Mar 24, 2025Nutrien opens new Innovation Farm research facility in Illinois
Nutrien Ag Solutions has opened a new research facility at its Innovation Farm location in Illinois. The site will help accelerate the adaptation of new technology, according to the company.
The building will also serve as a hub for Nutrien’s 16-member onsite team, playing host to trainings, team meetings and customer engagements, according to a news release.
The team moved into the facility in November and began hosting events in January. A ribbon cutting was held on March 20.
“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,” Thaddeus Bates, senior manager of applied agronomy, said in the 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 acres of farmland in 2019 and has been cultivating soil and conducting research at the site for the past six years.
Technology deployed at the Innovation Farm includes drones and real-time kinematic (RTK) precision machinery.
Three other Innovation Farms are located in California, Mississippi and Kentucky. The network aims to collect field insights at a scale that is transferable to the average grower’s operation.
“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,” Paul Bonnett, senior director of Nutrien Agronomy, said.
