K A S H R U T . C O M_©

December 5, 2024 from Times of Israel:

"Over 250 experts in nutrition, farming, planning and other disciplines from the public, private, academic and civil society sectors gathered online on Sunday for updates on an ambitious plan to create Israel’s first food security program.

"Coordinated by the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, in partnership with the health, economy and environmental protection ministries, the plan will develop into a draft policy document for ensuring food security through to 2050. It is to be submitted to the government by the end of April.

"However, with a quarter of the Agriculture Ministry’s staff to be slashed this year and next, along with NIS 360 million ($98.6 million) in funds for research and investment, a large question mark hangs over implementation.

"On Monday, ministry officials told a special meeting of the Knesset Economy Committee that the cuts — part of wider government moves to fund the wars against Hamas and Hezbollah — would “paralyze” both the ministry and Israeli agriculture.

"Drying up agricultural R&D budgets constituted a “long-term strategic risk,” they went on, and would “irreversibly harm” Israel’s ability to remain a world leader in agricultural innovation and to continue producing sufficient food.

"Work to develop a food security policy began almost two years ago, at the initiative of the National Security Council’s climate adviser, Victor Weiss. But it was turbocharged by the war against Hamas in Gaza, which exposed the limits of the state’s growing reliance on food imports over recent years.

"In May, Turkey, Israel’s fourth-largest trading partner, halted all exports to Israel, including food staples such as tomatoes. Azerbaijan has been picking up some of the slack, but thanks to timely Agriculture Ministry grants, Israeli farmers stepped up to the plate. In November, they grew around 15,000 tons out of 16,000 tons consumed in Israel.

"The growing dependence on imports without a parallel process to equip Israeli farmers to compete had led to a decline in local production, Lipkin said. He cited the example of garlic imported from China, which has wiped out local garlic production. Cheap at the beginning, imported garlic has since risen in price. Meanwhile, with wars and climate change, countries focused on their own needs first, Lipkin went on. Among other global byproducts, climate change has affected imports and prices, of olive oil, for example.

"Israel’s population is expected to double by 2050, yet many crops are no longer grown locally, and agricultural productivity has not increased for years.

"The food security administration’s self-stated goals include ensuring “the ability to produce local food and the regular supply of healthy and affordable food in the medium and long term, in quantity, quality, variety and physical and economic accessibility, to enable a healthy lifestyle for the entire population in Israel, while promoting local agriculture and food industry and sustainable and climate-adapted food systems.

"The next stage will see the working groups set goals, targets and metrics. Starting in January, the third stage will look at alternative approaches, and from March, the focus will be on formulating an operational implementation plan.

"A second webinar will be held on March 3, with a conference set for April 27 to present the plans to the public in the presence of ministers and ministry directors general."