Too many ag-tech failures are commercial failures — not scientific ones.
Over 25 years leading agricultural businesses across four continents, the same pattern repeated with enough frequency to demand an answer. Technologies that were scientifically sound — even genuinely market-changing — failed at the farm gate. Not because the science was wrong. Because the commercial prerequisites were never met.
The product didn't perform consistently in real field conditions. The economics didn't work at scale. It didn't fit how farmers actually work. Regulatory clearance came too late. Or the channel simply wasn't equipped to sell it.
That experience — from the Canadian prairies to the Ukrainian steppe, from Korean rice paddies to the Brazilian cerrado — crystallised into the Real Farm Ready framework. Five non-negotiable prerequisites that separate the innovations that reach farmers from the ones that don't.
I've run these plays at the world's largest agricultural companies.
The commercial revival strategy developed for Roundup Ready Canola with Bayer — reconnecting a proven technology with farmer reality through commercial discipline. Watch the campaign →
Consistently, across environments. Trials and plots are not enough — it has to work in the real world, in real conditions.
A technology that cannot be manufactured consistently and cost-effectively never reaches the farmer at the right price. Unit economics must be proven before launch.
Farmers do not change their routines for technology. The best innovations slot into existing practice — no re-education, no workflow overhaul.
Without registration, there is no market. Regulatory strategy must be built in from day one — not bolted on at the end.
Distributors and the sales force must be equipped and motivated to explain, demonstrate and sell. The best product dies in the warehouse without a prepared channel.
