Participating in the "Global warming, climate change and food security" panel at the Globes Innovation in Agriculture Conference were: Haifa Group VP regulation, environment and sustainability Dorit Koltin; Israel Innovation Authority Senior Director, Climate and Health, Startup Division Dr. Hagit Shwimmer; Simpliigood CEO Lior Shalev; Firstime Ventures founder and managing partner Nir Tarlovsky, and Israel Meteorological Service director general Nir Stav. They spoke the state of agriculture in Israel. The panel was held in collaboration with Haifa Group, which develops 'sustainable agriculture' including the development of feeding solutions adapted to plants, which contributes to strengthening agricultural productivity and reducing environmental damage.
The panel participants spoke about issues regarding the current situation of local agriculture as well as matters concerning the absence of government cooperation. Stav said, "What used to be a kind of discussion about future scenarios has turned into a discussion about the current situation. The climate crisis is here, and the change is happening before our eyes. We are seeing very distinct warming, especially in the northern half of the planet."
In recent years rains have been strengthening and there is a general change in weather patterns, which even creates changes in the familiar climates of seasons. The same increase in instances of extreme events and general warming harms agricultural production, which may lead to food insecurity in global terms in the future. Stav said, "The agricultural sector is one of the most sensitive sectors to climate change. It is important to understand that the change is not only a gradual change, but what we are now seeing is actually a culture of extreme events."
"Precision agriculture," which has been developed by among others Haifa Group has created a precise solution for this problem. Koltin said, "Precision agriculture including special fertilizers and appropriate technology, actually creates sustenance for a plant and solutions for the plant that give it exactly what it needs."
In addition, she added, "There is a land problem. There has been a reduction in the amount of land in the world, and with the help of precision agriculture it is possible, on the same unit of land, to produce more food. This is combined with reduced use of water and less pollution of the same soils."
"I'll know how to manage if the government doesn't bother me"
The question of government involvement is critical. According to Koltin, comparisons with budgets in other countries reflect a gloomy domestic situation on this issue. "Besides grants and incentives, I add the issue of regulation in the country, starting with statutes and ending with all kinds of other factors. A climate project by tech companies should not take five years as in the current situation."
Shalev, whose company Simpliigood produces protein from spirulina algae, joined the call for the government to wake up. He said, "It cannot be that in countries like the UAE and the US, there is an almost full subsidy for startup companies that want to establish an infrastructure that controls the entire value chain, from agriculture to industry to R&D. The subsidy in the world can even reach up to 90%."
Shalev added that local enterprises do not require the same level of subsidy. At the very least, they demand that the state not interfere with them. "If I want to establish a project with the Haifa Group, and I need agricultural land for this purpose, I don't need to hear from the government that such a thing will take five years. I need the government to roll up its sleeves, as well as commercial companies that recognize the potential for commercial collaborations with the startups and understand that it needs to put a focus on these areas.
"The government should financially incentivize not me or companies like me, but local companies, so that they, in turn, will want to work with me. I, for my part, will know how to stay here, I will know how to build the infrastructure and manage it, provided the government does not interfere with me, and that it changes its behavior and attitude to the field."
Shalev insists the industry must change how it measures profit by including in its calculations future damage that may be expensive, whether health damage, from consumption of industrialized products, or environmental damage. When the amount paid to deal with these problems is taken into account, the understanding of profit and calculating it will change, Shalev explained.
Israel Innovation Authority's Dr. Shwimmer spoke about the proliferation of requests by ventures and startups seeking to create solutions for the range of problems produced by the climate crisis. She said, "Technology must be a significant part of coping with the climate crisis, while this crisis is a global challenge."
She added, "Both the EU and the US have very large, new plans to support and to encourage companies and ventures in this field. Israel too must think about how to fall in line with the big powers worldwide and apply itself to this problem."
In addition to a lack of a government budget and appropriate regulations, a question arises about the amount of investment in the field. Raising venture capital funds is a major difficulty for climate tech in the current economic situation and not only because in climate tech, food-tech and cleantech returns aren't seen for some years.
Firstime Ventures Nir Tarlovsky spoke about the local investments market and explained, "Israel has been known all these years for investments in software companies, and the climate problem is a hardware problem. The funding goes through a large investment in infrastructure, and at this point the Israeli investment world needs to undergo some kind of change. Traditionally there is a fear of hardware and projects that require a very high investment before yielding returns." Tarlovsky also stressed the importance of government involvement in creating economic leverage in the field.
However, according to him, already today, "There is great interest both from investors and from entrepreneurs, and I think we will see a large wave of new companies that will be founded in the coming years. A huge industry is developing that is going to be the largest industry in the world in the next 20 years, and tremendous opportunities exist in Israel, along with a lot of knowledge and innovation."
How the war influences agriculture
The war has adversely affected many areas of industry in Israel including agriculture. "The war has deeply disrupted many of the development processes and integration of innovation. Efforts are directed to security, and also to immediate needs, such as the call for volunteers to replace missing foreign workers," said Schwimmer. "However, the war also creates conditions that can possibly be leveraged in favor of innovative solutions. A shortage of manpower, for example, creates a demand for innovative robotics solutions."
Shilav added that agriculture has been hit very hard since October 7. He said, "Still, a year from now this industry will be part of the all-important revival that will be here. The basis for this renewed revival will be Israeli innovation based on companies like ours, foodtech, agritech and biotech companies that know how to flourish and renew the damaged area and re-establish a better agricultural model, that is stronger and more significant."
Dorit Koltinsaid, "From the first moment, we understood that there was a major crisis in Israeli agriculture. The industry is based on many foreign workers, who left. Not only in the areas of conflict, but throughout Israel. There should be nutritional independence, so that agriculture can continue to function even in times of war. This arose during the Covid pandemic and has arisen again now even more acutely."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 23, 2024.
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