News

German agritech start-up eternal.ag has secured €8 million in funding to develop and deploy Harvester, a fully autonomous greenhouse robot designed to address chronic labour shortages in European horticulture. The modular robot operates up to 22 hours daily, performing precision harvesting and other crop-care tasks while continuously learning and improving through a data-driven AI platform. Founded in 2025 and headquartered in Cologne, eternal.ag aims to automate all greenhouse operations by 2040, offering growers predictable and resilient operations amid declining labour supply. The company employs 26 people across Europe and India and plans to expand its technology to additional crops and markets.

French orchard growers face mounting pressure from tighter pesticide regulations, climate extremes, and declining competitiveness, prompting a shift towards varietal innovation, biocontrols, and digital tools such as AI. At SIVAL 2026, leaders highlighted new climate-smart fruit varieties, biocontrol solutions, and the rapid emergence of AI applications aimed at reducing inputs and managing risks. While commercialisation and regulatory hurdles remain, the sector is pragmatically adopting new approaches to sustain production and adapt to evolving challenges. The future of France's fruit sector hinges on the speed of innovation, regulatory adaptation, and retailer and grower adoption to remain competitive in the global market.

Reservoir Farms is bringing the agtech start-up community together in Salinas, California and across the west, creating the future of farming in the process.

Miraterra is piecing together a complete soil analytic software service, with the help of capital funding and its acquisition of Trace Genomics last year.