Lowdermilk wrote: "When in Palestine in 1939, as I pondered the problems of the use of the land through the ages, I wondered if Moses, when he was inspired to deliver the Ten Commandments had foreseen what was to become of the Promised Land after 3000 years and what was to become of hundreds of millions of acres of once good lands".
In 1938 he wrote: "in recent times, a great movement has been under way for the redemption of the Promised Land by Jewish settlers, who have wrought wonders in draining swamps, ridding them of malaria and planting them to thriving orchards and fields, repairing terraces, in reforesting the desolate and rocky slopes, and in the improvement of livestock and poultry. The work of the Jewish colonies is the most remarkable reclamation of old lands that I have seen in three continents".
In the early years various technologies were developed to maximize agricultural production. These techniques resulted in Israel feeding a population which now numbers more than six million.
Drip Irrigation
Filter traps installed inside the irrigation lines consist of a serrated plastic unit that sets up a whirling flow in the water passing through it, sweeping away any dirt and particles. This prevents blockages in the narrow water outlets of the drippers.
Extensive experience has led to a range of new technological developments, which have been successfully exported. Drip system manufacturers iintroduce five to ten new products each year, with 80% of the irrigation equipment manufactured in
Israel exported.
Manufacturers also customize products to the specific needs of the client. The overseas purchaser provides field data on type of soil and crop, and receives professional advice on water requirements, selection of filters suited to the type of water being used, recommendations for suitable fertilizers to prevent build-up of residue and blockages, optimal irrigation methods, and any other information required.
Alternative Solutions
Most field crops are irrigated with effluents, saving water and solving an ecological problem.
Approximately 220 million cubic meters of effluents per year are used in agriculture, and this figure will increase.
Computer controlled irrigation systems, for use by Israeli farmers, are sold in foreign markets. Israeli expertise in wireless communications has found application and freed the farmer to attend to other tasks. A report of the temperature, humidity and level of drip irrigatiom is recorded on his cellular telephone and serves as a warning signal that the controls require adjustment..
Seeds
The development of new seed varieties is a cooperative effort involving Israel's agricultural research institutes. The research is conducted at various sites, including private seed laboratories, the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Market demands also influence seed research and development. A good example is the hybrid onion with the highest level of dry layers in the world, making it particularly suitable for countries with fewer daylight hours. Another example is the introduction of a melon-sized watermelon which fits easily into the refrigerator.
Highly resistant varieties of seeds are currently being developed that minimize the need for pesticides and fertilizers, allowing them to grow organically.
Agricultural research has contributed to the development of high added value, and therefore very profitable products such as cherry tomatoes, greenhouse tomatoes and Galia melons.
A variety of hybrid tomato, renowned for its long shelf-life, has been developed. One of these is characterized by late ripening and the other by solidity. The result is a new variety that is both large and solid and enjoys a long shelf-life. Some 40% of the tomato greenhouses in Europe utilize seeds developed and produced in Israel. In some countries, this figure reaches 98%.
Seed scientists have developed special varieties of squash for the greenhouse, allowing the farmer to grow a high quality product, undamaged by wind, sand or pests. The advantage of the greenhouse squash is that high yields can be obtained, even during the off-season.
Seed production is a very dynamic sector with supporting research that is comprehensive and highly developed. The life cycle of a new product is three to four years, until it is replaced by new products. It takes an average of about five years to develop and commercialize a new variety, so that development of the next generation of seeds, must begin even before the present variety is introduced.
A new biotechnological method shortens this lengthy process by about 20%. The new varieties are tested using molecular genetic technologies which can identify desirable or undesirable traits at the very earliest stages of development. The experiments can be pursued or discontinued accordingly.
Cross-Breeding
Through genetic engineering, known desirable characteristics that are not present in the plants under development, can be created and introduced. Plants produced in this way are known as transgenic. They are implanted with foreign genes, endowing them with new traits. For example, resistance to bacteria can be developed by transplanting one plant's virus genes into another plant, which will then develop a natural resistance.
Another interesting and novel variety is the seedless watermelon, cultivated in a wide range of sizes and colors.
Other recent developments include the saucer-shaped yellow zucchini, for home gardening, and the black and seedless watermelon, aimed at the European and American markets.
Harnessing the Powers of Nature to Increase the Yield of Crops
Difficulties in pollinating the kiwifruit, a high export earner, has spawned a comprehensive and long-standing pollination research program resulting in the development of a machine, which assists kiwifruit pollination by blowing bee-collected pollen onto vines.
Samuel Gan-Mor, ASAE Member, Senior Researcher, at the Institute of Agricultural Engineering, ARO, during IHTIR's recent visit , has taken a different approach to increase pollination.
The group has developed and carried out application research, resulting in an electrostatic pollen applicator (ESPA). The unit is a method of artificial supplementation based on electrostatic phenomenon observed in natural pollination.
Pollen transfer in natural processes involves electrostatic forces, which, therefore, should potentially be good enhancers of pollen deposition during artificial processes as well. The group, in their study of the various issues connected with pollination phenomena, observed "that many flowers are morphologically adapted to take advantage of electrostatic forces during pollination; these flowers generally have a longer pistil than other flowers so that, when a charged pollen cloudlet is introduced by an insect or by artificial means, the flowers with the longer pistil are able to collect more pollen grains than those with shorter pistils".
These observations led to the development of the electrostatic applicator for almond, date, pistachio and kiwi crops.
Application results were impressive. In almonds, electrostatic pollen supplementation (ESPS) increased the total yield by 13%. In kiwi, an increase of 13.2% in the number of seeds per fruit was found. Since the number of seeds in kiwi fruit is highly correlated with fruit size, the increase in seed number per fruit should indicate that ESPS could give a significant yield increase. In pistachio, ESPA increased the total yield by up to 28% and the percentage of split fruits by up to 12.7%.
Gal-Mor demonstrated the ESPA and IHTIR watched as a cloud of pollen, electrostatically charged, landed on the intended plant. Currently, collaborative experiments in California may herald the prospect of commercialization of the novel technology.
Walter Clay Lowdermilk, the one time Chief of the Soil Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, worked in China in the 1920s. He concentrated on reclaiming eroded lands to help avert famine. During a trip to the Middle East in 1938-1939, Lowdermilk became inspired by the efforts of urban-born European Jews to reclaim land. Upon returning to the United States, he wrote "Palestine: Land of Promise", which proclaimed that the land could once again support a large population. After retirement from the Soil Conservation Service, he worked with Israelis to implement some of the measures outlined in his book. Many Israelis, at that time, favored technical assistance for agricultural development, over direct food aid. That sentiment was concisely conveyed when Minister of Development, Mordecai Bentov, coined the saying, "We don't need powdered milk; we need Lowdermilk".
In 1951, three years after the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, the influx of 685,000 immigrants doubled the country's population. The pressures for satisfying the populations' need for food was answered by a massive effort to use limited water resources to convert land eroded by centuries of neglect, as described by Lowdermilk, into farmlands supplying agricultural produce. Israel's total surface area is 22,000 sq. kms. Today 50% of Israel is cultivated area, 30% under irrigation and only 20% non-irrigated.
Approximately 80% of all irrigated land uses the fertigation method, combining irrigation and fertilization.
Irrigation drippers have been developed for use with effluents. These drippers allow controlled water distribution and are clog-resistant.
The natural dearth in water resources has compelled the country to find solutions.
The pressure irrigation method has reduced the consumption of water per unit of land by 50%-70%. Today all irrigated areas use this method. The use of recycled water.
Israel is involved in the development and production of new seed varieties which are resistant to disease and are able to meet farmers' requirements including long shelf-life, durability under storage, and suitability to a variety of climatic conditions.
The search for new cultivars and the development of new varieties involves the application of sophisticated methods of cross- breeding and genetic engineering.
Pollination of plants is the subject of extensive agricultural research worldwide. The research is aimed at increasing the rate of pollination. In New Zealand, for example, agricultural production is nearly entirely based on introduced plants, most of which are effectively pollinated by honeybees or bumblebees.
