Oil rich Persian Gulf states do not have enough arable land suitable for growing food and animal fodder crops; but they at least have the money available to find ways to improve the lands the do have and make them more agriculturally productive. A recent Reuters story reported that in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, a survey was recently conducted to determine how much land might be available for agricultural production. This was done in light of problems such as high soil salinity,  low ground water aquifers and summer temperatures that reach a high as 120 degrees F during the summer months. The solution? Bring in some microbes to condition the soil.

The survey found that over 200,000 hectares of land is suitable for growing certain crops, providing nature gets a little scientific “assistance” in the form of certain types of types of fungus that enhance the growth of plant roots in arid areas. These fungal microbes would enable plant roots to better absorb available soil nutrients.

Camel herd Abu Dhabi: can this land be “microbed” to grow crops?

According to Rajendra Pachauri, director general of the New Delhi-based Energy and Resources Institute, the body that carried out the two year Abu Dhabi survey:

“By mixing the soil with these microbes, or what we call mycorrhiza, the roots of a plant can absorb nutrients from the soil that otherwise it would not be able to do given the climate and soil conditions in the Gulf.”

A pilot agriculture project carried out in Abu Dhabi was able to convert 4,000 square meters of “high saline waste land” into productive agricultural use, according to Pachauri. Although the cost of these types of projects is high, countries like Abu Dhabi are willing to invest in them in order to lower their dependency on importing most of their vegetable produce and animal fodder. “We have similar projects going on in India, Kuwait, and Oman,” Pachauri added.

Finding ways to grow crops in arid desert regions is nothing new, as countries like Israel and Egypt have been doing this for years. Israel’s successful drip irrigation systems are now used worldwide, and even farmers in countries like Syria (a country not friendly to Israel) are interested in using this technology for growing crops.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai are also considering the growing of crops in special elevated “vertical farms” in which not only crops can be grown but livestock as well.

If this mycirrhiza idea is successful, than its use will be more widespread, and could help some of these arid countries to be more environmentally sustainable. The big drawback is obviously the costs involved, as the project in Abu Dhabi is just too expensive for many arid countries which are poor, like Jordan.

According to  Faisl Taha, of the Abu Dhabi Environmental Agency, which headed the project:

“We are talking about tens of millions of dirhams in investments … but it’s worth it because with this land vegetable and fodder production could be increased by up to 70 percent.”

Some crops, like various species of palm trees, including date palms, are known to grow in saline water (which might also explain where the water to be used in these projects is originating from). And a special vertical farm in Dubai is even being planned to use sea water as the moisture base for growing crops.

But as already noted earlier, these types of project, including the one using fungus microbes, appear to be too expensive for poorer desert countries like Sudan, Chad, and other locations like Kenya, where the average person earns as little as a dollar a day.

The bottom line: if you’re rich, anything dealing with environmental innovation is possible.

::Reuters

More articles dealing with growing crops in arid lands:

Futuristic Dubai Vertical Farm Will Use Seawater to Grow Crops

Agritech Expo in Tel Aviv Shows How to Feed the World

Qatar Plans Environment Program With Syria for Turning the Desert Green

The post Hungry Persian Gulf States Look to Mycorrhiza Fungus to Grow Crops in Desert appeared first on Green Prophet.

Chicken is a consumer favorite all over the world, but many people aren’t happy with the way chicken arrives at their table – both from a humanitarian and an environmental point of view. Most of the poultry you buy in the market is raised in factory farms, where the birds contend with overcrowding, disease and worse.

To correct this foul situation, beginning in 2012 the European Union (EU) will require farms to provide more space and more fresh air – and even a mattress or a pillow – for each bird. To comply with these regulations, farmers in the EU and in countries like Israel that sell poultry products in Europe are going to have to upgrade their henhouses. Israel’s Agrotop is poised to help, with its award-winning “henhouse of the future.”

For Agrotop, “award-winning” isn’t just corporate marketing fluff. The company really did win an award from the Ministry of Agriculture this year for its new industrial chicken coop design, which not only meets the new EU standards, but is also completely “green,” says Gaby Pelleg, one of Agrotop’s partners and directors.

A clean, green, aesthetic, humane coop

“We designed the coop to physically match its surroundings, so that the natural beauty of the area where it is built will not be compromised. Plus, we use wind and solar power to generate electricity, recycle the wastewater for use in the coop, and in addition we process the chicken waste to manufacture biofuels. Farmers can sell the power to the electric company, and thereby enjoy an additional stream of income,” Pelleg tells ISRAEL21c.

Chickens had it rough before, but the new EU regulations, which cover all fowl that are raised for food – and which Israel is planning to adopt as well – will make life much more pleasant for them.

Henhouse cages must provide at least 116.25 square inches of space per bird (nearly double the current standard) and provide enough space for birds to move around in freely, with access to fresh air and natural light, enabling them to flap their wings, etc. Cages will be equipped with natural or artificial grass or sand, imitating the birds’ natural environment, and each cage will even be equipped with soft material – a sort of ‘mattress’ or ‘pillow’ – for the birds to rest on.

The regulations were developed in part because of the impact of the animal rights movement, but polls show that most consumers, including those who don’t consider themselves animal rights activists, prefer to see animals well treated.

How green is your coop?

The Agrotop coop complies with the new EU rules and does them one better – by turning the coop into a model of green technology and environmental responsibility.

Industrial chicken production has also been the bane of environmentalists for years. For example, chicken manure has high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, which when discharged into the water “steal” oxygen from fish. Many areas with large poultry production facilities report occasional “fish kills,” where large numbers of fish die off, with scientists connecting their deaths directly to manure levels in the water, and environmental activists demanding that henhouses be closed down.

So in addition to being a boon for animal welfare, Agrotop’s henhouses are good for the environment, too, “The coops are built of recycled material wherever possible,” says Pelleg. “In Israel, most of the coops are in the Galilee, so we designed a low-slung building for Israeli farmers to fit in with the natural topography. The coop is raised off the ground, built on piles, ensuring that it remains a closed system that does not affect the surrounding environment – not even the grass or topsoil on which it stands.

“The roof of the building has wind turbines and photovoltaic cells, for the production of [solar] electricity. And we recycle the birds’ manure, turning it into a methane-based gas,” Pelleg continues.

While the energy produced by the coop could be used to power the building and its equipment, Pelleg says he recommends to farmers that they sell the energy back to the electric company, because they can make more money that way. “So besides lessening the birds’ impact on the environment, our coops provide farmers with an additional income stream,” he contends.

Long-lasting henhouses ready soon

It was these green innovations that pushed Agrotop’s design to the top of the Agriculture Ministry list, says Pelleg, enabling the company to beat out four other competitors for the crown. Although there was no cash awarded for the prize – just recognition – Pelleg believes that the honor will help the company to sell more henhouses, both in Israel and Europe.

Agrotop, which has been in existence for decades, is Israel’s largest manufacturer and builder of turnkey poultry production systems, and has clients in 35 countries. In Europe, Agrotop’s chief partner is Germany’s Big Dutchman, one of the world’s biggest animal husbandry companies. According to Pelleg, European customers of Big Dutchman are itching to get their hands on Agrotop’s coops. Production has just begun, and the first coops will be ready to ship at the beginning of next year.

Changing their entire production system to comply with new government regulations is expensive, and both Israel and the EU countries will be subsidizing the cost of the new henhouses.

“Our design is engineered to last a long time, because we know that even with the subsidy, most small farmers are going to have a hard time finding the funds to buy a new coop. On average, farmers buy a new coop maybe once every 20 years, and we want to ensure that the coop they buy from us lasts at least that long,” Pelleg says.

(This story was written by David Shamah and first published on ISRAEL21c – www.israel21c.org)

The post Agrotop's Green Henhouse Hotel For Humane Poultry That Matches EU Standards appeared first on Green Prophet.

“A land flowing with milk and honey” – that’s one of the most well-known passages from Exodus describing the Land of Israel and one of the first biblical expressions to make its way into the English language. Today, Israel is known for its abundant variety of high-quality food products made from these very ingredients.

While olive oil and dates from Israel are widely available in the United States at supermarkets and health food stores, a new American company called Negev Nectars – based in the Tri-State region – is making sure that the very “best of the sustainable best” from Israel will be delivered to American doorsteps, three times a year.

In a community-supported agriculture (CSA) style distribution network, Americans interested in enjoying Israeli-grown organic olive oil, herbal teas, honey, dates, chutneys and preserves, can satisfy their passion and eco-yearnings by subscribing to Negev Nectars’ CSA.

For $180 a year (the number translates to “life” multiplied by 10 in Jewish numerology), subscribers enjoy hand-selected foods that meet the rigorous standards and values of the most discriminating eco-aware individuals. Profits are channelled back to supporting the farms and people in Israel that practice sustainable farming. These practices benefit the Middle East region and ultimately the entire world.

A green gift from the Middle East

Initially, the boxes will be delivered before major Jewish holidays, but as the endeavour grows, Negev Nectars’ founders Marvin Israelow and Jeffrey Yoskowitz plan to expand deliveries to coincide with major seasons and holidays for people of other faiths as well.

It’s a healthy idea that sends the right message. When you support Negev Nectars, you’re putting your money where your mouth is, because the venture gives back to individuals and farms that are working in desert agriculture R&D and growing crops in harsh desert climates. These practices can and do reverberate across the entire Middle East.

“Most of the shelf-stable products I’m bringing over to the US are made from crops grown with brackish water, using the latest water saving technology to grow in the desert, and for the olive trees, using mainly a desert olive, the Barnea olive, which was discovered in the Sinai and yields more oil per fruit than most other varieties,” says Yoskowitz.

While some people believe it’s essential to reduce the size of your ecological footprint by supporting no-impact or low-impact food – meaning that the food that you eat should be grown and produced locally – Yoskowitz sees no contradiction between maintaining these values and buying into a Negev Nectars’ CSA box.

Thinking global, acting locally

In the Northeast United States where Negev Nectars is setting up, there is no locally produced olive oil. “You can’t get sustainable organic olive oil here,” says Yoskowitz. In fact, he adds “you can’t get [locally grown] olive oil at all.” Despite that, “everyone’s’ still buying olive oil,” he points out.

Olive oil, a staple food in Mediterranean climates, is known for its health properties. It can reduce ‘bad’ cholesterol, while providing the good cholesterol our bodies’ need to function.

Negev Nectars’ founder Israelow is an American philanthropist who supports desert farming research out of Ben Gurion University in Israel. Yoskowitz (pictured left) is an environmental activist, filmmaker, writer and blogger for Green Prophet. Both scoured Israel this summer to locate and select the best products for their CSA members.

“It’s one of the ways to get to know the land of Israel,” says Yoskowitz, who seems particularly pleased that Negev Nectars offers an olive oil produced from the biblical site Kadesh Barnea. It’s likely a spot where the Israelites camped along the Exodus route they took from Egypt to their Promised Land.

Update June, 2019: Negev Nectars is no longer in business. 

The post Order Negev Nectars’ Sustainable Milk and Honey CSA Box in America appeared first on Green Prophet.

Noah Dan has not forgotten the tastes of his childhood.  He remembers eating brara, the fruits and vegetables bursting with incredible flavor but too “ugly” to package for sale in the cities, on Kibbutz Givat Brenner, where he was born and raised.  He also remembers eating creamy, homemade gelato in Trieste, Italy where he spent summers with his Italian grandparents.

Now a resident of the Washington DC area, Noah is the founder and CEO of Pitango Gelato.  Pitango, whose namesake is a variety of cherry that grows wild in Israel, recently opened two new shops in Washington, DC and Reston, Virginia after a successful first run in Baltimore, Maryland.  In his attempt to reproduce the gelato of his childhood, Noah has found a way to build a business that is sustainable, conscientious, and produces a very high-end product without the use of chemicals or artificial additives.

Although he describes his model as upside down and risky because he invested about one million dollars to build production capacity before serving his first spoonful, Noah believes customers taste the difference, and the expense was well worth it.  “Our gelato and sorbets enjoy a clean, balanced flavor and do not leave behind the unpleasant aftertaste and greasy palate associated with industrial-strength ice cream products,” proclaims Pitango’s website. “Our customers understand the difference in quality and price between the pint of fresh local strawberries that goes into our strawberry sorbet and an artificially flavored product that may go by a similar name.”

Milk that is More than Organic

Although hesitant to market Pitango strictly on its organic credentials, lest he scare away customers who associate “organic” with “healthy and bad-tasting,” Noah’s standards go “way, way beyond organic.” After conducting a search across the mid-Atlantic region for the right milk and cream to form the base of his gelato, he discovered that not all organics are created equal. “You can go into an organic farm and they do things by the letter of the law but they are not with the spirit,” he explains. “I’ve been to those farms.  I came out emotionally disturbed.”

Instead, Pitango sources all its dairy products from Spring Wood Organic Farm in central Pennsylvania.  Less than one percent of U.S. dairy farms have grass-fed herds, but Spring Wood is one of them.  Noah describes Spring Wood owner Roman Stolzfoos as “a guy who really loves his cows.”  While the cost of grass-fed organic milk from healthy cows is higher, the quality, flavor, and health benefits justify this cost.

Noah also believes in the benefits and taste of raw milk, noting that every time milk is heating during pasteurization the quality is compromised.  U.S. laws that regulate raw milk protect the big dairy industry, he says, because when they skim, pasteurize, and homogenize milk at high temperatures they are able to sell “sick” milk from ill-treated, factory farm-raised cows.  “Cows produce five times what a cow body should produce over a long time, so you better treat it as a toxic matter,” Noah exclaims.  But he notes that people have long-since believed in the medicinal benefits of raw milk, recalling that once upon a time Shaarei Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem raised cows on the premises to provide raw milk to patients because doctors so strongly insisted upon its medicinal value.

Because Spring Wood’s cows are so healthy and well-treated, Pitango is able to base their gelato on raw milk, which they pasteurize as they prepare each batch to avoid double pasteurization.  The difference in taste is immediately evident.

Other Sustainable Ingredients

Besides their grass-fed dairy, Noah and his team will go to great lengths to provide the purest, best-tasting, most authentic gelato possible.  Focusing on classic Italian flavors, Pitango Gelato contains no flavorings, colorings, or artificial ingredients whatsoever;  “We don’t offer novelty flavors such as blue ice cream or Phish food, because we believe that nature offers its own novelties every season of the year.”

As much as possible, Pitango relies on local, organic fruit for flavors.  But Noah has avoided the organic label because he does not want to be “trapped” if he cannot get an organic ingredient.  He imports a Bronte pistachios, for instance, from Italy.  These nuts are not organic, but they grow wild in the volcanic soil around Mount Etna, and Noah believes their taste is unparalleled. 

Conscientious Business Practices

In addition to tasting better and being healthier, Noah believes sustainable business practices are a no-brainer.  “It’s just common sense.  In recent times people pay more attention to [sustainability], but it’s just common sense.  It also makes good business decisions.”

One example of Noah’s sustainable, good business decisions recalls the brara of his childhood.  He buys small organic strawberries from a farmer in Pennsylvania.  The strawberries burst with flavor, he says, but are too small for the farmer to sell in the city because he can only get a worthwhile price mark-up on large strawberries.  But by focusing more on flavor than looks, Noah is able to procure a better-tasting strawberry for a lower price.

Noah also incorporates sustainability into the operation of his stores. “My grandmother said that only very rich people can afford cheap things,” he comments, explaining how, for instance, the reusable metal cannisters he uses to hold his gelato cost $100 each, but they last forever and are ultimately much cheaper than continuously buying disposable paper cartons.  The fact that they don’t end up in landfills is an added bonus.

The three Pitango stores also boast display cases that cost more than normal but consume about a tenth of the electricity, and recycle the paper they do use by having a wood-boiling burner as a heat source on Roman’s farm.   “We try not to throw away anything.  You just have to think a little bit ahead.”

Noah Dan (left) and staff at the Washington DC Pitango Location

A Business Model for Success

Asked about the future of Pitango, Noah muses about opening more stores across the mid-Atlantic region.  He explains that the Pitango model is scaleable on a modular level, although not like big industry.  The idea is to have one farm that supports a large number of shops, and then repeat the same methods in another region so everything stays fresh and local. It’s not an easy model to execute, but Noah thinks its doable.

“You try to do the right thing, one flavor at a time,” he says.  Noah envisions a food culture in which people associate good value with a label like organic, not in the sense of price but in that the food tastes better, is safer, and healthier.  “We have a long way to go.  I think it’s a fight worth fighting.”

Food politics aside, Noah simply derives joy from watching the joy on customers’ faces when they sample their first Pitango Gelato.  For this reason, he concludes, “Every Jewish boy when he gets to my age should probably open a gelato shop.”

:: PitangoGelato.com
Image Credit: Jamie R. Liu, jane in santa fe

For more on organic food and sustainable food:
Tel Aviv Has a Farm, E-I-E-I-O
Kishorit Becomes Organic Utopia For the Mentally Disabled
Subsidized Sustainable Food Tour in Israel in November

The post Israeli-American Entrepeneur Noah Dan Sells Sustainable Pitango Gelato in Washington DC appeared first on Green Prophet.

Molar (not his real name) is an Afghan farmer living in the central Hazzrajat Province of Afghanistan. His 60 hectare farm along the Helmand River has been in his family’s possession for generations. The crop that he and his family grow to subsist on has also been the same crop for as long as his family has been living there.

And that ‘crop’ is opium.

“This type of farming is all we have to live for,” the bearded father of 12 children said recently when he was informed by Afghan police that they were coming to cut down his crop of opium poppies as part of a continuing crackdown on the growing of this crop.

Molar and his two wives, as well as all of his children over age 8 help grow, and eventually harvest, the raw opium that when finally processed becomes pure heroin sold in places like New York and other major American cities.

As heroin continues to make its way into North America, the number of addicts seeking help for heroin abuse remains significant.

Growing opium is a tradition that has been going on in poor Asian countries like Afghanistan for more than two millennium. In fact, opium is considered as this country’s major export and amounts to more than 90% of the world’s raw opium. But farmers there are getting burned out — their crops destroyed as a method of cutting back on the illegal drug trade.

Life has never been easy for farmers like Molar and his family. Afghanistan is an arid, mountainous country with scorching hot summers and frigid winters.

What tillable soil is available is located on the plains and in mountain valleys, along rivers such as the Helmand, which is the country’s largest. For centuries, the numerous warlords who ruled there made considerable sums of money by selling opium to dealers who shipped the narcotic to markets that included the royalty of Europe and the opium dens of Shanghai and Hong Kong.

And in more recent years, processed opium, otherwise known as heroin, found a ready market all over America.

Opium is the only “cash crop” that farmers like Molar have grown, as it is relatively easy to cultivate and harvest, and does not require a big investment in modern farming equipment. The most important part of the plant, known by its Latin name papaver somniferine, are the seed bulbs that form when the opium flower withers; usually in late summer.

The opium-rich sap is harvested by making slits in the bulb and then collecting the sap when it oozes from the cut bulb. The sap is then mixed with ammonia, and cooked to form a thick paste, which is then dried. At this stage, the opium is ready to be used as a narcotic by smoking it in a pipe. Although this is still done in many parts of the world, the most financially lucrative use of opium is to refine it into a fluffy white powder, known as heroin.

As an indication of the difference in price between harvested opium and finished heroin, a farmer like Molar only receives the equivalent of around $300 for 100 kg of raw opium sap.

When processed into a kilogram of processed heroin, it has a ‘street value’ at destination of half a million dollars!

To give one an idea of how much this stuff is worth to Afghan farmers, it is estimated that they made as much as $3.4 billion in exports in 2008 alone. Of this the Taliban received a cut of at least $15 million.

Since the ouster of the fanatical Taliban regime from Afghanistan in 2001, intense efforts have been made to curtail the growing and export of opium. New projects, such as one called: “wheat instead of poppies,” have been introduced to try to wean farmers off growing opium poppies and into other crops, such as wheat and other grains.

So far, this hasn’t worked out as the land available for agriculture is much less suited for cereal grains, and not nearly as profitable.

Even with the financial assistance of America and other countries, including paying subsidies for growing alternative crops, this still doesn’t replace the profits made from growing poppies.

A 1970 edition of Encyclopedia Americana makes no mention of papaver somniferine poppy growing as part of the Afghan economy. Other crops, including wheat, corn, barley, cotton, and a variety of fruits, especially apricots and pomegranates are noted; as well as a variety of minerals, including extensive natural gas fields. Due to continuous military strife in that beleaguered land, growing opium poppies has sadly become the occupation of choice.

Though the Taliban are no longer ruling, their continued presence is still felt by all, and frustrated farmers are again turning to them for assistance in keeping government forces away from the poppy fields. Terrorist elements, including Al Qaeda, still have their influence with the poppy farmers, and incomes derived from the sale of opium help fund these movements in both Afghanistan and abroad.

“This relationship between farmer and terrorist is propping up the Taliban,” an Afghan narcotics enforcement official remarked recently while supervising the cutting and burning of several poppy fields. Government corruption is rampant, however, and often poorly paid government officials corporate with the Taliban and the drug traders, including the country’s judiciary system.

Due to the country’s virtually porous borders with both Iran and Pakistan, the collected and crudely processed opium sap is merely loaded on the backs of donkeys and camels and carried over the mountains into Pakistan, where it is shipped out to waiting markets in both Asia and the West.

American narcotic agents have been working actively with the Afghans to find and destroy the poppy crops before the opium can be shipped out. Many farmers have become very agitated with the source of their livelihood being threatened.

They have been involved in this form of agriculture for so long that they consider it as a natural part of their way of life; even though many are aware that even in their own country, many people, particularly young men, have become addicted to opium and to a crude, locally processed form of heroin .

A televised documentary by CNN concluded that despite intense efforts being made to stem the growing and export of opium form Afghanistan, the narcotic will continue to be grown and sold to both terrorists and drug dealers who are more than willing to accept the risks involved in marketing a commodity that is responsible for so much human misery and is worth so much on the open market.

And an article published by Al Jazeera, noted a large amount of confiscated opium was burned recently by Afghan police authorities, most likely under orders from Gen. Mohammad Daoud, the Deputy Foreign Minister, who himself was probably under pressure from American and other Western governments.

As for Molar and his family, trying to eke out a subsistence living on their 60 hectare patch of land, it’s either the poppies or starvation.

What’s the solution in Afghan? Could biofuel crops compete with opium?

The post Afghan Opium Growers Get Burned Out appeared first on Green Prophet.

Monsoons in India are both a blessing and a curse. As the heavy rains pour down, they provide the season’s much-needed water for irrigating crops. But monsoons also wipe out entire villages. They cause mudslides, and contaminate potable water. Diseases fester and spread quickly.

Now an Israeli company is using its expertise in water management to try to help Indians living in the Cherrapunjee region in the Indian state of Meghalaya – known as the wettest place on earth – to store rainwater and reforest.

Agri Projects, which is based in Petah Tikvah, combines clean technologies from about 15 major Israeli water companies like the Israeli firm, Plastro Irrigation, with other Israeli water management technologies to build clients in countries ranging from India, to the Ukraine, Thailand and Mexico, complete turn-key solutions in water management, and greenhouse construction and cultivation, offering people who need it most, the opportunity to grow food year round.

Providing water storage facilities

According to experts, the devastation during monsoon season in Cherrapunjee is particularly drastic. Clear-cutting of trees in the region has led to the disappearance of perennial springs, causing an acute water shortage despite heavy rains.

David Rumnong Ashkenazy, the business head and India representative for Agri Projects welcomed a team of Israeli experts recently to India where they are starting the new water conservation project that will give communities in India the ability to be self-sustainable by showing them how to build, water, and sustain their own nurseries and plantations.

The company is also helping the people redevelop and reforest the land based on the Israeli Jewish National Fund model.

“We have planned a holistic approach and steps will be taken wherein rainwater harvesting and a distribution system for livelihood, forestry and agriculture will be created together with the local experts for a phase-wise implementation,” Ashkenazy tells ISRAEL21c.

Building work on the $5 to $10 million dollar project, paid for by the Indian government, will start next month. The project will be a pilot that provides India with both the Israeli technology and know how for conserving water, and for growing and irrigating agricultural produce and trees.

“This is the first pilot project,” says the company director Motti Sharon. “The plan is for them to use this as a model and multiply it around the province, with the power to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people,” he says.

“We are not only transferring the technology solutions, but the know-how of how to manage these types of projects so they will be able to take care of themselves.”

The new project will be the third in India for Agri Projects. The company is working on a post-harvest project there and is also running a citrus scheme set up in an Indian state just above Bangladesh. While the citrus tree project only benefits a few hundred people, the Israeli model in agricultural is catching on. “It is a small and growing project,” explains Sharon.

Agri Projects was founded in 2005 by Sharon who now runs a team of 25 experts, based all over the planet, some in remote locations. Born on a kibbutz in Israel, Sharon has over 25 years experience in managing irrigation systems, integrating agricultural projects, and managing and establishing water delivery and agriculture projects around the world.

For-profit for the social good

Agri Projects is a for-profit company which gives people around the world access to Israeli greenhouse and irrigation technology, but along the way, also helps make the planet a better place.

In Mexico, Agri Projects set up cooperative greenhouses with a local partner, and the Mexican government. The idea was to give Mexicans in rural locations Israeli high-tech greenhouse equipment, so that they could grow greenhouse produce hydroponically for the US market in the winter, when fresh produce in some parts is rare.

Including about 100 greenhouses over a five-hectare area, Agri Projects helped give a viable income to about 25 villages in the Yucatan region. “These are not just regular greenhouses, but small, very high-tech and fully computerized ones,” says Sharon, adding that in Mexico the company has also helped set up large farms. “If they run it in the right way for producing in the winter, they can get excellent prices for their produce in the US.”

Infrastructure was paid for by the Mexico government, with an investment from the US.

“We are satisfied after we do a project in these kinds of regions,” Sharon says. “It gives you a great feeling.”

Not yet active in America, Agri Projects has only just started negotiating with some clients there, but the opportunities for expansion are great says Sharon.

“The US is buying most of its greenhouse vegetables from Mexico and Canada. The percentage of what Americans produce is quite low and I don’t understand why they don’t make their own greenhouses to produce vegetables,” he says.

“This is one of our strengths in Mexico and the Ukraine: a very cost effective-price, which is an advantage,” he adds.

The post Agri Projects Offers Liquid Know-How To India appeared first on Green Prophet.

There is only one nation in the world that has a net gain of trees over the past 100 years. While other countries, developing and developed, have been actively harvesting and lobbing trees down in the name of progress, Israel’s national organization the KKL-JNF (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – Jewish National Fund) has made it a national priority to plant trees in Israel, and to look after them.

Decades before tree planting became a hippy’s dream summer job in Canada, and a responsible thing to do for the environment, Israelis were already making it a national priority, calling on Jews from the Jewish Diaspora or people who wanted to support the Holy Land, to donate money to help plant trees.

That’s why today around the hills of Jerusalem, there are forests planted by nations from all around the world, such as the US, Canada and Mexico. Even America’s Kennedy Family visited Jerusalem and planted a living monument, trees in the name of past President John F. Kennedy, there. The Yad Kennedy monument, outside of Jerusalem, overlooks the very spot where the trees were planted, the John F. Kennedy Peace Forest.

Over the years, Israel’s KKL-JNF foresters have earned international acclaim for the work they do. They select drought hearty-species to cope with the arid land in Israel. And due to their expertise in forestry and fighting forest fires, Israel’s KKL-JNF has a number of cooperation projects with countries all over the world, including Australia and Spain.

Now, Israel has a new country to add to the list. Late last year, El Salvador decided to take a look at Israel’s model for successful reforesting, and is now planning to appeal to its own large and influential group of expatriates in the United States and Canada, to help plant trees in El Salvador.

Planting new roots among the ruins

Unsuccessful investments in coffee plantations, a long civil war in the 1980s and then a destructive earthquake in 2001, has left El Salvador with serious environmental degradation, making much of the country look like rubble.

Rabbi Yerahmiel Barylka, director of the KKL-JNF’s Latin-American Desk, traveled to El Salvador last year to take part in a seminar to see what Israel could do. “Together with the manager, our Latin American representative at KKL, we went to El Salvador as part of a 40 person group, which included people from El Salvador who work with environmental protection and in the field of education,” says Barylka.

As part of the initial meeting, a press conference was held in El Salvador between the Israelis and El Salvadorians and included Carlos José Guerrero, Minister of the Environment in El Salvador; Matanya Cohen, the Israeli Ambassador in El Salvador; and Michael Adari, the KKL-JNF Latin America Chief Emissary.

“I gave them the basic information on how to set up a non-profit organization,” Barylka tells ISRAEL21c. “In the future we will invite all the consul representatives from El Salvador based in the United States and will give them additional seminars,” he says. Hopefully, the consul members will learn how to appeal to potential donors in the US on how to give money to save El Salvador’s environment, through tree planting.

Models of funding, forestry and sustainability

“Afterwards we will send foresters from El Salvador to Israel to learn about the KKL,” he adds.

The idea to work with El Salvador came from the Israeli side, and was facilitated in part by Barylka. Born in Argentina, Barylka is a prolific writer of Jewish books, who also lived in Mexico for nearly two decades before moving to Israel.
Meanwhile, there is an important election going on right in El Salvador, putting the co-operation plans with Israel on hold for a few months. Barylka who will be leaving his post at the KKL-JNF by then, expects the cooperation to continue by no later than the end of the year.

The bi-national cooperation between El Salvador and Israel is expected to share the KKL-JNF’s resources on financial structures, organizational schemes, funding, and all the technical aspects of preserving forests. The KKL-JNF is a five star model of community involvement, representing nearly one million donors in more than 50 countries, all of whom donate to developing the State of Israel.

Trees to improve environment and economy

El Salvador has a problem with its forests, having opted to invest in coffee plants, which failed to improve the national economy. Like Israel, El Salvador has a very large expatriate community, not living in El Salvador. Out of a population of about seven million people, about three to four million are not living in their native country, says a rep from the KKL-JNF. Some of these are affluent people who could support El Salvador if there was an opportunity to do so by planting trees.

Trees provide valuable habitat for wildlife, they prevent heat sinks from building up in cities, hold water in the earth, and provide a nourishing layer for undergrowth and new plants to grow. They can help revive economies and are the basic foundation of environmental conservation.

[image via cookylida]

(This story was reprinted courtesy of ISRAEL21c.)

More on the Jewish National Fund:
The Jewish National Fund Meets An Inconvenient Truth
Plant A Tree For Me in Israel

The post El Salvador Copies Israel's National Forestry Model To Combat Environmental Destruction appeared first on Green Prophet.

Despite having to cancel some tree planting dates due to the war and the related school closures, they have upped sticks to Tel Aviv and are organising a benefit evening this coming wednesday 21st January at the Saluna bar (17 Tirza Street, Jaffa) to raise funds for future tree planting within the Bedouin communities, and other green education activities.

Bustan are a tremendous NGO, whose commitment to the Bedouin community of the south has been unwavering. Bustan are often the first to highlight a problem within the community, and then focus their strong local and International resources upon it, always coming up with lasting positive solutions.

Examples of this include a straw bale health clinic in the unrecognised village of Wadi Na’am, and a straw bale mosque in the same village (sadly recently demolished), the solar power project which helps sick children in a number of villages power medical equipment that they otherwise would be denied, help to create a wonderful desert herb farm in Tel Sheva, and the tree planting initiatives amongst a whole range of help they offer Individuals and communities in general.

So we urge you to get out on the night, have a great night out in Tel Aviv/Jaffa, dance and shake your green booty to the sounds of Ran Cohen, Taani Ester, Lo Dubim, and Aliza Hava, and put some money in great green education projects, courtesy of Bustan!

The post Support Bedouin treeplanting and Green education with a Tel Aviv shakedown! appeared first on Green Prophet.

I went to see Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s documentary film, “The Garden,” at Tribeca Cinemas in Manhattan, part of docs on the shortlist for the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund. I went with a group of farmers living in New York, some of whom work on urban farming projects in and around the City.

The film tells the tragic story of the largest community garden in the United States in South Central Los Angeles.  The garden, a full-fledged 14 acre farm in a blighted neighborhood, was created in response to the LA riots in an effort to heal the city. Lower income residents tended the garden. As the demographics of the area changed, more Latin Americans moved to the area and soon made up a majority of the farmers. 

The film shows stunning images of corn and tomatoes growing amidst and industrial backdrop.  In fact, the viewer sees countless helicopter images of this impressive green square in the middle of Los Angeles sprawl, demonstrating the stark contrast between sunflowers and concrete, verdancy and the pallor of urban industry. The importance of the garden to many of the gardeners is most inspiring, as many relied on the garden to feed their families and had been looking for empowering work to do in the city that would allow them to feed their families hearty and healthy meals.

The story, however, takes a dreadful turn as we see the end result of a failure of government.  Without notice the farmers arrive one day to see a letter of eviction, signed by a developer whose name the farmers did not recognize.  The mostly immigrant farmers were left asking, who is this developer, and isn’t this government land?

The city of Los Angeles failed to notify these farmers that the garden operated on a continually renewed thirty day lease, and that through illegal backroom deals they sold the land on which the garden was farmed back to its original owner (who had his land taken through eminent domain in the early 1990s).  In short, Kennedy shows just how petty interests and government corruption can squash the dream of a community garden.

The impressively shot and cut film weaves together many different narratives, using the overarching demise of the garden as the film’s core. One powerful thread in the documentary deals with how a seemingly powerless immigrant group can rise to the occasion and develop political might, as these farmers managed to do on a grassroots level.  They had no experience in this arena and managed to fight the government with injunctions and lawsuits, one of which is still pending today.  During a point of hope these impoverished gardeners raised millions of dollars to keep their dream alive.  Another narrative focuses on the interesting dynamics among the farmers, competing power and in fighting as they coalesced to save their dream.

One of the many questions that the film raises is what is the best use for land that will serve and help the most people?  City advocates were fighting to tear down the garden and replace it with a soccer field, as well as warehouse which would supply jobs.  We find out later that the soccer field plan was a ruse to profit off the land sale. 

Perhaps the hardest moment of the film is the decimation of the crops. Bulldozers uproot over ten years of farming while police officers hold back protestors and bystanders who are screaming and crying.  Helicopter shots reinforce how much darker the city looks without the 14 acres of green. 

For all those who share the dream to see green space in our cities and all peoples farming, I highly recommend this powerful movie.  Although in some ways it’s a frustrating story to any activist and environmentalist, this story should be seen as a motivating force and not a cautionary tale. I also think many themes, such as the integrity of land ownership, as well as communal agriculture,  parallel stories coming out of  the Middle East, and resonate strongly for me as a green prophet and one who constantly reads about various land/agriculture disputes in the region.  Please go see this film once it makes its way to a cinematheque near you.

The post Documenting the Demise of America's Largest Community Garden appeared first on Green Prophet.

The post Buy Local appeared first on Green Prophet.