Auctus Agri · Since 2008
Evidence-based advisory for African agricultural value chains.
Advisory, applied research, and accredited training. Specialist teams across agronomy, trade compliance, plant breeding, and data science.
Auctus AI · Agricultural intelligence
We train models on African agriculture.
Custom computer vision, yield prediction, market forecasting, and LLM-assisted compliance — built on eighteen years of in-country fieldwork and advanced data-science capability across the network. African agribusiness AI work that takes the agronomy as seriously as the model.
01 · Custom model training
AI built on your data.
Computer vision for crop disease detection. Tabular models for yield and input optimisation. Fine-tuned language models for compliance documentation. Trained on client field imagery, season records, and the specific commodity in question.
02 · AI-assisted compliance
LLM workflows for the audit interface.
GlobalG.A.P. v6 plant-protection documentation. EU MRL active-ingredient surveillance. SPS protocol drafting. Auditor-ready output, generated against the current standard, validated by a human reviewer.
03 · Agronomic agents
Decision-support your team uses daily.
Question-answering agents trained on regional agronomic knowledge. Pest and disease identification from a phone-camera image. Spray-window recommendations from weather, crop model, and on-farm sensor data.
Export from Africa with confidence.
The all-in-one trade compliance platform for African agricultural exporters. Thirty-plus tools for UK and EU market access — DCTS, CBAM, rules of origin, sanctions screening, batch traceability, and auditor-ready document generation.
Access
DCTS eligibility
UK preference check by HS code.
Origin
Rules-of-origin engine
Whole-fruit and processed exports.
Climate
CBAM calculator
EU Carbon Border Adjustment liability.
Compliance
Sanctions screening
UK · EU · US · UN lists.
Who Auctus Agri works with
Development partners
FAO, World Bank, AfDB, IFAD, GIZ, USAID implementers, AGRA, CGIAR centres. Applied research, baseline and endline studies, value-chain diagnostics, MEL system design, policy briefings — within standard short-term consultant frameworks.
Private agribusiness
Commercial farms, exporters, agri-PE portfolio companies, family-owned agribusinesses across South Africa, SADC, and East Africa. Export readiness, GlobalG.A.P. preparation, farm-level turnaround diagnostics, training, fractional advisory.
Agri-lenders & insurers
Development banks, commercial agri-lenders, credit insurers, and crop & hail underwriters. Independent operational reads, feasibility studies, financial models, and portfolio compliance risk profiles at asset and borrower level.
Expert networks & trade
GLG, AlphaSights, Guidepoint, Third Bridge. European, Middle Eastern, and US commodity buyers and traders. One-hour expert calls, scoped briefings, and supply-side diligence with one-page follow-up summaries.
AgTech ventures
Early- and growth-stage AgTech operating in Africa. Sector-fit diagnostics, agronomic advisory boards, model-training partnerships with Auctus AI, and go-to-market work into producer, cooperative, and exporter channels.
Eight lines of work · including Auctus AI
Advisory, diagnostics, research, expert briefings, training, precision agriculture, AI, and cannabis & hemp.
Trade & Export Advisory
Buyer-spec translation, EU MRL transitions, SADC EPA rules of origin, GlobalG.A.P. v6 readiness, seasonal-window positioning. Each translated into a 90-day, farm-level action plan an operations team can run.
Read more →Farm & Agribusiness Diagnostics
Four numbers: yield per hectare, input cost per kilogram, post-harvest loss, EBITDA per orchard block. Measured on site in two weeks. 20–30 page diagnostic with a 90-day priority plan.
Read more →Applied Research & Evaluation
Baseline studies, endline evaluations, value-chain assessments, MEL design and analysis. Mixed-methods, Critical Realist, peer-review-grade reporting on TOR timelines.
Read more →Expert Calls & Strategic Briefings
One-hour structured calls for investors, traders, expert networks, and journalists. Pre-call briefing note, 60-minute call, one-page follow-up summary.
Read more →Training & Compliance
GlobalG.A.P.-accredited training for farmers and workers — plant protection, worker health & safety, cooperative readiness, audit-day preparation. Delivered on site or at the cooperative.
Read more →Precision Agriculture & Field Trials
Ongoing farm analytics (Power BI), automation systems, IoT sensor networks, and SOP-led on-farm field trials. For operations that want continuous data-driven production improvement.
Read more →Auctus AI
AI & Model Training
Custom computer vision, yield prediction, market forecasting, AI-assisted compliance, and agronomic decision-support agents. Trained on the firm's eighteen years of in-country fieldwork.
Visit the lab →Cannabis & Hemp Advisory
Cultivation planning, GACP (Good Agricultural and Collection Practice) readiness, licensing-pathway analysis, and export-market work for licensed medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp operations. Drawn from in-house varietal breeding research.
Read more →The rarer combination
The rarer combination.
Most African agribusiness consultancies are either credentialed research shops that never get to the orchard, or operators who never publish. Auctus Agri is neither.
Multi-disciplinary team.
The team combines specialists across agronomy, plant breeding, trade compliance, applied research, and data science. The senior advisor on an engagement is the same person who does the work — there is no offshore writing pool and no junior team to inherit the brief.
Since 2008.
The firm has worked continuously since 2008. The work has covered commercial citrus, deciduous fruit, table grapes, smallholder cropping, dairy and beef, tobacco, industrial hemp, and medicinal cannabis across South Africa and SADC. The accumulation matters; the years are not interchangeable.
Two in-house research programmes.
The firm runs two applied research programmes: EU trade-preference utilisation under the EU–SADC EPA (Critical Realist methodology, Comparative Multi-Scalar analysis across four HS product categories), and blockchain-enabled trust mechanisms for Eastern Cape smallholders (institutional theory framing). Both feed client deliverables directly and underpin the firm's proprietary platforms.
Accredited trainers.
The firm holds GlobalG.A.P. training accreditation and has delivered structured farmer extension programming since 2006 — including with a leading international humanitarian organisation in southern Africa. Training engagements are designed to the literacy and language of the producer base, not the standard.
Lead reading · 12-page PDF
The EU–SADC EPA changes the calculus for African agrifood exporters.
Download the Auctus Agri Export Readiness Checklist — drawn from the firm's in-house research programme on EU trade-preference utilisation. Covers tariff and rules-of-origin treatment for HS Chapters 7, 8, and 22, the EU GlobalG.A.P. and MRL transition timeline through 2027, and a self-assessment grid for citrus, table grape, deciduous fruit, and wine exporters.
From Augere — the Auctus Agri publication
Working notes on African agriculture.
What the EU–SADC EPA actually means for South African citrus exporters in 2026
The Economic Partnership Agreement is not symmetric. Here is what the asymmetry looks like at MRL, rules-of-origin, and seasonal-window level.
Read the piece →A field-tested GlobalG.A.P. v6 readiness checklist for smallholder cooperatives
Most cooperative audit failures happen at the plant-protection control points, not at the documentation interface. A 30-day, six-step preparation method.
Read the piece →Why blockchain alone will not fix Eastern Cape smallholder market trust — and what does
Drawn from the firm's in-house research programme on smallholder trust mechanisms. The institutional plumbing that makes traceability actually work.
Read the piece →Considering working with Auctus Agri?
A 30-minute scoping call costs nothing and gives both sides a clear answer.
Free. Structured. Produces either a written scoping note within 48 hours or a clear "this is not the right fit" within the call itself.
Book a 30-minute scoping call →