Agricultural research in Israel
Agricultural research in Israel is based on close cooperation and interaction between scientists, consultants, farmers and agriculture-related industries. Israel's semi-arid to arid climate and shortage of high quality water are major constraints facing Israeli agriculture. Through extensive greenhouses production, vegetables, fruits and flowers are grown for export to the European markets during the winter off-season.[1]
The Agricultural Experiment Station established in 1921 developed into the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), widely known as the Volcani Institute. The Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Bar Ilan University, Ben Gurion University of the Negev and the Weizmann Institute of Science also engage in agricultural research.
Dry farming on a subsistence level was practiced in the Land of Israel for over 2000 years. The forerunners of agricultural research in Palestine were the teachers and instructors of the Mikveh Israel agricultural school, established in 1870. The pioneers of many of the early farming settlements cultivated experimental plots supervised by an agronomist.[2] Arriving in the country with little or no previous agricultural experience, this kind of experimentation was vital for the development of such crops as grapes, citrus and almonds. Arab agriculture revolved primarily around dry farming, with barley, chickpeas, sesame and olives predominating. The few German Templer villages were based on relatively large farms of dry farming of wheat and barley.[3]
In 1906, Jewish agronomist Aaron Aaronsohn discovered wild emmer (Triticum dicoccoides), believed to be "the mother of the wheat.[4]
After the Balfour declaration by Great Britain in 1917 and the award of the mandate to Palestine by the League of Nations to Britain, the Jewish Agency established in 1921 the Agricultural Experiment Station. Their mission was to conduct research leading to small farms with intensive agriculture, specializing in mixed farming of fruit trees, cattle, chicken, vegetables and cereals.[citation needed] The research station, headed by I. Elazari-Volcani and located in Rehovot, was the first scientific institute in Palestine. It had departments for crop sciences, fruit and citrus, soil and irrigation, entomology and plant pathology, post-harvest, food technology and farm economics.[citation needed] The station had an extension department and results of its research were quickly passed on to the farmers. Yields of grain under dryland conditions increased from 600 to 5000 kg per hectare; and breeding and selection of cattle increased milk production from 800–1500 kg to 5000 kg/cow/year (1950) {now more than 11.000 kg/cow/year- 2005}.[citation needed] Research in storage of citrus fruit reduced spoilage during shipping to Europe due to fungal rots from 30% to 2-3%.[citation needed]
In 1942 the Hebrew University in Jerusalem decided to establish the Institute for Agricultural Studies, which later developed into the Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences[citation needed]. In the beginning the faculty staff came mainly from the Agricultural Experiment Station and students worked on their theses in the laboratories of the Station[citation needed].Michael Evenari (1904-1989, born as Walter Schwarz) was among the early pioneers.[5] The British government also established a small agricultural research department with several stations in both Arab and Jewish areas.[citation needed] After 1948, with the establishment of the State of Israel, the two research stations were merged into the Agricultural Research Station within the Ministry of Agriculture. However, the extension and advisory service, previously part of the research station, now became an independent branch within the Ministry.[citation needed]
