LIKE ELITE athletes, dairy cows have exacting nutritional requirements. "If you're slightly up on protein, or down on carbs, you'll see a drop in milk production," says Robbie Walker, the boss of Keenan Systems, an Irish firm which makes feed-mixing wagons. For that reason, the firm's latest products have gone digital. With the help of Intel, a big American chipmaker, Keenan has developed a computer that can be attached to its wagons. Sensors on the wagon weigh what the farmer puts into the mixer and compare it with what the recipe calls for.

Co-founder and chief strategy officer David Hunt says their technology allows farmers to see what is happening on their dairy "in high resolution in real time…without anyone needing to go into the barn." Based in California, Canada and Ireland, the company launched their first product in late January. Alus Nutrition focuses on "all things related to feed bunk management," according to portfolio growth lead Tyler Bramble. This includes when feed is delivered to cows or when the cows have cleaned out the feed and need more. Cainthus' smart cameras monitor cows, while their software interprets what the cameras see.

Most of us are familiar with the term "farm-to-table". We set out on sunny Saturday mornings for brunch at trendy cafés and restaurants, but while we gulp down our mimosas, we often forget the undertaking required to bring our favorite dishes from farms to kitchens. Farmers today are facing challenges from infrastructure to connectivity, growing demands for animal proteins to food spoilage, and disease with concerns rising around animal health. Technology is disrupting all industries in our modern age, and AgTech is no exception. We sought out on a mission to get back to our roots and gather perspective from those leading the industry and working to address these issues.

Irish agtech company Cainthus uses vision technology to improve dairy herd management. Ireland's multi-generations of dairy farmers know a thing or two about raising dairy cows. Its more than 18,000 dairy farmers tend 1.4 million animals and are recognized globally for productivity and quality. So, it's no surprise that an Irish agtech company called Cainthus would invent a way to use artificial intelligence--the same technology developed for terrorist detection of humans--to manage dairy cows. At its simplest, Cainthus' technology has been described as facial recognition for cows, but Cainthus CEO Aidan Connolly explains that it is actually much more.

Stephen Lawlor and David Hunt have witnessed a lot of bullying. Among the principal victims, in their experience, are young, first-time mothers, who are sometimes so intimidated that they're unable to eat. Isolating their tormentors in a separate group isn't a solution, Hunt told me: "They just knock the crap out of each other." The bullies and victims we were discussing are cows. The farm has been in his family for four generations; his calf barn, which is long and narrow and made of primeval-looking gray stone, was a horse stable in his grandfather's time.

Face recognition has spread from airports to soccer games to elementary schools and now, farms and stables. Global food giant Cargill announced Wednesday that it is partnering with Cainthus, an Irish computer vision company, to pilot face recognition technology on cows starting this year. Privacy advocates may be less concerned by the threat of an encroaching bovine panopticon, but the worldwide pilot speaks to how both AI and face recognition technologies are slowly being embedded in all aspects of modern life. In a press release, Cainthus said the plan is to use face recognition to track the behavior, eating patterns, and overall health of livestock, then send instant alerts directly to farmers. By installing cameras in feeding areas, AI will scan cows' faces, then determine a baseline of typical behavior.

Humanity has a major food problem. The world's population is expected to increase significantly over the next three decades, but our capacity for food production will struggle to keep pace. Although global fertility rates are actually falling, a general increase in life expectancy will mean a steady increase in headcount during our lifetimes. One 2015 UN DESA report claims the world's population will hit 9.7 billion by 2050 – an increase of some 2.3 billion over today. Of course, a general rise in life expectancy reflects a higher standard of living for more of the world, which is cause for celebration.

Humanity has a major food problem. The world's population is expected to increase significantly over the next three decades, but our capacity for food production will struggle to keep pace. Although global fertility rates are actually falling, a general increase in life expectancy will mean a steady increase in headcount during our lifetimes. One 2015 UN DESA report claims the world's population will hit 9.7 billion by 2050 – an increase of some 2.3 billion over today. Of course, a general rise in life expectancy reflects a higher standard of living for more of the world, which is cause for celebration.

Cows and robots go together. Throw in facial recognition software, and it's the perfect trifecta. This is because cows are happier when they are not around people, since they identify humans as predators. Using facial recognition software to count a herd, or signal when a cow is sick or injured or not eating, is another way to keep humans out of the pastures as much as possible and keep cows happier and more productive. "No prey animal never wants to see a predator. The less they see the happier they are. A cow doesn't know what a robot is, so they aren't scared of it," said David Hunt, co-founder of Cainthus, a company digitizing agricultural practices, speaking at an Alltech conference in Lexington, Ky.