On Friday, June 19, icnext went to Eden Farm, the most advanced and diverse agricultural institution in Israel. Eden Farm is not just a farm, but also an “agricultural experimentation station”. Their goal is to use the latest agricultural and scientific technology in order to protect and enrich Israel’s environment, provide more economic opportunities for families, and increase the quality of life for everyone. The mission stated above is crucial in learning the truth about how Israel operates from multiple perspectives, and that the mission is crucial in understanding the truths about how Israel interacts with other countries. Despite some issues, Eden Farm epitomizes how advanced Israel is environmentally, technologically, scientifically and economically.
Eden Farm continuously experiments with different plants and technologies to discover how best to protect Israel’s agriculture. For example, there is an invasive species of red palm weevil, originally found in eastern Asia, that is laying its eggs inside date trees. When those larvae hatch, they start to eat the tree from the inside. About 50 larvae can destroy a date tree within three to six months destroying years of growth. Eden Farm has been using “BioBee” – a technology where replicas of the enemies of invasive species or parasites are created – in order to ward off the population of weevils; however, since BioBee does not work all the time, Eden Farm has to keep experimenting. They had the idea that if people train dogs to sniff out explosives or other contraband, then why couldn’t they train dogs to sniff out harmful bugs, like these red palm weevils? I thought that was true genius.
In addition to minimizing the effects of invasive species, the farm uses and reuses ALL of the water it acquires from the Jordan River, Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), and underground wells – clean and dirty – in order to supply the majority of Israel with water. This will be discussed more in-depth later. Ultimately, what I really want to stress now is that people should not be thinking or convinced that Israel is just some desolate desert where nothing survives, or thinking that Israel does not care about the environment.
Along with Israel’s impact on the environment, Eden Farm symbolizes Israel’s ideals for science and technology. For example, as explained a little bit earlier, Eden Farm uses ALL of the water it collects from the Jordan, Sea of Galilee, and other underground wells. When clean, high-quality water is collected, minerals are added, and the water is either shipped off throughout Israel or used for growing their own plants. When dirty, low-quality water is collected, it flows through many canals to get cleaned and fortified with various minerals, and is then either shipped off to other parts of Israel or the world, or used for their own plants. Both processes are extremely important to the crops grown and drinking water produced on this farm. Additionally, the farm uses water to create acceptable air temperature inside their greenhouses. For example: Basil is a very important crop at Eden Farm, but it needs warm temperatures and the nights in winter are too cold in this region. Heating the greenhouses with electricity is too expensive, so the farm’s research team developed “water sleeves” – plastic sleeves with water in them that are heated by the sun. They are placed in the greenhouses to supply free radiant heat during winter nights. Eden Farm also discovered that plant size can be controlled or manipulated by changing the amounts of water and fertilizer, and uses advanced technology to shorten growing times so that plants are harvested earlier. These simple yet brilliant technologies were very intriguing! It is crucial for people to know that Israel is not an underdeveloped country in terms of technology or agriculture, but the most technologically and agriculturally advanced country in the Middle East.
Finally, when talking about Israel through economic and diplomatic lenses, Eden Farm does a phenomenal job putting Israel’s ideals into action. For example, through this farm, Israel is able to export flowers (like sunflowers), vegetables (like various types of peppers, tomatoes, carrots, celery, and eggplant), herbs (such as basil and mint) to other countries throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world. 85% of Israel’s fish comes from this farm. I think it is fascinating how much produce Israel can export because of this farm. This farm provides jobs for several agricultural communities, which include kibbutzim (families work together) and moshavim (families work privately). In addition it is really extraordinary that Jordanians also work with the people on this farm, which leads to the farm serving a diplomatic purpose. Ever since the peace agreements between Israel and Jordan, Israel’s relationship with Jordan has become stronger, and more and more Jordanians have been willing to help Israel in providing for the common good. What sickens me is how people are so naïve in thinking that Israel steals food and water from Jordanians and people of other Middle Eastern countries, which is obviously false. Ultimately, people need to learn that Israel only wants to help others prosper, which Eden Farm has truly shown.
Eden Farm truly lives up to its missions – to provide environmental protection, jobs, develop new technology, and build relationships with the rest of the Middle East and the rest of the world. It is amazing how many people are brainwashed by both the media and other people into thinking that Israel is some savage, deserted country that only thinks about itself. I hope I was able to give a clearer understanding of the ideals Israel really has.