Agrium is guided by a sustainability vision that holds us accountable for our actions and directs us to make the right choices for our employees, society and the environment. Having a sustainability compass also gives our employees the opportunity to get involved and support real change. When Agrium’s 10,000 employees focus their hearts and minds on a challenge, it’s amazing what can be accomplished.

Explore how Agrium is cultivating growth beyond the fields where their products and services are used.

Agrium is in the commodity business but not how you might think. Our commodity is food. Persistent debilitating hunger is pervasive over too much of the world and restricts great portions of society from achieving their full potential. We supply growers around the world with crop inputs and nutrients allowing them to maximize food production so the hungry can obtain low-cost, high-quality food and to allow less productive agricultural lands to be used for other purposes. We see our role of helping nourish people as one of the key elements in meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of eradicating extreme hunger.

The need to monitor food quantity is real. Our world population has doubled in 42 years from 1968 (3.55 billion) to 2010 (6.9 billion). It is now estimated that the population of the world will be a little over 8 billion people by 2025. This puts enormous pressure on producers to grow more using the same amount of land, or increase the size of their farms to accommodate demand. Expansion is difficult; there is a finite amount of land with adequate soil fertility. Areas that are appropriate for farming are often designated as wildlife or recreation areas. The rate of urban development also means there is less space to grow food. Agrium is working with industry associations to help developing nations make the most of their nutrient depleted soils.

We realize that everything we do has an impact. Our sustainability programs are designed to grow the positive impacts on stakeholders and the environment, while minimizing the negative. Managing this equation is no small task. It means we need to:

• Create products and processes that ensure our products are used efficiently by the plant, and not lost to the environment,
• Support the grower with products, service and solutions that help him or her meet demand and remain profitable,
• Minimize the impact of our operations on the environment and continually improve our performance,
• Hire the right people in a changing demographic and keep them healthy and safe,
• Support the communities that support us,
• Be accountable for our actions to our stakeholders, and,
• Equip the next generation with the knowledge, ability and desire to carry on the process and grow nutritious food for their burgeoning populations.

To achieve all of this, we must constantly look for ways to innovate, improve and increase our positive impact on stakeholders. There are no easy answers to the challenges that lay ahead but with the knowledge and drive of our employees we know we can make a big difference in our effort to feed the world responsibly.

Agrium developed a controlled release fertilizer that can be economically used on a broad array of crops. Controlled release fertilizers reduce losses to the environment, supporting grower efforts to feed the world while remaining economically sustainable. Through the formation of Agrium Advanced Technology, we are now the largest producer of controlled release nitrogen products.

Agrium supports the 4R system of best management practices in the field: Right Product, Right Rate, Right Time, Right Place. We work with growers on how our products can be best applied to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and losses to water.

In 2007, the first three winners of Agrium’s Caring for our Watersheds school competition met with Environmental Minister Rob Renner, and were introduced to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Their watershed ideas were shared with the Assembly. All participants made us very proud!

Employee safety at Agrium is an integral part of our culture. We measure safety and reward middle and senior managers when they hit their performance targets. In 2008, we reduced employee injury rates to their lowest number ever.

Agrium supported over 800 local and global non-profit groups this year. Donations are given to organizations and causes that fall in these four focus areas: health & wellness, youth development, environmental stewardship and civic arts & culture.