Who will grow the future?
Agency: Geelmuyden Kiese & Copenhagen Film Company
Client: Yara International
Award: Best Use of Imagery, 2025: Gold
“Beautifully shot, art-directed, and edited - feels cinematic in the styling allowing for the storytelling to really resonate with the audience - Each video feels like a personal mini story, succinctly depicting the subject matter in a beautifully emotive way - It’s a perfectly pitched thought-provoking campaign. ”
Brief
Across Europe, the question of generational succession in farming is becoming increasingly urgent. While food demand is rising, many family farms face uncertainty about who will carry them into the future. Traditionally, the solution was clear: children, often the eldest, would take over the land.
But in Norway and Sweden, farmers stand in the middle of a cultural paradox. On the one hand, they feel the weight of expectation that their children should inherit the farm, as generations before them have done. On the other, they live in societies that celebrate freedom of choice, where young people are encouraged to follow their own path. This creates tension: should farmers pressure their children to take over, or let them decide for themselves – even if that means no successor within the family?
For Yara, whose mission is to enable profitable and sustainable farming, this dilemma became the starting point. The task was to create a campaign that would resonate with farmers by acknowledging this cultural reality, relieve the anxiety of succession, and show that no matter who will run the farm, its future can be secured with the right solutions.
Solution
The campaign was built around a simple but profound question: “Who will grow the future?”
To bring credibility and emotional depth, the creative idea gave voice not to the younger generation, not the current farmers, but to the eldest – the grandparents. Traditionally, one might expect them to be the strongest defenders of inheritance. But in the campaign, they emerge as surprising advocates for freedom. Their message: the future of the farm is not about pressuring the children, but about ensuring the farm remains profitable, sustainable, and attractive – so that someone will want to take it forward.
The emotional centerpiece was a main film portraying three generations on a Scandinavian farm. Through the grandfather’s eyes, we see his pride in the land, his acknowledgement of his son’s daily work, and his grandson’s passion for either sports or business – rather than farming. The expected conflict resolves in a twist: in the voice over, written as a speak from the grandfather to his son, the grandfather reassures that the grandson must be free to follow his own path. What matters is that the farm remains future-proof, secured with modern tools such as Yara Mila NPK Fertilizer and Yara Liva Calcium Nitrate Fertilizer, supported by digital solutions like Atfarm and the Yara N- Sensor.
Importantly, the campaign was not delivered as a single pan-Scandinavian execution. Instead, Yara invested in creating two parallel versions – one in Norway, one in Sweden. The storyline, structure, and message were identical, but each film featured a local family and farm, ensuring authenticity and recognition in the respective markets. This decision underscored Yara’s commitment to cultural precision, production quality, and resonance: the films looked and felt genuinely Norwegian or Swedish, rather than generic. By tailoring execution to each audience, Yara demonstrated a willingness to go further to connect deeply with farmers on their own terms.
To deepen the narrative, Yara produced a suite of campaign assets across three levels:
Engage (emotional): Films, ads, and boards highlighting the dilemma and the elder generation’s perspective, sparking curiosity and empathy.
Understand (rational): Supportive content, articles, explainer films, photography series, showing how Yara’s solutions safeguard soil health, yields, and profitability.
Act (tactical): Digital and social assets with clear calls to action, encouraging farmers to book agronomist visits, test digital tools, or explore products.
Results
In Norway and Sweden, Yara already holds a dominant position in fertilizer in Norway and Sweden. The campaign’s primary objective was therefore not to sell more product, but to strengthen bonds with farmers and reinforce Yara’s role as their trusted partner.
This goal was achieved. Despite an increasingly price-sensitive market, driven by global turbulence and the impact of the war in Ukraine, Yara maintained its market share. At a time when many farmers were questioning every purchase, the campaign helped justify Yara’s premium positioning: a slightly higher cost, but with proven value in security, knowledge, and long-term sustainability.
The rollout also reflected local differences. Sweden launched the campaign in autumn 2024, while Norway followed in spring 2025. In both cases, market feedback – from leadership down to local agronomists – was consistently positive. Farmers saw the campaign as proof that Yara not only supplies products, but truly understands their challenges and are at their side in the fields.
The campaign has been acknowledged as a major contributor to Yara being perceived less as a supplier, and more as a long-term partner invested in the future of Nordic farming.