Published: September 21, 2026
TLDR: Former Undersecretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture joins agriculture’s technical community to lead expansion, university and college partnerships, and government engagement
SALINAS, Calif. — September 21, 2026 — Reservoir Farms, Inc. today announced that Christine Birdsong has joined the company as Head of External Affairs after serving the State of California as Undersecretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
Appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021, Birdsong served as CDFA’s second-ranking official, working across the breadth of California agriculture — the largest agricultural economy in the United States — on issues including sustainable pest management, trade, food safety, farm-to-school programs, and agricultural innovation, including the state’s Agricultural Research & Innovation Roadmap. She represented California agriculture on trade missions to Japan and the Philippines and earned trust and built relationships with growers, universities, counties, and federal partners.
“There are very few people who can sit across the table from a university chancellor, a state secretary, a congressional staffer, and a Salinas Valley grower in the same week and be credible in every one of those rooms,” said Bernstein. “Christy has spent her career doing exactly that. Reservoir’s thesis is technology as resilience — and making that real requires someone who understands how policy, research institutions, and agriculture actually work together. She’s lived it.”
Birdsong’s hire comes as Reservoir accelerates to meet growing technological needs across agriculture. Mounting labor shortages and rising input costs are driving advances in rugged physical AI and robotics that have made on-farm autonomy commercially viable. Moving those technologies from pilot programs to broad adoption depends on research partnerships, public funding, supportive policy, and community trust. Birdsong will lead that work for Reservoir, drawing on more than two decades in agricultural policy at the state and federal levels.
“I’ve spent my career at the intersection of agriculture and public policy, and I’ve watched the innovation gap in agriculture up close,” said Birdsong. “What drew me to Reservoir is that it’s not theoretical — the startups are on working farms, the growers are in the room, and the technology gets tested against real dust, real heat, and real harvest windows. This is the kind of institution these regions need, and I want to help build more of them.”
Before joining CDFA, Birdsong was Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Director of People and Culture at The Sun Valley Rice Company, and previously served as General Counsel of the National Cotton Council of America. She spent nearly six years as Counsel to the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, where her work spanned two farm bills, and began her career as congressional staff for a California representative. She holds a J.D. from UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) and a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley.
About Reservoir
Reservoir is agriculture’s technical community. 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. Most recently, Reservoir announced a multi-year, $10 million research and development partnership with John Deere to accelerate deep-tech innovation for high-value crop agriculture. Reservoir VC is raising its second fund and has earmarked $50 million to back startups solving real problems in agriculture that compound to other outdoor industries and across the rugged AI stack. By combining R&D space, hands-on grower input, and early-stage capital, Reservoir helps turn promising ideas into technology for the growers who feed the world. Learn more at https://reservoir.co.
Media Contact
Jennifer Goldston, AgTech PR for Reservoir, jennifer@agtechpr.com