Reservoir Farms Expanding Its Ag Tech Footprint Into Arizona

Reservoir Farms has announced a pilot expansion into Yuma, AZ, with a new location set to be live and operational Oct. 1, 2026, in time for the fall and winter growing season. It is the company’s first expansion outside of California.

The pilot is being developed in collaboration with the University of Arizona’s Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA), the Yuma Agricultural Center (YAC), Western Growers, and John Deere.

“Expanding our model into Arizona is a signal that the Reservoir Farms model is working for both growers and startups,” says Danny Bernstein, founder and CEO of Reservoir. “We help rugged physical AI move faster from concept to commercial impact by creating real-world environments for testing and iteration, and following crop production across the largest growing regions.”

Yuma County generates close to $3 billion in annual agricultural production and grows an estimated 90% of the nation’s leafy greens from November through March. The region has long been considered Salinas’s “sister city” — the place production moves to when the Salinas season ends. That makes Yuma the ideal proving ground for technology built to work in arid conditions.

Through the pilot, Reservoir startups will be able to run trials in commercial desert vegetable production during the winter growing season, from Oct. 1, 2026, through March 2027, using 500 accessible acres at the Yuma Agricultural Center to advance automation in specialty crops. Desert agriculture brings its own distinct set of hard problems — heat, water, and the demands of large-scale winter vegetable production — and the technologies that prove themselves here will be stronger for it.

For the more than 20 startups already working at Reservoir Farms in Salinas, the Arizona pilot extends the testing calendar. Until now, the growing season set natural limits on when and what companies could test. With the Yuma site, startups have the option to extend their engagement into a year-round cycle — following the crops from one region to the next and iterating without seasonal pauses. The result is more real-world reps across more conditions in less calendar time.

Reservoir Farms has committed to growing this model across California, Arizona, and other key production regions. Arizona is the first step beyond California.

For more information, visit Reservoir.co.