for help isn’t always easy, but having an expert network of support is essential to success, and it’s another checkbox a lot of growers can overlook or undervalue.

“Growers should assess opportunities to plan with trusted advisors with experience that yields incremental value and benefits to their operations,” says John.

Lenders, financial specialists, tax advisors and lawyers are all experts who could help you uncover new strategies and tactics, addressing more nuanced layers of your operation and ultimately creating opportunities. Jason notes, “It’s important to be open to and leverage every resource at your disposal. Crop consultants can help you with soil testing, and show you where there might be more opportunity out there.”

“There are a multitude of variables that can change in any given year; however, we can provide our time to listen, plan and align our resources in a way that gives our customers the greatest opportunity for success,” says John. “Nutrien has the resources to deliver effective planning conversations at the farm gate so we can help our customers throughout the crop year.”

Make it your best year yet

Success in farming comes down to the systems you use to help you make confident decisions in any market. Successful growers are checking all of these boxes. They are taking steps to align their crop and financial plans, and they adjust both as conditions evolve. They tap into expert partnerships to fill in their own blind spots, and they spend with ROI in mind.

Join the ranks of the most successful growers. Start by reviewing one area from this checklist. Look at your financing structure, assess whether you're capturing earlyseason offers, or schedule a conversation with your Nutrien crop consultant to talk about the ROI of your nutrient management plan. When margins matter more than ever, taking these proactive steps to make improvements will help you take your operation to its highest potential.