Reservoir announced a new participation structure across its agricultural innovation network designed to lower barriers to field testing, equipment access and commercialization support to accelerate rugged AI and agricultural innovation. Alongside its existing paid Member and Resident tiers, Reservoir now supports a free Associate tier that unlocks on-farm testing access to emerging projects and researchers, thus drastically lowering the barrier to entry for agricultural innovation.
“Reservoir aims to create dense hubs for innovation that accelerate productivity outcomes for growers and operators,” said Danny Bernstein, founder and CEO of Reservoir. “This new model moves us from a gated community to an open innovation ecosystem operating at global scale, where the farm is structured to welcome new ideas, daily activity and nascent projects.”
Reservoir Farms provides integrated infrastructure connecting engineering, testing, grower feedback and commercialization support in one place. Reservoir already attracts interest from incumbents and startup companies around the world, particularly startups developing AI-enabled robotics, automation and sensing technologies. In the first months after opening sites in Salinas and Sonoma, Reservoir saw significant demand from teams at different stages of development who needed clearer, simpler ways to get on the farm.
Reservoir Farms Participation Tiers:
● Associate ($0 USD per month): A low-barrier entry point for startups, student teams, researchers, international visitors, and corporate R&D groups seeking short-term field access and product testing opportunities.
● Member ($3,000 USD per month): A structured program offering shared farm access, workspace, advisory support, grower integration and ecosystem connectivity.
● Resident ($5,000 USD per month for software startups or $6,000 USD per month for hardware startups): A deeper on-site engagement model providing dedicated acreage, workspace, machine shop access, storage, technical support and commercialization guidance for scaling companies.
The announcement comes amid growing recognition across the agriculture industry that the cost of building and deploying agricultural robotics has become prohibitively expensive for early-stage companies. Western Growers estimates it can take up to $100 million to bring a commercial agricultural automation product to market.
“AgTech wins in the field,” said Matthew Hoffman, general partner and head of Reservoir Farms. “Today, too many technology startups burn through capital working on problems that are misaligned with growers and industry needs. Reservoir closes the gap between startups and the industry they aspire to serve. We get startups into the field alongside industry experts as soon as they sign up. This is good for startups, good for investors, and good for growers.”
Reservoir evolved its engagement and pricing structure in collaboration with growers that sought to lower the barrier to innovation in their crop segments and startups, inside and outside of agriculture, that were eager to connect new innovations with real-world production environments. Already the world’s first on-farm robotics incubator, Reservoir Farms is now the first to open up its fields to spur innovation in agriculture and technology as resilience.
“We see water security as critical infrastructure for the 21st century, and agriculture is on the front lines of that shift,” said Dacia Leon, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Supercool Earth, a startup developing a novel approach to cloud seeding to address water scarcity. “By joining the Reservoir community, we can easily explore new opportunities alongside the people who feel these challenges first. That ability to move quickly between lab insights and on-farm experiments is exactly what it will take to make reliable precipitation a practical tool for growers, not just a promising idea.”
As Reservoir continues to expand, the organization plans to grow its network of sites, industry partnerships and startup support programs aimed at accelerating agricultural innovation across labor, automation, sustainability and weather volatility challenges.
Reservoir is an agricultural innovation center and venture capital fund focused on helping agtech startups succeed where agriculture happens—in the field. Reservoir Farms are the world’s first on-farm robotics innovation centers, starting in the Salinas Valley and expanding to other key regions across California and the American West. Reservoir VC backs startups solving real problems in high-value crops and the rugged physical AI stack. By combining R&D space, hands-on grower input, and early-stage capital, Reservoir helps turn promising ideas into tools for the growers who feed the world. Learn more at https://reservoir.co.
SOURCE: Reservoir
