Reservoir opened Reservoir Farms – Salinas, its flagship innovation hub. | Supply: Reservoir
Reservoir, Washington State College’s Prosser Irrigated Agriculture Analysis and Extension Middle (IAREC), the Washington Tree Fruit Analysis Fee (WTFRC), and the Tri-Metropolis Growth Council (TRIDEC) in the present day introduced a brand new agricultural robotics incubator for Washington growers.Â
The location will put agricultural robotics startups to work within the state’s orchards, vineyards and berry fields alongside researchers and growers.
The announcement comes as Washington growers face rising labor prices and a shrinking workforce for among the hardest crops on the planet to automate. These embody apples, cherries, pears, blueberries, wine grapes, and hops.
Reservoir is an agricultural innovation middle and enterprise capital fund. The organization is concentrated on serving to agtech startups succeed the place agriculture occurs, within the discipline.
Reservoir began its innovation middle within the Salinas Valley. It hopes to increase to different key areas throughout California and the American West. Reservoir VC backs startups fixing actual issues in high-value crops and the rugged bodily AI stack.
Extra about Reservoir’s innovation middle
Earlier this yr, the corporate formally opened Reservoir Farms – Salinas, its flagship on-farm innovation hub for specialty crops. The brand new website options a number of innovation barns and 24 acres of devoted business take a look at fields. This creates probably the most concentrated ecosystem of know-how leaders, growers, and startups wherever in agriculture to quickly scale options for international meals manufacturing challenges.
Greater than 300 growers, agricultural leaders, federal and state officers, group companions, traders and media attended the grand opening of Salinas website.
“From our early days, Reservoir listened intently to companions to grasp the place innovation in agriculture was caught,” mentioned Danny Bernstein, founder and CEO of Reservoir. “As soon as our imaginative and prescient to create an on-farm innovation middle was clear, we labored relentlessly with companions throughout the business to carry the vitality, focus and expertise essential to manifest the house and folks essential to make this a actuality. With the doorways open, the main focus turns to execution and influence – within the type of real-world options for growers, upskilled jobs for rural communities, and a safer meals provide for American shoppers.”
Final summer time, Reservoir introduced plans to increase its on-farm innovation middle mannequin throughout California, Arizona, and different main rising areas. Every hub will likely be anchored by main educational and analysis and developmnt establishments.
As a part of this multi-region technique, Reservoir invited startups to run pilots over the winter months on the College of Arizona’s Yuma Agricultural Middle. The startups gained the chance to check applied sciences in business desert vegetable manufacturing.
In August, Reservoir introduced a $10 million, three-year R&D partnership with John Deere. The partnership goals to speed up real-world improvement and commercialization of rugged AI applied sciences for high-value crop agriculture. It builds on a relationship that started when Reservoir was based in 2024.
Deere mentioned the partnership with Reservoir displays its “dedication to an innovation ecosystem that strikes quicker from prototype to grower influence.”
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