John Deere has launched a strategic collaboration with The Reservoir — a California-based agricultural technology incubator dedicated to high-value crop innovation — to support startups in specialty crop production through advanced R&D, automation and field-testing frameworks.
Under the partnership announced last week, John Deere becomes the exclusive original equipment manufacturer for The Reservoir. This grants the company prime branding opportunities at The Reservoir’s Salinas facility and upcoming expansion sites, while securing early access to startups, codeveloped R&D initiatives and curated field demonstration events. The move dovetails with John Deere’s broader U.S. commitment to invest more than $20 billion into domestic manufacturing over the coming decade.
“We view high-value crops as an important growth area for agriculture,” said Sean Sundberg, business integration manager at John Deere, in a statement. “This partnership gives us a front-row seat to the next generation of agricultural technology and an opportunity to work alongside growers and entrepreneurs to ensure future solutions are practical, scalable and built to last.”
Echoing that sentiment, Walt Duflock, senior vice president of innovation at Western Growers, emphasized the importance of such collaboration.
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“John Deere’s investment in The Reservoir is a vital strategic step toward making sure specialty crop growers have a fighting chance amid our industry’s labor shortage.”
The Reservoir’s CEO, Danny Bernstein, added that “John Deere brings trusted technology, technical expertise and a real commitment to grower support and strength.”
Founded in 2024, The Reservoir serves as an on-farm innovation hub, bringing together startups, growers and technologists in real-world production environments to develop, test and commercialize solutions for California’s specialty crops.
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