It’s amazing how much technology has progressed just over the past few years.

Tesla is making a self-driving car that doesn’t have a steering wheel or pedals…

Teleconferencing software lets you see and talk to anyone across the globe…

And Amazon just unveiled a robot assistant that follows you around your home.

Sometimes it seems like we’re living in the world of The Jetsons or even Star Trek.

But one of the largest and most important industries … a business with a global market size of over $10 trillion … is still stuck in the 1970s.

I’m talking about the agriculture industry.

Lars Dyrud is the founder and CEO of tech startup EarthOptics. He says many farmers still try to analyze soil by “putting a really expensive stick in the ground.”

Their lack of data often leads to poor farming decisions. That wastes money and can even harm crops and the environment.

For example, Dyrud estimates that farmers generally till their soil far too often. That costs the U.S. agriculture industry about $1 billion a year in unnecessary work.

But thanks to EarthOptics, there’s now a better, high-tech way to grow our food…

The Future of Farming

Dyrud says: “Most of the ways we monitor soil hasn’t changed in 50 years.”

His solution is to use ground-penetrating radar combined with machine learning.

farming technology

(Source: EarthOptics.)

Then, EarthOptics’ TillMapper software crunches the data to create a 3D map of the area’s soil.

EarthOptics’ TillMapper

(Source: EarthOptics.)

In the image above, the bright areas show soil that’s more compacted. Meanwhile, the dark areas show soil that’s less compacted.

According to EarthOptics, using its data to till more efficiently can save farmers up to $30 an acre. And it increases crop yields by up to 20%.

The company’s farmland return on investment calculator shows that a farmer with 10,000 acres of land would save $130,000. Plus, they would earn an additional $100,000 from bigger crop yields.

That means this simple change would result in a total benefit of $230,000!

Get Ready for the Biggest Tech Mega Trend in History

Dyrud founded EarthOptics in 2018, and the business is still in the early stages.

The company announced last week that it secured an additional $10.3 million in funding. That extra cash will enable further growth and expansion.

But this is just one example of how data has the power to transform any industry.

Right now, America’s top tech companies are spending billions of dollars on data analysis.

Renowned futurist Bernard Marr says: “Data, like oil, is a source of power. And those who control it are establishing themselves as masters of the universe, just as oil barons did 100 years ago.”

Ian King has been researching the exciting developments this mega trend is unleashing. And he’s put all of his research and analysis in this special video, which I’m confident you’ll enjoy.

For the full details, I urge you to watch Ian’s brand-new presentation by clicking here.

Regards,

Jay Goldberg

Assistant Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing

 

Morning Movers

From open till noon Eastern time.

 

Atea Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: AVIR) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company working on a treatment for patients infected with COVID-19. The stock is up 16% today as a reflection of investors’ confidence in the treatment as encouraging trial data came out recently on similar treatments by other companies.

 

Kahoot ASA (OTC: KHOTF) operates a game-based learning platform that is used as educational technology. It is up 13% this morning but has no particular news to report.

 

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SPCE), billionaire Richard Branson’s spaceflight company, is up 13% on the news that the Federal Aviation Administration concluded its investigation into Virgin Galactic’s test flight in July and cleared the company to fly again.

 

New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE: EDU), the Chinese online education company, is having a good day. It is up 10% as investors try play the volatility in Chinese stocks that have recently been hit with regulations.

 

Perrigo Company plc (NYSE: PRGO) provides over-the-counter health and wellness products. The company is up 10% this morning after it reached a settlement with Irish tax authorities on an issue related to the tax treatment of certain patents it acquired in 2018.

 

Gogo Inc. (Nasdaq: GOGO) is a provider of broadband connectivity and wireless entertainment services to the aviation industry. It is up 9% today, continuing its growth from a couple days ago when it raised its long-term forecasts on the basis of the aviation industry recovering from the pandemic.

 

JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) is a Chinese manufacturer of photovoltaic products for solar energy applications. It rose 9% after reporting positive steps toward being approved for an initial public offering in China for its subsidiary, Jiangxi Jinko.

 

ACM Research Inc. (Nasdaq: ACMR) specializes in semiconductor cleaning technologies. The stock is up 8% this morning as part of general trend over the past several months, as investors view it as a way to play the semiconductor shortage.

 

ForgeRock Inc. (NYSE: FORG) operates and secures digital-identity platforms. It is up 7%, continuing the uptrend from Wednesday when its Identity Cloud product received HIPAA compliance to be used in health care settings.

 

Subsea 7 SA (OTC: SUBCY) is a provider of equipment and services for companies with offshore oil and gas projects. It is up 7% on the news that it was awarded a major contract worth over $750 million.