Reservoir Farms had its Grand Opening on Monday, welcoming the Agtech world onto the farm to see the fertile grounds developed to help young startups. The agtech incubator has been the dream of Reservoir founder, CEO, and investor Danny Bernstein, who appeared on Episode 218 of The Robot Report Podcast to highlight his vision.

The site broke ground on August 25, 2025 and has been upgraded with office space and workshops for its first cohort of tenants.

“From our early days, Reservoir listened intently to partners to understand where innovation in agriculture was stuck,” said Bernstein. “Once our vision to create an on-farm innovation center was clear, we worked relentlessly with partners across the industry to bring the energy, focus, and skills necessary to manifest the space and people necessary to make this a reality. With the doors open, the focus turns to execution and impact – in the form of real-world solutions for growers, upskilled jobs for rural communities, and a more secure food supply for American consumers.”

The facility is supported through a partnership of regional agriculture industry leaders, including Western Growers Association, John Deere, UC ANR, Hartnell College, and Merced College. These partners provide support for go-to-market, testing, and validation.

The new site features multiple innovation barns and 24 acres of dedicated commercial test fields, creating a concentrated ecosystem of technology leaders, growers, and startups to scale solutions for global food production challenges.

“Growers have been at the heart of Reservoir from day one,” said Walt Duflock, vice president of innovation at Western Growers. “Through Western Growers’ partnership, our members have had a seat at the table from the very beginning to make sure this isn’t innovation for innovation’s sake, but rather innovation focused on solving the labor, cost, and sustainability pressures they feel every season. Our new multi-year partnership with Reservoir is designed to take this model from Salinas into more crops and regions, and to turn promising technologies into rugged tools growers can trust.”

Reservoir announced plans last summer to expand its on-farm innovation center model across California, Arizona, and other major growing regions, with each hub anchored by leading academic and R&D institutions. Reservoir startups were invited to run pilots over the winter months at the University of Arizona’s Yuma Agricultural Center, testing technologies in commercial desert vegetable production.

Reservoir also announced it will break ground on Reservoir Farms – Central Valley in Merced, California this June and is moving toward the first close of its venture capital fund, Reservoir VC.

“Through all our efforts, our mission remains ‘Technology as Resilience’ – to help derisk and accelerate R&D through on-farm testing in commercial operations across the country’s largest permanent, bedded, and other high-value specialty crops,” said Bernstein. “We’re building a network of places where growers, innovators, and investors can work side by side to bring solutions to market faster. And we are just getting started.”

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2026 cohort

12 startups from around the world are planting their roots at the Salinas location in 2026. They bring new ideas, talent, and technologies to solve real challenges in agriculture. The value proposition of Reservoir Farms is to provide the office space, shared manufacturing tools (machine shop, welding gear, 3D printers), and secure garage/barn space. The biggest value add is access to functioning crop land, vineyard, and orchards to enable testing and validation for the young agtech startup technologies.

Here is a look at 9 of the startups located at Reservoir Farms. There are three other startups that are working in stealth mode.

Agtom

Agtom delivers agentic farming by turning real-time plant feedback into immediate autonomous action using multispectral cameras and task-oriented rovers. Our system eliminates guesswork, enabling growers to operate as lead engineers of a self-correcting field that optimizes every resource to drive consistent, high-output results.

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Beagle Technology

Beagle Technology builds embodied‑AI pruning and harvest systems that use high‑precision perception and control software to transform traditional implements into automated tools, delivering “See and Cut” accuracy for vineyards and specialty crops. Founder and CEO Yang Fang leads the company’s effort to reduce pruning labor and improve consistency with tractor‑mounted and robotic platforms.

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BHF Robotics

BHF Robotics develops agricultural robots like the Blitz ElectricWeeder, which is an AI-guided weeding robot that selectively eliminates weeds using targeted high-voltage electricity. Advanced AI identifies weeds in real time, delivering precise electrical treatment that destroys the plant down to the roots without disturbing the soil or damaging crop root systems. Because it requires no soil preparation and is effective at all weed growth stages, Blitz provides growers with a long operational window throughout the season—offering a clean, efficient, and sustainable approach to weed management without herbicides.

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Cropr

Cropr is a technology company that builds AI-driven machines for the agri sector. The company is still currently in stealth and not ready to share its solutions yet.

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Farmblox

Farmblox is an agricultural technology company providing automation and sensor-based monitoring solutions to help growers improve productivity and secure their property.

Core Platform & Technology

• Farm Automation: Connects in-field sensors and equipment to a centralized app, allowing farmers to monitor data (soil moisture, weather, tubing lines) and automate tasks remotely.

• Scalability: Designed to function across any farm size, from one to thousands of acres, with the ability to add sensors as needed.

• Customization: Offers a modular “building block” approach with over 15 supported sensor types to suit various crops and climates.

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Lumo

Lumo helps growers irrigate to plan across every block, every time. With block-level data and accountable automation, growers are able to close the gap between the volume of water they would like to apply and the volume that actually gets delivered in the field. Assumptions get replaced by verified performance, issues get surfaced immediately through alerts, and irrigation teams get more done in less time.

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Neuralzome

Neuralzome is building Neuralpilot, a teachable autonomy stack. It learns operational nuances from an operator in minutes and replicates perpetually at scale. Current applications include precision mowing and weeding for orchards, vineyards, and farmland.

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Numanac

Numanac is a voice‑first digital farming platform that lets growers and agronomists capture field observations, audio notes, images, and legacy records and convert them into a structured farm database without extra paperwork. That growing operational memory powers an AI copilot for compliance reporting, crew coordination, and smarter decisions, building rich field-level context beyond the industry standard.

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TRIC Robotics

TRIC Robotics was a 2024 RoboBusiness Pitchfire finalist. The company delivers autonomous, non-chemical pest and disease control using UV-C light and Bug Vacuum technologies. Its Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) model helps growers reduce input and labor costs while improving plant productivity and farm profitability. The company is focused on the commercial strawberry market in California and is headquartered in Santa Maria.

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