Why Israel?

No other single country – certainly not one as young and as tiny as Israel – has contributed more breakthroughs in this area than Israel. Since the 1950s, Israelis have not only been finding miraculous ways to green their own desert but have shared their discoveries far and wide through channels including:

  • MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

And

  • CINADCO – The Center for International Agricultural Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

One of the biggest achievements of Israeli agriculture has been the ability of farmers to utilize the country’s desert areas as greenhouses. In the same way that the Children of Israel were compelled to face the trial of surviving in the desert wilderness for 40 years, economics forced many Israel crop growers to cultivate the barren regions of the country’s southern periphery rather than the more expensive lands in central Israel. The exposure to searing hot days, bone-chilling nights and occasional flash-floods make Israel’s desert farmers experts on the experience recalled by the weeklong Sukkah sojourn.

Probably no other advancement has been quite as significant. While the concept of drip irrigation existed well before Israeli statehood, it was revolutionized by Israeli water engineer Simcha Blass, who serendipitously discovered that a slow and balanced drip led to remarkable growth.

If you are still wondering why to visit the agriculture event in Israel, let us summarize:

  • The world’s most developed irrigation methods
  • The world’s highest reused wastewater rate
  • The most advanced agriculture technologies on the international market for water heating and electricity generation

Since Israel’s early days, the country’s agriculture sector has been forced to provide its citizenry with advanced solutions. Situated in one of the world’s most arid regions, it was Israel that pioneered and led the concepts of drip irrigation, recycling, purifying and reuse of wastewater for agriculture purposes.

Based on its accumulated experience, Israel is poised to play a major role in supplying the world with cutting-edge agriculture solutions.