Family Story

The story behind Elad Etgar is deeply rooted in the history of the Etgar family, which has been engaged in agriculture and harvesting developments for many years.

It begins with Moshe Strakosh-Etgar, born in 1922 in Vienna, Austria, who immigrated to Israel in 1938. After living for several years in Moshav Nahalal, in 1948, together with a group of pioneers, he put down his roots in Moshav Beit Lechem Haglilit (Bethlehem of the Galilee), which then served both as an agricultural farm and military base.

In 1954, Moshe married Leah Mish'ali, who came from a family that had been in the land for over 400 years. When Moshe and Leah met, she was the moshav's mythological kindergarten teacher. Moshe, on his part, made a career in the construction and maintenance of harvesting machinery, a job that had him traveling to the breadth and depth of the country, and which passed to future generations.

The couple had four children: Ayelet, Itai, Osnat and Elad. The family's harvesting tradition continued with Itay Etgar, who was born in 1958. Itai had a profound love for planes, and it was natural that he would join the air force's pilot course during his military service, although he did not complete it. In 1982, he established together with Gadi Yung a business for harvesting vegetables for the agriculture industry. He was in charge of the development and maintenance of the business' machinery. Having never abandoned his love for airplanes, in 1996 he acquired a two-seat ultralight plane and encountered his tragic death together with his nephew, Nitai Yung, in one of his flights.

Today, Elad continues the family legacy. He founded Elad Etgar, where he leads the research, design and development of harvesting machinery using the latest software, SolidWorks, to produce 3D models of tools that are designed to meet the specific requirements of each type of crop.

1994 - Itay Etgar on the newly renovated tractor