Reservoir today announced its pilot expansion into Arizona with a new location live and operational on October 1, 2026, in time for the fall and winter growing season. Developed in collaboration with the University of Arizona’s Yuma Center for Excellence in Desert Agriculture (YCEDA) and the Yuma Agricultural Center (YAC), Reservoir will extend the company’s on-farm innovation model into one of the nation’s most important specialty crop regions.
This expansion is significant because Yuma, Arizona, grows an estimated 90% of the nation’s leafy greens during the winter season, from November through March. By placing the Yuma Agricultural Center at the center of the Arizona effort, Reservoir is strengthening the connection between field research, commercial production and startup development. The move builds on a longstanding relationship between the agricultural industries of Salinas and Yuma, often called Salinas's "sister city."
Reservoir’s model combines an agricultural innovation platform with a venture capital fund to advance the impact of rugged AI in critical industries, especially agriculture. 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 specialty crops that compound to other outdoor industries and across 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.
The announcement highlights the importance of bringing physical AI innovation to specialty crops, which are labor-intensive and face challenges from climate variability and rising costs. With this pilot, Reservoir aims to test and deploy autonomous systems for tasks such as weeding, harvesting, and data collection in Yuma’s desert conditions. The collaboration with YCEDA and YAC ensures that research is grounded in real-world farming practices and can be quickly scaled.
For more information, visit the full announcement at Reservoir's news page or learn more about Reservoir at https://reservoir.co.
