Reservoir Farms is rolling out the welcome mat for agtech start-ups and founders with a free membership tier and a restructured membership model, making it easier for agtech start-ups to join the innovation hub.
Launched in 2025, Reservoir Farms offers agriculture technology start-ups and founders a place to test and develop their solutions, with innovation hubs open in Salinas and wine country, with a Central Valley location set to go live by the end of the year. Reservoir expects to release details on Washington and Arizona locations this year, Danny Bernstein, founder and CEO of Reservoir, told AgNavigator.
Reservoir offers a three-tier membership, including ...
- A free offering for corporate R&D groups, researchers, start-ups, students, and other individuals and groups conducting short-term field testing;
- A member tier for $3,000 per month, which provides access to the farm, a workspace, advisory support, and more; and
- A resident tier priced at $5,000 and $6,000 a month for software and hardware start-ups, respectively, which provides dedicated acreage, a workspace, machine shop access, storage, and commercial and technical support.
Previously, Reservoir offered basic, intermediate and premium levels, costing $5,169.51, $7,754.27 and $11,631.40, respectively, as AgNavigator previously reported. The change in pricing and the addition of the free offering are designed to make it easier for start-ups to get involved in Reservoir’s agtech community, Bernstein explained.
“Spotify launched as a paid offering, and then later introduced a free tier, and that drove a lot of trial, a lot of experience, and we have been asking ourselves how do we really drive a lot of engagement with Reservoir Farms?” he elaborated.
Agtech innovation continues while the sector waits ‘for that big robotics exit’
Agtech start-ups like Numanac, TRIC Robotics, and others are already using Reservoir Farms to develop their solutions. These startups are entering the market amid a constrained capital environment for agtech start-ups.
Venture capital funding continues to flee agtech as start-up failures mount, with analysts hoping that 2026 will be the bottom of the down-market cycle.
Market research firm PitchBook confirmed that 162 agtech start-ups failed and $6.6 billion of deals were made in 2025, the lowest points since 2019. The peak in agtech funding was in 2021 when the sector raised $14.5 billion in venture capital.
Despite these macro challenges, Bernstein is seeing “significant commercial strength” in agtech robotic companies like Bonsai Robotics, Carbon Robotics, Niqo Robotics, and others.
“Obviously, we’re waiting for that big robotics exit. Meanwhile, Carbon is growing. Agtonomy is growing. Bonsai is growing. It’s also very possible that we end up having more of a Claude Code moment for robotics, where the mechanics are building robotics because they’re using a software stack, and they’re able to build highly specialized robotics that are not even venture scale, and we want to be able to hedge for both outcomes,” Bernstein elaborated.
He added, “In my conversations with startups and investors, and with the incumbents, they’re seeing a really exciting moment in time, where there’s a lot of disruption, and a lot of adoption.”
Reservoir is directly supporting the future of agtech innovation through venture investment, having already invested in Agriful, Bonsai Robotics, Farm-ng, Nextstera, and TerraBlaster. The venture arm expects to make four to six additional investments, focusing on robotics to replace chemical farming and the AI robotics stack, Bernstein noted.
Reservoir is supporting the development of new agtech products and services with a two-day event called Ruggedize, Aug 26-27. This event will focus on “the tech side of agtech,” bringing together those working on physical AI and robotics, including robotics developers and engineers, and CTOs and VP of engineering for original equipment manufacturers, he added.
