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Silicon Valley is about 100 miles or so from California’s Central Valley, which is among the larger agricultural regions in the U.S. The technology that’s being developed and refined by the Bay is increasingly being used inland by farmers that want to bring the power of data to agriculture, said Lance Donny, founder and CEO of OnFarm Systems.

OnFarm, which is located in the heart of the Central Valley in Fresno, is helping farmers and agricultural consultants place sensors in the field and gather data that could help them make projections about weather or pest infections. “Farmers are more connected than you think,” Donny said at GigaOM’s Mobilize conference, acknowledging that wireless connectivity can be a problem in rural areas but that things have gotten a lot better over the past few years.

This is a huge opportunity for companies that are building devices and services around the internet of things, Donny said. “The ag business is a sleeping giant,” and somebody’s going to capitalize on the opportunity.

Check out the rest of our Mobilize 2013 coverage here, and a video embed of the session follows below:

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A transcription of the video follows on the next page