Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the introduction and the invitation to appear today.
Mike and I are joining you from Calgary. I'd like to honour our company's practice by acknowledging that we come to you from Treaty No. 7 territory.
I'll start with a few words about Nutrien, now the world's largest producer and provider of crop inputs and services. Our global business spans four operating segments across 13 countries, including our retail division—also known as Nutrien Ag Solutions—and the manufacturing and mining of potash, nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers. We have fertilizer production and sales of over 30 million tonnes, and our retail business serves over 500,000 growers and 150 million acres around the world. Also, we are proudly headquartered in Canada.
With this comes great responsibility to safely and sustainably feed a growing world. We call it “feeding the future”. That's our purpose, which is more important than ever. By some estimates, the use of fertilizer accounts for approximately 50% of global crop yields. It's critical for growers to meet the continued, growing demand for food, fuel and fibre.
Water is an essential input to our operations, especially in mining and fertilizer production. Waterways are crucial natural infrastructure assets for the transport of our products to market. In 2022, Nutrien achieved WAVE certification verifying our company's commitment to the use of credible, water-related data and best practices for water stewardship performance. Less than 2% of Nutrien's water intake is from water-scarce regions.
Agriculture is also highly dependent on water, but localized challenges exist regarding availability and quality, which can vary significantly by region and are often intensified by the effects of climate change. Nutrien is committed to working collaboratively to address water-related challenges and opportunities. We support water stewardship in agriculture, starting at the farmer's field through the use of practices like 4R nutrient stewardship products and digital tools that support sustainable agriculture and water stewardship in the entire agri-food value chain.
With water, you must always be proactive. Nutrien occupies a unique position in the value chain as an input producer and retailer, leveraging that role to ensure the protection of the environment while demonstrating a business case to our customers. We've had success in using a carrot, not stick, approach with our customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through carbon markets. We see the same opportunity and potential for markets to positively benefit water and biodiversity.
Several years ago, we initiated a pilot with value-chain partners to try to understand how we can support growers in driving positive water outcomes on the farm and in the watershed through management practices, products and solutions, all based on good agronomy. We brought together diverse stakeholders within the Lake Winnipeg basin—ALUS Canada, the Water Council, BASF, General Mills and J.R. Simplot—with counsel from the likes of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Manitoba Association of Watersheds, Ducks Unlimited Canada and more.
Phase one plainly demonstrated the water, soil health, biodiversity, climate and—most importantly for growers—financial return of on-farm water stewardship plans. The social return on investment was $6.50 for every dollar invested in on-farm practices, 15 times the amount for every dollar invested in wetlands enhancement.
Phase two, which began last fall, will run for two years with a focus on implementing the water stewardship plans, documenting and assessing the environmental outcomes and value from actions taken, scaling this work with other stakeholders in the region, and continuing to build the business case for investing in on-farm water stewardship.
We've appreciated the support of the Government of Canada to date. We ask the committee to support continued investment in these efforts and to examine the potential for market-based mechanisms to drive adoption.
With that, I thank the chair and the members for their time.