Last year, a shipping container with the Reservoir Farms logo facing traffic showed up on highway 68 just outside of Salinas. Many looked up the newest AgTech addition to the valley and wondered what would be going on behind its fences. Last Wednesday, the Salinas public had their first official view of Reservoir Farms at its open house. Beagle Technologies, LUMO, TRIC Robotics, High Degree, and Bonsai all had booths educating attendees on the struggles farmers are facing and what they’re doing to help. Reservoir founder, Danny Bernstein, and Salinas mayor, Dennis Donohue, both spoke about the increasing necessity of AgTech and the great work the Reservoir members were doing.

Also in attendance was Salinas High’s robotics team, Steel Boot. In his speech, Bernstien talked about the importance of introducing the next generation to AgTech, offered them a $1,000 donation, and announced an extended donation to any other local high schools that were interested in coming to Reservoir. He talked about how farming is local and emphasized that companies like High Degree have already begun hiring people from the area.

Most of these startups already had some form of prototype before the creation of Reservoir. The value Reservoir offers is a complete fabrication shop made by Andros, as well as acres of California specialty crops designed to be used for trials. When these startups are in the prototype stage, the fields can be used to refine the technology. If a startup were working directly with a grower, any malfunctions or misinputs would affect a farmer’s margins, but at Reservoir, these shortcomings are expected. Once a startup is more fine-tuned, these same facilities can be used to gather data on return on investment, making Reservoir a one-stop-shop for all stages of a startup.

One of the groups that stood out was High Degree, a startup that uses steam to kill weeds and soilborne pathogens. It works at up to 14 inches of depth, requires no REIs and is completely safe to use in organic production. At the event, they were telling attendees that all three of their prototypes were made at Reservoir Farms. They essentially started from the ground up and used the facilities Reservoir provided to build three complex, functioning machines.  What was initially just an idea when the company started in 2025, is now being used on select farms and already helping growers.

This was the first of hopefully many opportunities for the public to step into Reservoir’s fences and put faces to the company. Many drive past the barn inscribed “Home of Agtech” every day on the way to or from work. Hopefully now they have a greater appreciation of what is happening inside.