Green plants are producers . They can make lots of organic chemicals from a few simple inorganic chemicals. They need simple things like carbon dioxide and water and can make complex things like sugar, starch, fat, and proteins.
Plants get their nutrients from the environment.
They get water from the soil. They also need other inorganic nutrients like nitrate, sulphate and phosphate. A few plants cannot get nitrate out of the soil so they have to eat animals to get the nitrogen which they must have for growth. This means that they have to eat other things to get the carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals which they need. When plants are in the sunlight they can make a sugar called glucose.