Cainthus recognise need to strengthen with Kickert appointment

Irish agri-tech start-up Cainthus has strengthened its management team, with Steve Kickert taking on the role of chief operating officer.

Mr Kickert joins Cainthus from Cargill, a major backer of the company and an expert in the agricultural sector. Mr Kickert was previously director of technology at Cargill.

Cainthus has developed technology that can identify cows using facial recognition and monitor their health and wellbeing, tracking their food and water intake, behaviour patterns and heat detection.

That data can then be used to anticipate issues with livestock and alert farmers, allowing them to react or adjust feeding regimens in real time instead of days or weeks.

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The company, which was founded by brothers David and Ross Hunt, is on the verge of commercialising its technology.

“People immediately get it”

“It’s the first company I’ve been part of where the demand for the solution is all over,” said Mr Kickert. “People immediately get it. Farmers see huge value and are clamouring to learn more. It’s a level of excitement that I have not seen before. It’s infectious.”

The news comes after Aidan Connolly’s appointment as chief executive of the company. Mr Connolly was previously chief innovation officer at Alltech.

The next step is commercialising the technology. The company is focusing on North America first and larger dairies in the US and Canada.

“The strategy is to move from the experimentation stage where we are figuring out the solution into commercialisation stage. We’re right at the cusp right now,” Mr Kickert said.

“We are being very focused. A lot of technology businesses expand too rapidly and they fail because they try to blow up the solution all over the world. The strategy here is to focus geographically, and then expand in that area, and then go to other geographies, and go global.

“Happy farmers are really important to us,” Mr Kickert said. “I think we have our priorities correct. Happy farmers leads to successful business.”