Salinas test farm aims to accelerate AgTech adoption in specialty crops

Reservoir Farms – Salinas, a new on-farm innovation hub for specialty crop production in California’s Salinas Valley, is officially open for business. 

The site includes multiple barns for collaboration and prototyping, along with 24 acres of commercial test fields. The facility is designed to support field testing and development of agricultural technologies under real-world growing conditions.

Reservoir officials said the goal of the site is to accelerate the development and adoption of tools that address production challenges in specialty crops, including labor availability, production costs and sustainability.

Reservoir also announced a multi-year partnership with Western Growers Association to help align AgTech R&D with the needs of specialty crop growers. The partnership is intended to connect growers with emerging technologies and support on-farm testing and evaluation.

Reservoir says it plans to establish additional on-farm innovation hubs in other growing regions, including Arizona and California’s Central Valley. The company said it expects to break ground on a second site in Merced, Calif., in June.

Reservoir is also advancing plans for a venture capital fund to support ag technology companies as they move from research stage to commercialization.

Company officials said the network of sites is intended to provide growers and technology developers with opportunities to test and refine tools in commercial production environments.