Incubator launch aims to drive California’s ‘critical’ ag robotics sector

The Reservoir, a non-profit, will open two 40 square feet the facilities called Reservoir Farms in the Central and Salinas Valleys in early 2025. They are described as mechatronics R&D spaces adjacent to pre-planted specialty crops. With room for about 20 different start-ups, users will have office space and direct access to over 50 acres of custom planted crops.

Partners include Western Growers, UC ANR, Merced College, Hartnell College, and HawkTower.  

Why robotics? ​

California agriculture faces critical challenges, including labour availability and cost, import competition, increased regulation, water scarcity, and climate-related challenges, including extreme weather.

These challenges have spurred significant advancements in agricultural precision, automation, mechanisation, and robotics in recent years.

But despite these advancements, the Reservoir says that early stage agtech projects lack critical ecosystem support, such connecting directly with growers, testing and validating their solutions, and accessing dedicated shop space and farmland.

These gaps hinder capital efficiency and the development of critical solutions that meet the agricultural sector's needs.

Initial projects at the incubators will focus on early-stage agricultural innovations in automation and robotics, including rovers and drones, that accelerate the development of breakthrough solutions to the opportunities and imperatives faced by California farms producing high-value specialty crops, such as labour shortages, profitability, and adopting climate-smart technologies.

Participants can lease flexible testing fields and shop spaces, benefiting from fully equipped R&D workshops and networking opportunities with growers and investors.

Western Growers Association will provide financial and operational support. Educational partners like UC ANR, Hartnell College, and Merced College will play a crucial role in innovation and workforce development, preparing the next generation of agricultural researchers, professionals, and innovators to drive the future of farming in California.

HawkTower, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage start-ups developing breakthrough innovations for California’s environmental and industrial imperatives, is also a partner.

“The launch of Reservoir Farms is a critical step forward in ensuring the future resilience of California’s agriculture and across the Central Coast and Central Valley,” said Danny Bernstein, CEO of the Reservoir and managing partner of HawkTower.

“By placing incubators directly on the farm, we enable innovators to test, iterate, and scale solutions in real-world conditions as a more immediate path to advance farming communities.”

A new model to incubate agtech innovation ​

The idea for Reservoir Farms emerged from extensive industry research and consultations with over 50 organisations in the specialty crop sector. Key insights uncovered critical gaps in start-ups' access to real-world testing environments, shop space, and direct relationships with growers—factors severely hindered capital efficiency and posed a formidable barrier to innovation.

“Our goal is to eliminate the friction points that have historically slowed down the development of new agtech solutions,” said Walt Duflock, senior vice president of innovation at Western Growers Association. “Reservoir Farms offers a new model, where start-ups can work side-by-side with growers to test their technologies, iterate in a low-stakes environment, and build scalable solutions to improve agriculture's operations.”

Supporting a 'thriving' agtech ecosystem and job creation

The Reservoir Farms initiative also reflects a broad-based collaboration between key educational institutions, industry players, and local communities to ensure the next generation of agricultural professionals is equipped with the skills needed to support the region’s growing agtech sector. Supporting partners include Central Coast Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action (COPA), Digital NEST, Farmhand Ventures, Merced County Farm Bureau, Milano Technical Group, Monterey Bay DART (Drone Automation & Robotics Technology), Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, Monterey County Farm Bureau, Tesserakt Ventures, and The Vine.

“As robotics and automation become more integral to California agriculture, it’s essential to have facilities like Reservoir Farms embedded within the farming community,” said Gabriel Youtsey, Chief Innovation Officer at UC ANR.

“By bridging the gap between lab-based research and real-world application and accelerating tech transfer, Reservoir Farms can help build the workforce and technology needed to address the critical challenges on the farm, from labour shortages to climate change.”

Participants can lease testing fields and shop space without the burden of multi-year leases, giving them the flexibility needed to scale. The incubators will offer fully equipped R&D workshops, secure storage for expensive equipment, and customised, pre-planted specialty crop fields for testing.

In addition, the Western Growers Association’s validation process will provide start-ups with a quantitative “scorecard” that offers crucial metrics on scalability, efficacy, and financial viability. This validation, combined with UC ANR’s field testing, aims to help start-ups refine their products and receive a critical stamp of approval that builds trust with growers and ensures a smoother path to commercialisation.

Bernstein told AgTechNavigator that the organisation is considering additional incubators. Its goal is to spin out 50 start-ups over five years per incubator, which the Reservoir estimates will create around 1,000 high paying agtech jobs.

“It will require millions in upfront investment, including grants, public-private partnerships and corporate sponsors,” he said.