Full Switch from Nutrien to FBN

Question

Has anyone fully switched from Nutrien to FBN?  Using Nutrien agronomists to make a crop chemistry plan in the past, and then transitioning those 1:1 to products FBN carries.  Was it worth it?  Significant cost savings for same quality, or was it more worth it to keep the personal connection with Nutrien and their agronomists and products?

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I did 4 years ago. The first two years went great. No so much the last two. Been working with another supplier that use to work with FBN.

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you may not be comparing apples n apples. Unless you are 100% a no serve grower. Nutrien or any other ag company offer services such as consulting, soil samples, chemistry planning, fertilizer delivery, split billing and so forth. Their pricing is set up as tiers . No serve ( tier 1) the grower does everything them self and simply purchases product . Mid Serve ( tier 2)  is for growers that need consultation, soil samples, scouting , planning etc. Full Serve ( tier 3) is generally reserved for custom work where the company provides equipment or employees.
 The field consultants time and knowledge is not free so the price you pay for chemical at a local dealer is based on your needs. 
 While 100% with one dealer is enticing you should consider keeping a relation ship with various dealers .

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I saved 10000 from last year on chem and your fertilizer guy should still give you free advice

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I have not fully switched to any single entity. Here, many times Nutrien can beat FBN on a lot of things. Currently we're sourcing from about five different organizations. Bottom line- if you have built a strong relationship with Nutrien, why abandon ship?

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This past November I purchased all my chemical during FBN Cyber November, used half from local coop where the prices were better on some products. I did get the best deal at the time but now I will be spraying the generic roundup I bought from FBN when prices were almost double what they are now. I wouldn't go 100% with one company that has little relationship with you other than "cheap" prices. People still buy from people.

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Nutrien cost to mine potash is $85 a ton in Canada, I paid $855 a ton last fall for potash from them delivered to my farm.  It is a cartel.  Nutrien netted 10 billion last year. 95% of the us potash comes from outside the US.  They have also bought out 250 independent retailers across the country over the last 5 years, that's one independent gone every week across the country.  I have some good friends that work as agronomist and in retail at Nurtien, smart famers should hire them away as private consultants, but farmers are pretty cheap......

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should’ve stayed with *******.  You’ll see

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i do business with both since fbn doesn't have products to fit all my needs so have kept business with nutrien and other local businesses.   I think there is still value with local guys but since i do all my own agronomy work fbn is also a great fit for me.

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I completely switched 3 years ago.  FBN products are as good or better than what I was getting from Nutrien at an average of 30% savings, so I can afford to carry some inventory with that savings.
 You can hire an agronomist with the money you save if you choose to do so.

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I saw your post and wanted to share a quick story w/ you. I had a grower reach out to me a few months ago to let me know that he was really concerned about his operation because his landlord had just informed him that he would be going up on his rent for this season by almost $40k, and looking back over last year he realized that he had not been doing a very good job shopping for inputs in comparison to what some of his neighbors had spent doing business w/ FBN. 
 
 This grower spent the last month or so researching prices on products like Glyphosate, Dicamba, and Glufosinate with every retailer he could find, many didn't even have pricing available until two weeks ago. Once he had completed his research we completed his order for the 2024 season and FBN has already saved him $50k on his inputs... If I'm not mistaken this grower has input financing as well as operating line w/ FBN financial this season as well and he's locked in 0% all season --which is also a huge savings in comparison to what his local retailers offered him. 
 
 This grower has also sought out advice and recommendations from our regional agronomist on product and biological questions. While I would say it's probably never a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket, it's definitely a good idea to do your research on a product level and see what makes the most since for your operation. Our team is always ready to help in any way that we can! 
 
 Cotton Rohrscheib
 Farmers Business Network
 Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama
 Telephone: (501) 206-1664
 Email: cotton@farmersbusinessnetwork.com
 
 Full Disclosure: I'm an FBN employee and have been w/ the company almost since the beginning. I work w/ growers in the mid-south (Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, etc.).

Answer

I wouldn't. A few years ago they may have had some pretty attractive prices, but I haven't bought anything from them lately because they're more expensive! I'll include one of my price comparison sheets between a few of my suppliers (without names) to show how much $ chemicals vary from place to place.

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I currently use 4 chem suppliers and see 10-30% price variations and availability is hit and miss on some products.  I would never go to one supplier do to availability with this entire industry.  Take your deals when you get them and always have a plan B or C.  Anyone that bought glyphosate early and holds the ability to roll to another product will be $$$ ahead this year.  Price isn’t everything if there are options to switch as crop plans change.

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I love my local co-op agronomist, and his advice is invaluable.  But there are some things he just can't compete on price-wise.  FBN had many chemicals this year that were priced significantly less than the co-op.  I can't ignore that.  For the high use, common chemicals, FBN is tough to beat.  For many situations and advice, my co-op agronomist still gets my business.

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”people buy from people” but FBN saved me over 100k last year and I don’t like that many people enough to dish them out an extra 100k dollars.

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I shop around y’all dealing with Nutrien might want check your bills they are over charging and selling from farmers,, I stopped doin business with them on half my products 5 years ago and had spent more that year than year before and only did half my business with them.. we’ll long story short they had changed me for chemicals didn’t use and had enough liberty spray for next 10 years 275,000$ later and 6 years they are ready to settle..

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Full Switch from Nutrien to FBN

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