Water is an essential commodity, especially in the arid Gulf states where it surpasses oil in liter-to-liter price comparisons. Now a Danish designer has pushed the wet stuff into the luxury goods category, proposing to hawk his H2O in crystal water bottles shaped like the tallest tower in the world, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
Growing crops without soil, otherwise known as hydroponic agriculture, is not a recent innovation. In fact, it can be traced back to ancient times and kingdoms like Babylonia, whose Hanging Gardens were said to have been created and nurtured by use of hydroponics. The modern day Middle East, especially water-deprived countries like Jordan and Syria, has […]
Controversial weedkillers sold by Monsanto, Syngenta and Dow face an uncertain future after a European Union (EU) committee failed to reach consensus on new licensing for glyphosate, the primary ingredient across all brands. It is the second time the European Commission stalled on re-approval, and may result in a recall of the products from all […]
Gaza’s ever-increasing population growth, combined with severe fresh water shortages is resulting in constant challenges to provide enough food for the enclave’s 1.8 million inhabitants. Due to lack of available agricultural space, various methods used to produce food supplies have included planting roof top gardens of herbs and vegetables and small aquacultural projects to grow their own fish. […]
As an innovator of solar energy, Israel has been involved in a number of pilot projects in its Negev desert regions; in particular, one with Arava Power which resulted in a solar energy plant being put in place in the Arava region near Kibbutz Ketura. Areas in the West Bank under control of the Palestinian Authority […]
Alberta Canada’s massive wildfire, which has now consumed an area larger than Hong Kong and threatens to reach the border with neighboring Saskatchewan, is another startling example that may be attributed to the ravages of global warming. While most of the Middle East does not have large tracts of forest land, areas where forests and grasslands are […]
China’s state-owned ChemChina tendered a $43 billion bid for Swiss seeds and pesticides group Syngenta today as part of a strategy to improve domestic food production. Remember the classic board game Monopoly? It’s being played by multi-national agri-businesses in attempt to control the world food supply chain. China is the largest agricultural market on the planet. Syngenta’s […]
Could you be in Tel Aviv next week? Can you follow a focused and fast-paced discussion delivered in Hebrew? Then hightail it to a special meet up to hear how an innovator took his initial food tech concept and nurtured it to fruition. Must-have intelligence for anyone toying with a start-up. But reserve your seat […]
Israeli non-profit Modern Agriculture Foundation (MAF) is developing lab-grown chicken meat that doesn’t require the rearing and slaughtering of birds. Since 2014, they’ve been researching mass production of cultured chicken meat from a single bird cell. If they succeed, we could soon be asking, Which came first, the chicken…or the chicken? Chicken is the world’s second favorite meat […]
A special Kickstarter campaign invites you to aid the ballooning Middle Eastern refugee crisis, with all proceeds going directly to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The one-week fundraiser was launched on Tuesday in response to a question posed by President Barack Obama: could crowdfunding incite Americans to get more involved in refugee relief? White House […]
Qatar – the tiny desert nation known for sinking millions into futuristic follies like artificial clouds and underwater TV studios – has come down to earth with a plan to grow up to 70 percent of its own vegetables by 2023. Currently under 16 percent of their veggies are locally grown. “Cutting edge technology” will […]
Ever have a salad that was out of this world? Astronauts aboard International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 44 have. They just dined on the only lettuce ever cultivated without an atmosphere. The produce grew inside “Veggie”, a tiny greenhouse about the size of a computer monitor. Specifically designed for microgravity environments, the technology can potentially benefit food production […]
Researchers from Oregon State University’s (OSU) Hatfield Marine Science Center have created a new strain of seaweed with potential to grab the title for World’s Top Superfood. The newly patented strain of the red-leafed algae dulse, a lettuce-like plant that grows in the wild along Atlantic and Pacific coastlines. It’s packed with protein and minerals., but the […]
A team of Syrian scientists at the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) braved the terrors of civil war to protect a critical piece of global heritage, meticulously transporting plant genetic material from a seed bank in Aleppo to the Svalbard Seed Vault in Norway. Their actions to protect the region’s ancient farming […]
Travel to the Middle East has never been a better deal than now – in terms of economics (deep-discounted hotels and holiday packages), weather (blizzards have all blown by and crushing heat is still months away), and – in most of the region’s top touristic venues – political stability. All my view based on four […]
What’s the social value of a new app that connects me to the best pizza in town? Or a gadget that can help me talk to a fellow gamer in China? Maybe the answer is zero, but maybe not. There is a new investment trend in town and it’s called Impact Investing. While the East and West Coasts […]
Rajendra Pachauri, director of think-tank The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has resigned as chief of the United Nations (UN) panel of climate scientists today after allegations of sexual harassment, which he has denied. He was to lead 2015 Climate Change Conference (COP21), the high-stakes global warming summit to […]
Posters mocking actor Ed Begley Jr. and radio-host Robert Kennedy Jr. were plastered all over Hermosa Beach, California and nearby neighborhoods ahead of the pair’s recent appearance at the simplistically titled, “Environmental Forum with Bobby Kennedy Jr. & Ed Begley Jr.” at the Hermosa Beach Community Theater. Tuck this in the ballooning file labeled “When celebrities […]
It’s been weeks since a Palestinian vegetable vendor from the West Bank town of Jericho last imported mushrooms, selling instead homegrown organic ‘shrooms grown for the first time in the West Bank. Amoro Mushroom Farm in Jericho – the first farm in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to commercially produce white mushrooms – is emerging as a […]
Israeli Minister of Economy Naftali Bennett (above right) launched the flagship “Water City” project in China this week, announcing that the city of Shouguang in the Shandong province would be the focus of Israel’s water-related activities in the country. Israel is considered a leading industry player in water technologies, delivering solutions from agtech to desalination at a reasonable […]
A fascinating report published by Mumbai-based think tank Strategic Foresight Group (SFG), asserts that trans-boundary water cooperation directly correlates with regional stability and peace. The inverse also holds true: failure to collaborate when managing shared water resources raises the risk of war.
Lego announced a break in its 50-year partnership with Royal Dutch Shell, a split sparked by an anti-Arctic drilling video produced by environmental activists Greenpeace. The clip – which capitalized on our love for Lego building block toys – went viral on YouTube with over 6 million hits. It incited a million email complaints to the toy maker […]
I’ve started a small water farm. But unlike my attempted and horridly failed attempts at soil farming, where worms, weeds and beetles have taken over on my small plot and my brain, I’ve seen some impressive progress on water.
There is a growing concern that the free trade agreement between Iran and Turkey has encouraged an increase in the production and transit of drugs in the Middle East. Following the 2009 agreement to enhance co-operation efforts of land, air, and sea transportation, politicians and economic analysts have grown ever more concerned about the rising […]
Disruptions in food trade and marketing in the three West African countries most affected by the Ebola virus out of control have made food increasingly expensive and hard to come by, while labor shortages are putting the upcoming harvest season at serious risk, the United Nations FAO warned today.
