Applications have opened for membership at Reservoir Farms, a new on-farm robotics incubator in California’s Salinas Valley.
Supported by farmer association Western Growers, the first-of-its-kind facility aims to empower California growers and agtech startups to co-develop, test, and scale advanced automation and robotics solutions for specialty crops in real-world farming environments, addressing the industry’s demand for practical, scalable agtech innovation.
Reservoir Farms said that despite increased investment and interest in agricultural technology, many start-ups struggle to achieve commercial adoption due to a disconnect between technological development and growers’ operational needs.
Claiming to be the world’s first on-farm robotics incubator, Reservoir Farms hopes to bridge this gap by connecting startups directly with the 2,500 members of Western Growers.
The collaboration aims to ensures that new technologies are shaped by real-world challenges and validated by the farmers who will ultimately use them.
“Our vision to more quickly bring advanced technology to the specialty crop industry rested on the premise that technology start-ups could only succeed with guidance from growers rather than by making assumptions in the dark about field-level challenges,” said Dave Puglia, President and CEO of Western Growers.
“Reservoir Farms represents a new kind of research and development model, putting growers in the driver’s seat and accelerating practical innovation that fits the real-world complexity of our farms. I am excited that we are helping launch the working farm-labs that can deliver on our original vision for agtech in the specialty crop industry.”
Reservoir Farms is designed to help accelerate innovation from an early stage, with a focus on:
- Robotic harvesters, including strawberry, broccoli, iceberg, and romaine
- Rugged mobility for uneven terrain
- Machine vision for crop maturity/quality
- Lightweight end effectors for delicate crops
- Modular field robotics components
- Edge AI for cloud-free autonomy
- Precision soil & bed analytics
Start-ups will have access to custom-planted specialty crop fields, fully equipped R&D workshops, and flexible shop space, without the burden of multi-year leases. “Our mission is to move breakthrough technologies off whiteboards and out of labs—into the field, where they solve real-world problems. Reservoir Farms accelerates this journey by grounding innovation in the daily realities of production agriculture,” said Danny Bernstein, CEO of The Reservoir.
“Our partnership with Western Growers is key—it gives startups early access to grower insights and connects them to WG’s rigorous validation process, which has become the standard for evaluating impact in specialty crop agtech.”
Bernstein told AgTechNavigator last year that Reservoir Farms aims to be “The Olympic village of Agtech”, bringing start-ups together in a community that gives access to everything they need – including working agricultural land – all under one roof.
“We need to improve the start-up ecosystem and support for rural innovation companies,” he told us.
