If Jeff Tarsi had one piece of advice for young people it might be “listen to your mom.” 

As a farm kid growing up in the Mississippi Delta, Tarsi’s dream was to work his family’s land, located outside of Cleveland, Miss. As he recalls, college was not part of the plan, and he did not intend to go. 

His mom had different plans. 

“My mother was an educator for 37 years. She didn’t put her foot down very often, but she put her foot down then and said, ‘Jeff, you’re going to college,’” he recalled. 

Tarsi attended Mississippi State University where he studied ag economics. The farming dream didn’t work out, but he still established a successful career in the ag industry that has spanned more than 30 years and multiple leadership roles. 

This August, Tarsi was named president of global retail for Nutrien Ag Solutions. In this position, he leads a network of 2,000 retail locations spread across three continents.  

It’s probably safe to say he made his mom proud. 

“I think I’m where I am today because of an important lesson I learned from both of my parents (his father ran a farm equipment dealership in Cleveland, Miss.) along with my grandparents and that is there is one area of life in which anyone can compete and that’s hard work. There is absolutely no substitute for hard work,” he said. 

“It’s been amazing what I’ve been able to see and experience. I hope it’s a good message for a lot of young people where I grew up and I hope it shows that there are great opportunities in agriculture,” he added. 

Volatile times 

Tarsi had served as Nutrien’s Interim President for Global Retail since January. His official accension to the new role comes at a time of increased uncertainty for agricultural markets. Supply chain issues linger. Geopolitical events have created increased volatility in global markets. And, of course fertilizer prices remain high — a continued source of frustration for many producers. 

What does next year hold for farmers? And what does Tarsi want them to know as we head into 2023? In a recent interview we discussed logistical challenges, input prices and the keys for staying competitive in the global market. 

Supply issues 

Tarsi predicts supply challenges will be less disruptive in 2023 than the previous two years, but says issues with sourcing products are likely to remain due to energy costs, the Russia/Ukraine conflict, and widespread labor shortages. 

“This time last year, the industry was in turmoil due to glyphosate. Through being flexible with solutions, we fought through that. The glyphosate situation is much better, as we go into 2023,” he said. “But as glyphosate supply has improved, we’re now seeing issues with other products.  

For example, we know s-metolachlor will be very tight next year. I think we’re in a phase now where we’re always going to have something like that going on. If you middle name is not Flexible, you’re in trouble. We have to have the ability to change on a dime.” 

In the fertilizer market, Nutrien is ramping up potash production, with plans to increase production by 40% by 2025. 

“We increased production on potash last year by a million tonnes. That’s not something you just snap your fingers and do. We’re doing everything in our power to be sure our customers are sourced with the inputs they need to create healthy returns on the farm.” 

Fertilizer prices 

From an NPK standpoint, Tarsi said look for volatility and escalated costs in nitrogen markets. 

“I think potash and phosphate prices have probably settled out some. We had a really late spring and late planting, so a little more inventory available that we’ll work through this fall,” Tarsi said. “But nitrogen has the probability to be more volatile and has the potential to be a bit higher as well. 

Nitrogen production is closely tied to natural gas. While natural gas prices in the U.S. have trended downward since September, at $6.50 prices are still three times higher than we saw just two years ago. Same story in Europe, which saw outrageous price peaks in natural gas during the spring and summer. High energy prices triggered a wave of shutdowns at major fertilizer plants in Europe which is adding more pressure to nitrogen production. 

“I think as long as there is complexity and volatility around natural gas, I think we’re going to see a high price environment for those products,” he said. 

Technology 

Tarsi sees adoption of technology as the key to staying competitive in a global market. 

“I see those farmers in Brazil that are absolutely hungry for information and technology. I see them very efficient in their farm operations there. Same thing in Australia. We can’t set on our hands and let someone else test the technology first,” he said. 

The future of ag is going to center around information, data collection and data mining for better decision making. There is too much information and technology to make it an art not a science. If you haven’t started investing in that, you might be too late to the game.” 

But despite a shift to increased technology adoption, Tarsi does not see the convenience of digital replacing human relationships. 

“There has been lots of discussion in ag retail about shifting preference and buying online, but to be honest we haven’t seen a lot of interest from our growers,” Tarsi said. “Think about the impact of every buying decision that is made on the farm in these high price and high cost conditions. These producers want to be looking across the desk at someone.” 

“As our growers get larger, our facilities have to look a lot different as well. How we service growers is different. We need greater storage and updates and faster equipment, but at the end of the day, it’s a relationship business. That’s the one thing that hasn’t changed since I started.” 

“My best day in my work is when I can get in my pickup and pop in with my farmer friends in the Mississippi Delta,” he added. 

Tarsi is known to pop in on employees, too.  

“Those in a 50-60 mile radius of Memphis, know that if I’m in town, I’m apt to walk in.”