Greater than 300 growers, ag leaders, federal and state officers, neighborhood companions, traders and media attended the grand opening of Reservoir Farms – Salinas. | Credit score: The Reservoir
Reservoir Farms had its Grand Opening on Monday, welcoming the Agtech world onto the farm to see the fertile grounds developed to assist younger startups. The agtech incubator has been the dream of Reservoir founder, CEO, and investor Danny Bernstein, who appeared on Episode 218 of The Robotic Report Podcast to spotlight his imaginative and prescient.
The location broke floor on August 25, 2025 and has been upgraded with workplace area and workshops for its first cohort of tenants.
“From our early days, Reservoir listened intently to companions to grasp the place innovation in agriculture was caught,” mentioned Bernstein. “As soon as our imaginative and prescient to create an on-farm innovation heart was clear, we labored relentlessly with companions throughout the trade to carry the vitality, focus, and expertise essential to manifest the area and folks essential to make this a actuality. With the doorways open, the main focus turns to execution and affect – within the type of real-world options for growers, upskilled jobs for rural communities, and a safer meals provide for American shoppers.”
Residents of Reservoir Farms have entry to workplace area, plus a shared manufacturing/maker area, and safe container area for prototypes. | Credit score: Reservoir Farms
The power is supported by means of a partnership of regional agriculture trade leaders, together with Western Growers Affiliation, John Deere, UC ANR, Hartnell Faculty, and Merced Faculty. These companions present assist for go-to-market, testing, and validation.
The brand new website options a number of innovation barns and 24 acres of devoted business take a look at fields, making a concentrated ecosystem of expertise leaders, growers, and startups to scale options for world meals manufacturing challenges.
“Growers have been on the coronary heart of Reservoir from day one,” mentioned Walt Duflock, vice chairman of innovation at Western Growers. “By way of Western Growers’ partnership, our members have had a seat on the desk from the very starting to verify this isn’t innovation for innovation’s sake, however slightly innovation targeted on fixing the labor, price, and sustainability pressures they really feel each season. Our new multi-year partnership with Reservoir is designed to take this mannequin from Salinas into extra crops and areas, and to show promising applied sciences into rugged instruments growers can belief.”
Reservoir introduced plans final summer time to develop its on-farm innovation heart mannequin throughout California, Arizona, and different main rising areas, with every hub anchored by main tutorial and R&D establishments. Reservoir startups have been invited to run pilots over the winter months on the College of Arizona’s Yuma Agricultural Heart, testing applied sciences in business desert vegetable manufacturing.
Reservoir additionally introduced it is going to break floor on Reservoir Farms – Central Valley in Merced, California this June and is transferring towards the primary shut of its enterprise capital fund, Reservoir VC.
“By way of all our efforts, our mission stays ‘Know-how as Resilience’ – to assist derisk and speed up R&D by means of on-farm testing in business operations throughout the nation’s largest everlasting, bedded, and different high-value specialty crops,” mentioned Bernstein. “We’re constructing a community of locations the place growers, innovators, and traders can work aspect by aspect to carry options to market quicker. And we’re simply getting began.”
2026 cohort
12 startups from around the globe are planting their roots on the Salinas location in 2026. They convey new concepts, expertise, and applied sciences to resolve actual challenges in agriculture. The worth proposition of Reservoir Farms is to supply the workplace area, shared manufacturing instruments (machine store, welding gear, 3D printers), and safe storage/barn area. The largest worth add is entry to functioning crop land, winery, and orchards to allow testing and validation for the younger agtech startup applied sciences.
Here’s a have a look at 9 of the startups positioned at Reservoir Farms. There are three different startups which are working in stealth mode.
Agtom
ADAMS serves as Agtoms’ on-field agent, repeatedly gathering information and controlling farm gadgets based mostly on directions from AI Brokers or growers. | Credit score: Agtom
Agtom delivers agentic farming by turning real-time plant suggestions into speedy autonomous motion utilizing multispectral cameras and task-oriented rovers. Our system eliminates guesswork, enabling growers to function as lead engineers of a self-correcting subject that optimizes each useful resource to drive constant, high-output outcomes.
Beagle Know-how
Beagle Know-how’s winery pruner attachments assist winery homeowners preserve their vineyards. | Credit score: Beagle Know-how
Beagle Know-how builds embodied‑AI pruning and harvest techniques that use excessive‑precision notion and management software program to rework conventional implements into automated instruments, delivering “See and Reduce” accuracy for vineyards and specialty crops. Founder and CEO Yang Fang leads the corporate’s effort to scale back pruning labor and enhance consistency with tractor‑mounted and robotic platforms.
BHF Robotics
The Blitz ElectricWeeder leverages superior AI deep studying imaginative and prescient expertise to determine weeds and crops in actual time, utilizing high-power electrical energy to kill weeds and to skinny crops. | Credit score: BHF Robotics
BHF Robotics develops agricultural robots just like the Blitz ElectricWeeder, which is an AI-guided weeding robotic that selectively eliminates weeds utilizing focused high-voltage electrical energy. Superior AI identifies weeds in actual time, delivering exact electrical therapy that destroys the plant all the way down to the roots with out disturbing the soil or damaging crop root techniques. As a result of it requires no soil preparation and is efficient in any respect weed progress levels, Blitz supplies growers with a protracted operational window all through the season—providing a clear, environment friendly, and sustainable method to weed administration with out herbicides.
Cropr
Cropr is a expertise firm that builds AI-driven machines for the agri sector. The corporate remains to be at the moment in stealth and never able to share its options but.
Farmblox
The Farmblox Wi-fi Monitor powers the related sensor and wirelessly transmits sensor readings. | Credit score: FarmBlox
Farmblox is an agricultural expertise firm offering automation and sensor-based monitoring options to assist growers enhance productiveness and safe their property.
Core Platform & Know-how
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Farm Automation: Connects in-field sensors and gear to a centralized app, permitting farmers to observe information (soil moisture, climate, tubing strains) and automate duties remotely.
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Scalability: Designed to operate throughout any farm dimension, from one to 1000’s of acres, with the flexibility so as to add sensors as wanted.
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Customization: Gives a modular “constructing block” method with over 15 supported sensor sorts to go well with varied crops and climates.
Lumo
Lumo is an all-in-one, wi-fi, precision irrigation system designed to get growers up and operating rapidly and at a decrease price. | Lumo
Lumo helps growers irrigate to plan throughout each block, each time. With block-level information and accountable automation, growers are in a position to shut the hole between the quantity of water they wish to apply and the quantity that really will get delivered within the subject. Assumptions get changed by verified efficiency, points get surfaced instantly by means of alerts, and irrigation groups get extra accomplished in much less time.
Neuralzome
The Mowack Professional handles heavy brush clearing and dense overgrowth throughout giant areas—with out slowing down. | Credit score: Neuralzome
Neuralzome is constructing Neuralpilot, a teachable autonomy stack. It learns operational nuances from an operator in minutes and replicates perpetually at scale. Present purposes embrace precision mowing and weeding for orchards, vineyards, and farmland.
Numanac
Numanac is a voice‑first digital farming platform that lets growers and agronomists seize subject observations, audio notes, photographs, and legacy information and convert them right into a structured farm database with out additional paperwork. That rising operational reminiscence powers an AI copilot for compliance reporting, crew coordination, and smarter selections, constructing wealthy field-level context past the trade commonplace.
TRIC Robotics
Ultraviolet gentle destroys pests and pathogens; the vacuum removes bugs — each chemical-free. | Credit score: TRIC Robotics
TRIC Robotics was a 2024 RoboBusiness Pitchfire finalist. The corporate delivers autonomous, non-chemical pest and illness management utilizing UV-C gentle and Bug Vacuum applied sciences. Its Robotic-as-a-Service (RaaS) mannequin helps growers scale back enter and labor prices whereas bettering plant productiveness and farm profitability. The corporate is targeted on the business strawberry market in California and is headquartered in Santa Maria.
The submit Inside the brand new ‘Residing Lab’ advancing agricultural robotics appeared first on The Robotic Report.
