Specialized agri-staffing & talent acquisition.
Retained executive search across the agri value chain — C-suite, technical, commercial, and agtech roles. It takes a veteran to spot a professional.
- 120+
- Placements to dateIndia, SE Asia, MENA
- 42 days
- Median time-to-offerFor CXO roles
- 94%
- 12-month retentionMeasured at anniversary
- 4
- Practice pillarsExec · Tech · Commercial · Agtech
Agri is a language, not a vertical.
Most executive-search firms run on a keyword template. They ingest a job description, map it to a LinkedIn query, and produce a shortlist weighted against brand-name pedigree. For tech, finance, or consumer it works. For agri it breaks — because agri is not a vertical you can keyword-search. It is a language you either speak or you don’t.
A senior candidate who has led rural distribution in a crop-protection company reads completely differently from one who has led rural distribution in an FMCG company — even though the JD looks identical. An R&D head who has shipped a registered molecule understands dossier timelines and 90-day query cycles. One who hasn’t will miss two quarters of launches. A channel head who has carried state-level receivables during a bad monsoon makes different pricing calls than one who hasn’t. These are the signals generalist search never learns to read.
AgPro’s talent practice was built by operators who ran these P&Ls before they ran search mandates. We assess candidates against the actual operating context of your role, not its job description. The shortlist is shorter, the fit is measurable, and the retention is visible in the 12-month number: 94%.
Where we run retained search.
Executive Search
CEO, MD, CXO, and board placements for agri enterprises and investors. Operator-grade screening; cultural fit weighted as heavily as CV.
Technical & Engineering
R&D scientists, agronomists, agricultural engineers, and manufacturing leaders — AgPro’s long-standing stronghold.
Sales, Marketing & Rural
Territory managers, rural-marketing specialists, field-extension officers, and sales leadership who actually walk the channel.
AgTech & Digital Agriculture
Product, engineering, data-science, and growth leadership for agtech platforms, GIS / IoT / drone firms, and farm-management software companies.
Four stages every candidate passes.
Our internal vetting process — named after the fit we actually hire for — makes the 12-month retention number possible. Every candidate on your shortlist has passed all four stages.
- 01Stage
Domain Analysis
We start by breaking your role down into its actual operating context — not the job description. State coverage, channel type, regulatory load, sector cycle. The output is a brief we agree on before candidate work begins.
- 02Stage
Technical Vetting
Every shortlisted candidate is vetted on technical specifics by a partner who has operated in that seat. For an R&D head: molecule-level track record. For a channel head: dealer-ledger literacy. For a CFO: bank-relationship depth.
- 03Stage
Reality Check
A scenario-based working session that simulates a 90-day operating challenge the candidate would face in your role. Artefact: a written debrief that flags strengths, gaps, and flight risks we’ve observed.
- 04Stage
Reference Triangulation
Structured references with four sources — direct manager, peer, direct report, and commercial counterparty (dealer, supplier, regulator). We triangulate, then share the synthesis with you before extending the offer.
Every corner of the agri value chain.
- Farm Machinery
- Agri Inputs — Seeds & Agrochemicals
- Biologicals & Biopesticides
- Food Processing
- Horticulture & Plantation
- Dairy & Poultry
- Aquaculture & Fisheries
- AgTech Startups
- Agri-Logistics
- Agri-Credit & Insurance
Clear answers before the search.
- Generalist search firms run CV-matching against a role description. We run domain matching against an operating context. Our partners have carried P&Ls in agri-inputs, mechanisation, and food processing — they know what a strong regional sales head looks like inside a state-level channel, or what an R&D director needs to ship a registered molecule. Cultural fit gets weighted as heavily as the CV.
- A four-stage internal vetting process — Domain Analysis, Technical Vetting, Reality Check, and Reference Triangulation — that every shortlisted candidate passes before they reach your interview table. It is the reason our 12-month retention rate sits at 94% and why clients rarely come back to us to re-run the same search.
- Retained search for leadership and scarcity roles (C-suite, head of R&D, country managers) at a fixed fee structured as a 3-tranche retainer. Engaged search for mid-senior roles where the market is deeper. We don’t do contingency search — it distorts incentives and produces the wrong kind of shortlists.
- Median time-to-offer is 42 days for CXO roles and 35 days for senior-functional roles. Fast-track searches with pre-vetted bench candidates can close inside 3 weeks for specialist regulatory, agronomy, and manufacturing heads.
- All three. MNC India entries standing up their first local team; Indian agribusinesses professionalising leadership as they scale; agtech startups looking for founder-complementary operating leadership. Search brief, not client type, decides fit.