Key Takeaways:
- German agritech startup eternal.ag has launched Harvester, a fully autonomous robot designed for tomato harvesting in greenhouses.
- The robot operates up to 22 hours a day and uses AI to maintain consistent produce quality and cut precision.
- Greenhouse labor availability in Europe has declined by as much as 30% since 2010, creating the structural gap the product aims to address.
- Eternal.ag has raised €8 million in venture capital funding to support European expansion and extend the technology to additional crop types.
- The company, founded in 2025, has a 26-person team with headquarters in Cologne and an office in Bengaluru.
Eternal.ag Enters Commercial Market With AI-Powered Greenhouse Robot
Eternal.ag, a German agritech startup founded in 2025, has announced the commercial launch of Harvester, its first product — a fully autonomous robot built to handle tomato harvesting in greenhouse environments. The launch comes as the greenhouse sector across Europe faces a sustained decline in available labor.
Addressing a Structural Labor Problem
Greenhouses play an increasingly critical role in securing year-round supply of fresh produce, offering greater resilience to seasonal weather, climate change, and pests compared to outdoor farming. However, the sector is contending with a growing staffing shortfall. Labor availability in European greenhouses has dropped by as much as 30% since 2010, with forecasts indicating the trend will continue.
Wilco Schoonderbeek, former Director of Investments at horticultural investor Horticoop and Board Observer at eternal.ag, said: “When labor is uncertain, everything else becomes uncertain. Greenhouse operations need resilience, not temporary fixes or pushing problems into the future. Automation solves the biggest bottleneck that growers are facing. The robot shows up where the work needs to happen and just does it. Growers finally have predictable operations.”
