GROWMARK

GROWMARK is a multi-billion-dollar agricultural cooperative and the third-largest agricultural retailer in the United States. They provide an extensive range of products and services, from facility engineering and construction to agronomy, energy, grain marketing management services, and logistics products and services.

As a federated cooperative, it’s owned by its local member cooperatives, with more than 9,000 employees across 40 U.S. states and Ontario, Canada working together to “feed and fuel the world.”

As each of their cooperative members operates autonomously, GROWMARK needed to connect its vast, decentralized network and move from reactive practices to proactive, data-driven safety management. So each cooperative has the tools and information they need to make a meaningful difference in safety and operational excellence.

Spotting the gaps across a vast network

GROWMARK’s scale is staggering. As a federated co-op, each member cooperative is autonomous, but works together to access resources, increase efficiency and profitability, and represent their collective interests.

“None of these people actually report to me. It's not like you're the parent company and they have to do what you say because technically it's the reverse. The farmers own these local co-operatives. The locals own us,” explains Matt Harken, Manager of Safety and Environmental Engagement. “All I can do is provide influence, strategies, and nudges.”

Previously, Matt would work with local EHS coordinators to encourage them to pass along new safety information and best practices. But, with so many locations across North America, these messages risked slipping through the cracks and often meant local knowledge stayed local.

“A lot of times, we don’t have the experience of being out there in the field. Our words might not carry as much weight. So, whenever our members can hear it from each other – from someone who’s been in their shoes – giving them advice, it’s got more legs,” explains Matt.

Cracking the code to safety management

One of the ways GROWMARK helps its cooperative members build a culture of improvement is through scheduled Inspections, like a monthly site walk, quarterly facility check, and daily pre-trip vehicle checks.

Reporting good catches and near misses consistently and without blame is also ingrained in the culture at GROWMARK. Members are encouraged to report Issues, no matter how big or small, so patterns can be identified across sites and escalations avoided.

“Our greatest victories are in things that never happen,” says Matt. “And that's the thing we're using SafetyCulture for.  We take those good catches and near misses and transfer them into an opportunity to learn.”

With Analytics built right into the same platform, many of GROWMARK’s members find more value, transparency, and engagement from their teams than traditional paperwork.

“It’s all the things that you’re supposed to be doing from a regulatory standpoint. Instead of going out to their facility once a year to do your audit and make sure they’re doing their paperwork, we can see that they did it all on SafetyCulture,” explains Matt.

“I also don’t try to tell people how to use the app. I tell people it’s there. It’s up to them to find the value in it. It’s the carrot versus the stick mentality – we put it out there and they get a little nibble. And honestly, most people come around really nice.”

Not only does this make it easier for GROWMARK to be compliant and cut back on the amount of travel for management, but it also allows workers the opportunity to be the hero for doing things right, as well as report smaller issues before they become big, costly, and sometimes dangerous problems.

Connecting the frontline to the C-suite for transparency at scale

This transparency is critical for GROWMARK’s CORE (Comprehensive Risk Evaluation) scores, which set the standard for excellence across the cooperative.

Each member company is evaluated on its safety performance and risk management, then assigned a score, along with any gaps they might have. They then can easily track improvement, safety, and operational performance year-on-year in Analytics.

“It’s been helpful to lean on a partner like SafetyCulture to assess safety performance and risk management,” says Karmy Kays, Chief Financial Officer at GROWMARK. “We’re able to manage, monitor, and help our members prioritize where they’re going to focus their valuable attention and resources towards improving their safety posture now and into the future.”

“I can’t help but want to drill down into all the data in the dashboards. It’s so insightful. But from my level, I need to pick up on the trends. If we see issues that are across the system or locations that deal in fertilizer, chemistry, or energy, we want to be able to diagnose that and be able to roll out solutions.”

Not only does this allow GROWMARK headquarters and managers on the ground to instantly see what’s happening at every location, it also means every team can spend significantly less time on admin, audits, and regulatory compliance. All the Inspections, Heads Up messages, flagged Issues, and Analytics GROWMARK collects are all connected in one place and easily updated on the spot through their employees’ smartphones.

Prioritizing peer-to-peer learning

Instead of top-down mandates, GROWMARK encourages teams to share good catches, near misses, and best practices with every team member, no matter where they are, using SafetyCulture.

“Our geographical footprint is still huge between all our member-owners and locations, but the amount of effort it takes for us to reach everybody – it’s right in the palm of my hand,” says Matt. And it’s not just head office who can now easily reach every team member.

Workers can now create and share a Heads Up image, text, or video message with potentially life-saving learnings and reminders, hazard identification, or even sharing solutions to other teams or member-owners, making safety and operational improvement a team sport.

“Peer-to-peer is powerful,” explains Troy Koehler, Retail Division Manager at New Century FS. “It gets people seeing, ‘If that person can do it, then I can do it.’ And that’s how you get things really flowing.”

It also creates a positive feedback loop for workers who choose to do the right, safe thing. They get the recognition across the group – even if no one was watching them on the ground, in that moment – and can immediately see how their actions have a wider impact.

Building a culture of integrated improvement

Since rolling out SafetyCulture, GROWMARK has transformed how its teams work together across hundreds of locations and thousands of employees. The impact is real and measurable, but it’s also about the everyday difference people feel on the ground.

Implementing SafetyCulture has helped GROWMARK:

• Reduce risk: Consistently sharing information and knowledge prevents injuries and losses across the network. “If you see a trend—maybe something keeps coming up during nurse tank maintenance—we can act before it leads to an injury,” says Trenton. “You can’t measure the things that don’t happen, but this kind of proactive approach is priceless.”

• Improve operational efficiency: Automated inspections and real-time communication save time and reduce paperwork. “We have everything in one spot—all our processes, all our paperwork, all our site inspections,” says Trenton. “If you have to engage with a regulator or respond to an incident, you’ve got all the information right there.”

• Drive integrated improvement: Peer-to-peer learning and data-driven actions foster a culture of excellence. “When you’ve got a culture where your employees feel safe to share a near miss or an accident for the benefit of all, that to me culturally is significant,” says Karmy.

• Boost leadership confidence: Real-time insights help the C-suite make informed, strategic decisions. “We have a dashboard on analytics that I track for all our locations,” says Trenton. “It gives me clear visibility on whether we’re winning or not.”

Cultivating the future of farming where every voice counts

GROWMARK’s partnership with SafetyCulture is about giving every team member the tools and confidence to make a difference – no matter how far apart they work. “We’re always aiming higher,” says Trenton. “That’s just our culture. We’re always hunting after the next thing, always looking for ways to improve.”

And as the network grows, SafetyCulture helps keep GROWMARK’s team connected, informed, and focused. So they can report issues on the spot, share learnings with one another, get the information they need instantly, and – most importantly – continue to operate safely.

“We want everybody to go home to their friends, family, and loved ones every single day,” says Karmy. “That’s first and foremost.”

With SafetyCulture, GROWMARK is building a better way of working for everyone who helps feed and fuel the world. The results speak for themselves: safer teams, smoother operations, and a culture where every voice matters and every action counts.

Plus, it’s more likely to reach every team faster as it pops up as an app notification on their smartphone. With employees across multiple locations and role functions, not every employee checks their email regularly or acknowledges that they’ve read and understood it.

“The expectation is that if you have the SafetyCulture app and we send information out, you open it, look at it, and make sure you understand that, hey, this is important. Then, we can see how many people are looking or not looking at it. It’s very powerful for us to make sure we keep everybody on track,” explains Troy.

“So, if you see something, take a picture of it and send it out because it’s probably going to happen to somebody at some point in time because things happen. People get tired, they get complacent. So, this is just a way for us to just continue to keep everybody aware of their surroundings and think about what they’re doing.”