The Reservoir Launches First On-Farm AgTech Innovation Hub for Specialty Crops

As a historic milestone for specialty crop manufacturing and agricultural expertise, the Reservoir at present broke floor on its inaugural on-farm innovation hub in Salinas, California. The ribbon-cutting celebration on the new Salinas website—on land leased from Tanimura & Antle—was attended by greater than 200 business leaders, growers, elected officers, neighborhood companions, and buyers. The launch marks step one in a world imaginative and prescient: creating an ‘Olympic Village of AgTech’ the place world-class expertise leaders, growers, and entrepreneurs collaborate to resolve pressing challenges dealing with international agriculture.

Right now, Driscoll’s, Netafim, Nutrien, and Taylor Farms be a part of as the latest key companions, reinforcing the dedication to rework agtech adoption throughout a number of U.S. areas and straight embed innovation inside industrial farming environments. These on-the-ground collaborations guarantee startups have direct entry to grower suggestions and industrial realities, accelerating real-world influence and addressing the hole, as solely 30% of U.S. farms at present make the most of precision agriculture options regardless of billions in current funding.

“From the start, our imaginative and prescient has been way over expertise—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 doable with trusted relationships on the bottom and a shared imaginative and prescient for what’s doable.”

Final week, the Reservoir introduced its strategic partnership with John Deere, a pacesetter in agricultural expertise and tools. For Reservoir residents, the partnership creates a singular setting the place innovation meets real-world utility. Residents acquire entry to Deere’s expertise (together with APIs), experience, and tools, alongside devoted testing acres, structured pilot alternatives, and curated subject days. This collaboration offers startups with a clearer path to validate options in high-value crops, have interaction straight with growers, and discover potential integrations with Deere’s international platform — strengthening the bridge between early-stage concepts and scalable agricultural influence.

Reservoir Farms-Salinas: The Inaugural Dwelling for Subsequent-Technology Farming

Because the ‘Salad Bowl of the World’ and the epicenter of practically $5 billion in annual crop worth, Salinas produces greater than 70% of the nation’s lettuce plus important shares of strawberries, broccoli, and greens, making it a testbed for high-value, specialty crops that form U.S. produce markets.

Preliminary residents at Reservoir Farms, together with Beagle Know-how, BHF Robotics, Cropmind, FarmBlox, Excessive Diploma Equipment, and GeoVisual Analytics, selected Reservoir Farms to attach straight with growers and entry check amenities, enabling product growth with quick buyer suggestions. These early-stage corporations purchased into the imaginative and prescient of connecting main roboticists, engineers, and agricultural producers to speed up expertise from idea to commercialization.

Salinas Mayor and Government Director of the Western Growers Heart for Innovation and Know-how, Dennis Donohue, mentioned: “Salinas has all the time been on the forefront of feeding the nation, so it’s solely pure we host the primary Reservoir Farms. This hub empowers our growers, attracts prime expertise, and helps safe our management in agriculture for generations to come back.”

Scaling Innovation: From California to Arizona and Past

Wanting forward, the Reservoir introduced plans to develop its mannequin to further websites throughout California, Arizona, and different main rising areas, with every hub anchored by main educational and R&D establishments. This winter, the Reservoir will run a pilot on the College of Arizona Experiment Station (the Yuma Agricultural Heart) in Yuma. This multi-regional strategy derisks and accelerates expertise growth, enabling on-farm testing in industrial operations and throughout among the nation’s most necessary everlasting, bedded, and high-value crops—from contemporary greens on the Central Coast to leafy greens in Arizona and tree nuts in California’s Central Valley.

“By aligning innovation with real-world situations, superior expertise and a transparent path to scale, the Reservoir and its companions assist guarantee new options are constructed to ship significant influence for growers,” mentioned Jason Brantley, vice chairman of manufacturing methods, small ag & turf at John Deere. “Collectively, we’re strengthening the resilience, effectivity, and sustainability of high-value crops—with potential to learn meals methods worldwide.”

Pushed by its deep native roots and a strong community of nationwide leaders, the Reservoir is unlocking a brand new period of productiveness, sustainability, and market alternative for American agriculture, and guaranteeing that innovation with the best potential influence reaches the fields and communities the place it’s wanted at present.