b'Mike Nemeth, senior advisor for agricultural and environmental sustainability with NutrienThe group wanted to look at what the current practices growers are using for water stewardship, how these practices could be improved in the future, who benefits from improvements, and how the environment, communities and producers benefit from what growers are doing, Brandy Wilson, global sustainability director forThe goal is really to Simplot, explains in a phone interview. The goal is really to implement water stewardship plans on farmsimplement water stewardship to help improve the environment and improve outcomes . for theplans on farms to help farms and for the environment itself, she adds.For the first phase of the project the companies worked with theimprove the environment Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), as it provides fact-basedand improve outcomes . information on sustainable water usage. The companies partneredfor the farms and for the with The Water Council and ALUS Canada, which provided management of the project through an agrologist.environment itself. The agrologist worked with Nutrien and Simplot agronomists to build relationships with the growers, (to) be able to work with theBRANDY WILSONgrowers, because you have to be able to have that relationship and actually work with the growers to develop water stewardship plans based on the AWS standard, Nemeth explains.They worked with four growerstwo of whom had farms located in the Redboine watershed and two in the Central Assiniboine watershedboth of which is in the Lake Winnipeg basin. Initially eight growers who all worked with or had contracts with the partners were approached to take part. The four were chosen based 16SPUDSMART.COMFall 2023'