The Reservoir’s key companions have a good time the groundbreaking of its first agtech innovation hub in Salinas, California, marking a significant milestone in collaborative agricultural know-how development. | Credit score: The Reservoir
The Reservoir formally launched its agtech-focused innovation hub this week, making a landmark program for agtech entrepreneurs to start out constructing their companies. Reservoir Farms, which claims to be the primary on-farm startup incubator in California, incorporates a state-of-the-art R&D facility for early-stage corporations. Every firm has entry to maker house assets for prototyping and constructing its methods, together with safe construct and storage areas.
The important thing enabler is the on-site working farm space, the place the businesses can take a look at their merchandise and collect real-world information to allow design selections. The Robotic Report posted a narrative in June concerning the open name for purposes for the inaugural cohort of corporations to occupy the Reservoir Farms. From this name, the preliminary residents at Reservoir Farms embrace:
These early-stage corporations purchased into the imaginative and prescient of connecting main roboticists, engineers, and agricultural producers to speed up know-how from idea to commercialization.
“From the start, our imaginative and prescient has been excess of know-how—it’s about partnerships,” mentioned Danny Bernstein, CEO of the Reservoir. “Success is grounded in changing into an genuine a part of every farming neighborhood, connecting entrepreneurs, growers and next-generation expertise to reimagine the sustainability of U.S. farming. Creating this ‘Olympic Village of Agtech’ is simply potential with trusted relationships on the bottom and a shared imaginative and prescient for what’s potential.”
It was almost a yr in the past that Bernstein unveiled the idea of Reservoir Farms, along with trade companions together with the Western Growers Affiliation and academic companions like UC ANR, Hartnell School, and Merced School. The imaginative and prescient behind Reservoir Farms is to speed up the event of recent AgTech options, whereas offering a possibility for innovation to search out its method out of analysis labs and into the sphere. That is the lacking hyperlink for entrepreneurs who need to work within the agriculture world, however haven’t had the early improvement assets essential to make their goals a actuality.
Final week, the Reservoir introduced its strategic partnership with John Deere, a pacesetter in agricultural know-how and gear. For Reservoir residents, the partnership creates a novel surroundings the place innovation meets real-world software. Residents achieve entry to Deere’s know-how (together with APIs), experience, and gear, alongside devoted testing acres, structured pilot alternatives, and curated discipline days.
Earlier this week, John Deere acquired GUSS Automation, a developer of autonomous sprayers for high-value crops. That is the newest in a collection of agrobotics-related acquisitions for John Deere.
The Reservoir gives startups with a clearer path to validate options in high-value crops, interact instantly with growers, and discover potential integrations with Deere’s international platform — strengthening the bridge between early-stage concepts and scalable agricultural affect.
You may study extra about discipline robotics, and community with the robotics neighborhood by attending the sphere robotics observe at RoboBusiness 2025 in Santa Clara, CA on October 16-17. Register now.
