By
Israel 21C
For the
full article go to: http://tinyurl.com/p9subll
Food
security is a major concern for our rapidly growing planet. As resources
dwindle and the population rises, smart solutions for better agriculture and
safer food storage are essential.
No
other single country – certainly not one as young and as tiny as Israel –
has contributed more breakthroughs in this area than Israel.
Since
the 1950s, Israelis have not only been finding miraculous ways to green their
own desert but have shared their discoveries far and wide through channels
including MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development
Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
ISRAEL21c
has highlighted dozens of food-related advances pioneered by Israelis. Here
are 12 major ways Israel helps feed the world.
7. Squeezing every drop
of water from the air
Tal-Ya Water
Technologies developed reusable plastic
trays to collect dew from the air, reducing the
water needed by crops or trees by up to 50 percent.
The square serrated
trays, made from non-PET recycled and recyclable plastic with UV
filters and a limestone additive, surround each plant or tree. With
overnight temperature change, dew forms on both surfaces of the Tal-Ya tray,
which funnels the dew and condensation straight to the roots. If it rains, the
trays heighten the effect of each millimeter of
water 27 times over.
Inventor and CEO Avraham Tamir
told ISRAEL21c that the trays also block the sun so weeds can’t take root, and
protect the plants from extreme temperature shifts. “Farmers need to use much
less water, and in turn much less fertilizer on the crop,” which translates to
less groundwater contamination.
8. Unparalleled crop
protection
Two years
ago, Hebrew University’s tech-transfer company teamed with Makhteshim
Agan, a world leader in
crop protection products, to develop and commercialize slow-release
herbicides and a targeted insecticide that doesn’t
harm beneficial insects.
The total worldwide herbicide
market is valued at more than $15 billion, of which approximately a quarter is
dedicated to soil-applied herbicides and other pesticides. The
Israeli approach incorporates herbicides into micelles or vesicles, which
are absorbed onto negatively charged clay minerals to enable a slow
and controlled release, reducing leaching to deeper soil
layers. This enhances efficiency and reduces the required
doses.
The novel insecticide kills
caterpillars of night-flying moths – a common scourge for farmers worldwide
– but unlike common commercial preparations, has minimal or no effect
on any other creature. High levels of control can be achieved with
much less product, greatly minimizing environmental impact.
9. Fishing in the desert
Overfishing is a serious threat
to the food supply, a grave situation since fish is the main source
of protein for hundreds of millions of people. But what if fish could
be raised virtually anywhere, even in the desert? That is just what
the Israel’s GFA (Grow Fish
Anywhere) Advanced Systems has made possible.
The Israeli “zero-discharge”
system eliminates the environmental
problems in conventional fish farming, and doesn’t depend on
electricity or proximity to a body of water. Specially developed
microbes purify fish waste byproducts right in the tank, with no
need for spillage and refilling.
The largest facility using GFA
technology, in New York, produced about 100 tons of sea
bream, bass and tilapia in 2010.
10. Food from greenhouse gas
Israel’s Seambiotic clean-tech
company recently launched a commercial algae farm
in China and does business in the United
States and Italy as well.
People don’t eat algae, but algae
ponds nourished by power-plant effluent conserve farmed produce for
human consumption because they generate 30 times more feedstock for biofuel
than do land-based crop alternatives.
Plus, the tiny plants, which
thrive on carbon dioxide and sunlight, produce a valuable
nutraceutical food additive that is especially popular in the Far
East.
11. Reintroducing carp
to Africa
Half a century ago, Lake
Victoria carp was a significant part of the diet of the nearby Ugandan
villagers. But when Nile perch was introduced to the lake, it
decimated most of the smaller fish including the carp. Villagers had neither
the equipment nor the expertise necessary to start fishing the huge perch, and
symptoms of protein deficiency started becoming apparent in their children.
Prof. Berta Sivan
of Hebrew University came to the rescue with a multiyear project
near to help these African families.
Her team was able to apply techniques developed over many years for Israeli
fish farmers.
The Israeli project not only
successfully spawned carp on Ugandan fish farms, but also provided training on
how to dig and fill ponds and raise the small fish. Now local children have an
abundant supply of protein to eat with their fruit and vegetables.
12. Hardier seeds for better
crops
Hebrew University agricultural
scientists Ilan Sela and Haim D. Rabinowitch developed TraitUP,
a trademarked technology that enables the introduction of genetic materials
into seeds without modifying their DNA. This method immediately and efficiently
improves plants before they’re even sowed.
The university’s Yissum Research
Development technology transfer company licensed the seed treatment technology
to Morflora Israel for curing fruit-tree diseases in orchards and
groves, and for seedling treatment in the nursery.
“The new ability to deliver
traits within days instead of years, and to offer a treatment with results
similar to breeding to all current species, answers a long and unmet need that
will revolutionize modern agriculture and significantly impact the vegetable
and commodity crop markets,” said Dotan Peleg, CEO of Morflora.
Video of the week: http://tinyurl.com/pgxj3jv
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