A fractional CRO for agtech is a part-time revenue executive who understands that your sales cycle runs on planting seasons, your channel is made of dealers who carry inventory, and your buyer walks a feedlot before signing anything. Most fractional CROs have only ever sold software. That difference decides whether the first ninety days produce a working system or a SaaS playbook that your dealers ignore.
Why agtech breaks the standard revenue playbook
Nearly every article written about fractional CROs assumes B2B SaaS: monthly recurring revenue, inside sales, a demo, a two-week trial, a CRM full of MQLs. Agriculture and food companies violate almost every assumption in that model.
| SaaS assumption | Agtech reality |
|---|---|
| Sales cycle measured in weeks | Cycle tied to season, harvest and capital budget, often 6 to 18 months |
| Direct sales to a software buyer | Dealer and distributor channel that carries inventory and owns the relationship |
| Revenue recognized monthly | Large capital orders, lumpy quarters, backlog that distorts forecast |
| Buyer evaluates in a browser | Buyer evaluates on site, at the mill, in the yard, at the feedlot |
| Churn is the retention metric | Parts, service and the next machine are the retention metric |
| Pipeline built from inbound | Pipeline built from dealer relationships, field days and trade associations |
A revenue leader who has only run the left column will instrument the right column incorrectly. The most common failure is forecasting a channel business as if it were a direct one, which produces a pipeline number that the dealers have never agreed to.
What I actually did in this sector
I am Andre Magrini. Between 2019 and 2022 I ran the AGI Brazil operation at Ag Growth International, a manufacturer of grain handling, storage and processing equipment. The operation went from roughly $35M to more than $150M in revenue over that period. I moved from National Sales Manager to General Manager, with the commercial organization, channel strategy, operating cadence and P&L priorities in scope, and about 48 leaders inside the structure.
From 2022 to 2025 I was Director for North America, covering the United States and Canada, selling storage and feed processing equipment through dealers and OEM accounts and directly into feedlots. Between 2023 and 2025 I served as Vice President of the American Feed Industry Association, the policy and government affairs body for the United States feed sector.
I also run a cattle operation in Brazil. That is not a credential, but it is the reason a mill manager and I reach the same conclusion in the same conversation.
Evidence note: the revenue figures describe the AGI AGI Brazil operation and not individual production. Growth over that period reflects commercial execution alongside market conditions. Roles and dates are stated above so the claim can be checked.
Which companies this fits
- Agtech and precision agriculture companies past the pilot stage that need a repeatable channel rather than a list of friendly early adopters
- Equipment and machinery manufacturers selling through dealer networks, where dealer inventory and dealer incentive design are the real revenue levers
- Animal nutrition, feed and protein businesses selling into integrators, feed mills and feedlots
- Food and ingredient companies with long qualification cycles and technical buyers
- Agricultural inputs and biologicals where the sales motion runs through agronomists and retailers
- Agtech software selling to farms and cooperatives, where the buyer is not a software buyer and standard SaaS motions underperform
What changes in the first ninety days
Days 1 to 30. The channel truth. Most agtech forecasts are built on what the direct team hopes the dealers will do. I establish what the channel has actually committed to, by dealer, by territory, by season. That usually reveals a gap between the number the board sees and the number the channel believes, and closing that gap is the single highest-value thing a revenue leader does in this sector.
Days 31 to 60. Seasonal forecast governance. Stage definitions that respect capital purchase behavior, not software behavior. A forecast method that handles backlog, lead times and lumpy quarters without pretending they are noise. Dealer and territory scorecards that the dealers themselves recognize as fair, because a scorecard the channel rejects is a document, not a system.
Days 61 to 90. The cadence runs without me. Weekly channel review, monthly territory review, quarterly dealer business planning. Your leaders drive it, I sit in it, and the playbooks and dashboards transfer to your team.
Common questions
Do you only work with agriculture companies?
No. I work across B2B technology and industrial businesses. Agriculture and food is where my operating history is deepest, which means the ramp is shorter and I am useful in week one rather than week six.
Is agtech different enough to need a specialist?
For the revenue system, yes. Channel economics, seasonality and capital purchase behavior are structural, not cosmetic. For the underlying discipline of pipeline, forecast and cadence, no. The discipline transfers, and the assumptions do not.
What does it cost?
The same as any fractional CRO engagement of the same shape. Market benchmarks in 2026 run $10,000 to $18,000 per month for companies between $3M and $10M in revenue, and $15,000 to $25,000 between $10M and $25M, structured as a retainer with a six-month minimum. Full detail on the fractional CRO cost page.
Do you work with companies outside the United States?
Yes, and the most common case is a company from Latin America building revenue in the North American market. I made that transition inside one company, running Brazil and then North America, which is a different thing from advising on it.
Start with the constraint
Tell me what is breaking. If it is a channel problem wearing a sales problem costume, I will say so. If you need someone else, I will say that too.
Last updated: August 24, 2026.