AGCO Streamlines Leadership for Growth

Oct 06, 2026
By Farms.com

Stefan Caspari Takes Expanded Global Role at AGCO

AGCO Corporation has announced a major restructuring of its executive leadership team as part of its efforts to simplify operations, improve accountability, and support future growth. The changes are designed to strengthen the company's leadership structure while aligning key business functions more closely with its global brands and customer-focused strategy.

One of the most significant changes is the appointment of Stefan Caspari as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Fendt, Valtra, and Product Management. In addition to his new responsibilities, Caspari will continue leading AGCO's North American agriculture business. This expanded role places him in charge of two of AGCO's leading equipment brands while maintaining oversight of one of the company's most important regional markets.

The leadership transition follows the decision by Torsten Dehner to step down from his role as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global Fendt, Valtra, and Product Management. Although he is leaving the position, Dehner will remain with AGCO in Switzerland for a period of time to help ensure a smooth transition and continuity of leadership.

"Stefan is a proven commercial leader with deep experience across farmers, dealers and regional execution. He has strengthened our North American ag business in one of AGCO's most important markets, and he brings the commercial discipline, Farmer-First focus and market insight needed to lead Fendt™ and Valtra™ through their next phase of growth," said Eric Hansotia, AGCO's Chairman, President & CEO.

He added, "I also want to thank Torsten for his contributions over many years and his passionate leadership. He has played an important role strengthening AGCO's Fendt and Valtra brands, building the teams and capabilities behind them, contributing valuably to their position in the market and helping advance our AI transformation. We wish him well in the future."

Caspari joined AGCO in 2014 and has held several senior leadership positions during his time with the company. His experience covers commercial operations, business strategy, smart farming technology, and multi-brand management. Before leading Customer Success and North America Ag, he played an important role in overseeing the company's Grain and Protein business through a period of transformation and strategic change.

His educational background includes a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Bonn. He is also a graduate of Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program. AGCO believes this combination of industry knowledge and leadership experience will help drive innovation and growth across its global operations.

The restructuring goes beyond a single leadership appointment. AGCO has also assigned additional responsibilities to other senior executives. These changes are intended to bring related functions together under experienced leaders, allowing them to manage both business performance and broader organizational responsibilities.

Luis Felli will take on the role of Senior Vice President and General Manager of Massey Ferguson, Parts and Customer Support. Along with overseeing the Massey Ferguson brand, he will now manage AGCO's global aftermarket parts, customer support, and aftersales operations. This move strengthens the connection between customer service functions and one of AGCO's most recognized equipment brands.

Another important change involves Damon Audia, who will become President of PTx, Corporate Strategy and Distribution. In addition to his current responsibilities, he will oversee AGCO's Global Distribution Management organization. The company expects this alignment to create stronger connections between strategic planning, distribution networks, and business growth initiatives.

According to AGCO, the restructuring is designed to create a more efficient organization by reducing complexity and improving accountability across the leadership team. By bringing business functions closer to brand leadership, the company aims to improve decision-making, strengthen dealer relationships, and better serve farmers around the world.

The changes also support AGCO's long-term strategy of delivering advanced agricultural equipment and precision farming technologies. Through brands such as Fendt, Massey Ferguson, Valtra, and PTx, the company continues to focus on helping farmers improve productivity and adopt innovative solutions for modern agriculture.

Photo Credit: AGCO

Video: The 15-Year Bet Behind Every New Variety!

Canada is trying to decide how much agricultural research capacity it can afford to lose. Brian Rossnagel believes the better question is whether the country can afford to rebuild it.

The longtime barley and oat breeder makes the case with a simple fact about his profession: the consequences of today’s decisions may not become visible for 10 or 15 years.

“Pick the right parents. That’s the biggest thing,” Rossnagel says. “If you pick the wrong parents, you’re not going to get anywhere—and you don’t know that until 10 years, 15 years later.”

That warning carries particular weight as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada moves to reduce spending and streamline parts of its science operations. The department’s 2026–27 plan anticipates the loss of approximately 665 positions by 2028–29 and says some research will be reduced where capacity exists in academia or industry. AAFC says the changes will make its science operations more cost-effective over the long term.

For Canada’s seed industry, Rossnagel’s career illustrates what is at stake.

This fall, the retired University of Saskatchewan breeder will be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. During his 35-year career at the Crop Development Centre, he helped develop more than 100 barley and oat varieties, including CDC Austenson—one of Western Canada’s most widely grown feed barleys. His induction recognizes not only those varieties, but the collaboration and research system that made them possible.

Rossnagel is quick to emphasize that none of it was the work of one person.

“The first thing I thought about was all the other people who contributed to whatever success I and my program had over the years,” he says. “We know that it’s not an individual who does this. It’s a group—a team.”

That team extends well beyond the breeder whose name appears beside a variety. It includes technicians, pathologists, quality specialists, statisticians, regional testing sites, seed growers and industry partners. It also includes the breeders who came before and those who will carry the germplasm forward.

CDC Fraser barley, for example, moved through three breeding careers. Its parents came from Brian Harvey’s program. Rossnagel advanced the material after Harvey retired, and Aaron Beattie later guided it through registration and release.

That kind of handoff is normal in plant breeding. The person who makes the original cross may never see the resulting variety reach farmers.

It also explains why lost research capacity cannot simply be switched back on when budgets improve.

“If you shut it off, it’s very, very difficult—and particularly costly—to start it up again,” Rossnagel says. “If you have to start from scratch, it’s going to be at least 10 years before anybody notices whether you’re getting anything done or not.”

The concern is not simply how many experimental lines Canada can process. Modern equipment, statistical tools and genetic technologies allow today’s breeding programs to evaluate tens of thousands of lines—far more than Rossnagel could handle when he entered the field in the early 1970s.

But efficiency and automation do not generate every idea.

“If you pare back down, and instead of having six or seven individual scientists concentrating on wheat breeding, you go down and say three people could handle all this, well, that’s half the ideas gone,” he says. “Particularly if you happen to lose the three people who had the really neat and innovative ideas, boy, that’s a problem.”

It is a timely distinction for Canadian agriculture. Consolidating programs may preserve the volume of material moving through a system, at least initially. It may not preserve the diversity of thinking, regional knowledge or willingness to pursue unconventional crosses.

That regional knowledge matters because Canadian agriculture is not one uniform production environment. A variety suited to southern Alberta may face different disease, moisture and maturity pressures than one grown in Manitoba, Ontario or Atlantic Canada.

“Agriculture is applied biology,” Rossnagel says. “Biology, all around the Earth, moves from the poles to the equator. It does not move from Newfoundland to B.C. like politics do.”