Winners Announced for the 2025 Nutrien Hometown Yield Challenge
Nutrien has donated over $50,000 to community organizations that have been picked by the top five yielding farmers.
Saskatoon, SK (January 12, 2026) - Nutrien Ltd. is excited to announce the winners of the second Hometown Yield Challenge. This program was available to farmers in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. The community organizations of choice for the top two yielding farming operations have each received $20,000. The community organizations chosen by the three runners-up have also received $5,000.
The winners spent the growing season competing for the prize money on behalf of their chosen organizations. As part of the Hometown Yield Challenge, farmers were required to:
• Map field boundaries in Nutrien's Echelon platform
• Grow at least 80 acres of a Proven Seed hybrid of their choice
• Apply phosphorous treated with Loveland Products' ATLAS XCTM
"Thank you to all the farmers who participated in our second year of the Hometown Yield Challenge. We are very pleased with the results of this year's challenge, and we're excited to build upon last year's success by supporting new community organizations selected by our winners," says Jesse Hamonic, Vice President & Country Head for Nutrien's Canada Retail operations. "Involvement with and investing back into our communities is something that our team is passionate about, so it's extremely rewarding to be able to team up with our farmers to make this happen."
The two Nutrien Hometown Yield Challenge grand prize winners, who each chose a community organization to receive $20,000 are:
Derrick Farenick
• Chosen Community Organization: Lord Asquith School Breakfast Club
• Division: North Saskatchewan Division
• Nutrien Sales Agronomist: Colin Perillat, Branch Manager of the Purdue, SK location
Ian Korpan
• Chosen Community Organization: Lavoy Action Society
• Division: North Alberta Division
• Nutrien Crop Consultant: Carson James, Crop Production Advisor for the Vegreville, AB location
The three Hometown Yield Challenge runners up, who chose community organizations to receive $5,000 each, are:
Brent Gillis
• Chosen Community Organization: Baldur School
• Division: Manitoba
• Nutrien Sales Agronomist: Steven Jones, Sales Agronomist II for the Holland, MB location
• Special Note: This is the second year in a row that Brent has been a winner of the Hometown Yield Challenge.
Lyle, Trevor, and Dustin Farkash
• Chosen Community Organization: Vermillion & District Housing Foundation
• Division: North Alberta
• Nutrien Sales Agronomist: Jana Sen, Sales Agronomist III for the Vermillion, AB location
Mitch Kratchmer
• Chosen Community Organization: Blackie and District Agricultural Society
• Division: South Alberta
• Nutrien Sales Agronomist: Dustin Butler, Branch Manager for the Claresholm, AB location
"We had a lot of great submissions for this year's Hometown Yield Challenge and appreciate everyone who made this challenge part of their growing season. This challenge is a great way to see our field services and proprietary products in action and how these offerings can help deliver yield results without sacrificing the health of your acreage. All with the added bonus of doing some good for the community," says Shelby LaRose, Crop Nutrition Product Manager and Co-Lead of the Hometown Yield Challenge.
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About Nutrien
Nutrien is a leading global provider of crop inputs and services. We operate a world-class network of production, distribution and ag retail facilities that positions us to efficiently serve the needs of growers. We focus on creating long-term value by prioritizing investments that strengthen the advantages of our business across the ag value chain and by maintaining access to the resources and the relationships with stakeholders needed to achieve our goals.
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