Reservoir Farms – Washington, a new on-farm technical community for rugged physical AI, is expected to open in spring 2027 in Washington’s Yakima Valley, home to more than $3B in high-value crop agriculture.

Announced at FIRA USA, the company’s first Pacific Northwest community is being developed alongside the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission (WTFRC) and the Tri-City Development Council (TRIDEC), as well as the North American Blueberry Council and other national and local organizations. Reservoir is also exploring partnership with Washington State University’s Prosser Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center (IAREC). It is Reservoir’s second expansion outside California, following Yuma, Arizona, a pilot collaboration with University of Arizona.

“Technology is strategic to the future of Washington agriculture,” said Danny Bernstein, founder and CEO of Reservoir. “Tree fruit, blueberries, wine grapes and hops are some of the hardest crops in the world to automate, and labour is now the biggest cost Washington growers face. Expanding into the Pacific Northwest shows the Reservoir model is working. When you put builders on real farms with growers who will tell them the truth, rugged physical AI goes from prototype to production much faster.”

Reservoir Farms – Washington follows the same partnership model as Reservoir’s other locations, placing startups on working farms alongside researchers and growers to build, test and refine technology under commercial conditions. Initial work will focus on tree fruit and blueberries, with additional testing in wine grapes and hops, and plans to extend into row crop systems over time.

Bonsai Robotics and Sky Sense, which are already developing technology for tree fruit, and early-stage startups Cordon and Rootline will join Reservoir Farms – Washington as members.

“Our growers are spending more on inputs every season, and they will not adopt technology that was not developed or tested locally,” said Ines Hanrahan, executive director of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. “A machine that hasn’t been through a Washington growing season isn’t ready for one. Building here, with growers involved from day one, is how we make sure our industry is robot ready, and the robots are ready for our industry.”

Reservoir is a new U.S. rural institution that combines an agricultural innovation platform with a venture capital fund to advance the impact of rugged physical AI in critical industries. 

Source:  Reservoir October 20, 2026 news release