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Corporate Organic Food Struggles to Compete in Israeli Markets

In Israel the organic food market is still comparatively small and underdeveloped. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz organic food only comprises one and half percent of Israel’s agricultural output. A whopping 90% of it is exported abroad, mainly to European markets. An annual Agriculture Ministry survey in 2011 discovered that 37.4% of the organic […]

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Syrian Farmers Increasingly Vulnerable

As the political conflict rages on, drought-hit farmers in Syria struggle on and the aid trickling in to help is severely inadequate In March 2011, the political situation in Syria began to unravel. Syrians took to the streets in places like Homs and Hama in an uprising against president Bashar al-Assad, who responded with mortar […]

5 Israeli Fresh Food Markets – Traditional, Farmer's and Organic

Tel Aviv Carmel Market. Above image via esme Visitors to Israel’s best fruit and vegetable markets already know the country’s two most famous landmarks: The Carmel Market in Tel Aviv, which winds down from trendy Sheinkin Street right down the Mediterranean the Sea. And Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda market, which anthropologically speaking, is most interesting on […]

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Lebanese Farmers Market Makes Food Not War

Although Lebanon’s Christian and Muslim communities live in an uneasy balance, a trendy farmers market has helped bring the nation’s diverse groups together to sell traditional food. According to Agence France-Presse, 47 families sell fruit, vegetables, preserves and bread in Beirut’s Souq El Tayeb, the first farmers market in the country. Chef and TV personality […]

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Jordan Bankrolls Cheap Vegetables for Ramadan

Jordan  opened 15 lower-cost vegetable markets Saturday in several cities in honor of Ramadan, the month-long Muslim fasting holiday that began Friday. According to the Jordan Times, the government began the market program last Ramadan. In exchange for a free stall, water and electricity, farmers agree to mark their produce down 30 percent. The program […]

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Tel Aviv Has a Farm, E-I-E-I-O

If the city folk won’t come to the farm, then the farmers will come to the city.  Unfortunately, though, many times when the farm comes to the city, it comes in a yuppie, elitist  form such as the slow food farmer’s market in the Tel Aviv port.  Or even the farmer’s market in Jaffa.  While […]

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Na Laga'at Brings Slow Food Farmer's Market to Jaffa

The Slow Food movement brought a farmer’s market to the Tel Aviv Port (or, namal) this past summer, helping city dwellers enrich their salads and dishes with some great local (and carbon-emission low) produce.  Now, to enrich our winter soups, the Slow Food movement, the Jaffa Port, and non-profit organization Na Laga’at are all joining […]

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Hearty Roots Puts the Community in CSAs

It’s always exciting to get farm-fresh organic produce delivered to your door through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme, which have proliferated wildly around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. But when I tagged along with a friend to her Brooklyn CSA last weekend, I saw how nice it can be when farmers deliver their vegetables and […]