A crowd of 1,000 people celebrated Israel’s 65th anniversary in the predominantly Muslim nation of Senegal in western Africa on Tuesday. “Israel very much values its warm ties with Senegal, which is an island of stability in an unstable region,” Israel’s ambassador to Senegal, Eli Ben-Toura, told the crowd of religious leaders, businessmen, artists and diplomats who gathered at Dakar’s Grand National Theater to celebrate. Ben-Toura told JTA that Israel has trained hundreds of …More

An Israeli start up is revolutionizing the way average families receive their daily milk. MiRobot is an automated milking system that produces quick, efficient milk retrieval, a coup of a system in Israel, which leads the world in milk production. “Automated milking systems that are on the market are not really appropriate for large dairy farms,” MiRobot’s CFO David Rubin recently told the Times of Israel. “The robots that are available can only handle about 70 cows a day — …More

The Jewish world’s largest environmental organization has announced plans to cooperate with the government of Montenegro. A delegation from Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF) will establish a presence in the southeastern European nation and work with the country in the areas of agriculture, water, and forest management. During the past week, Efi Stenzler, world chair of KKL-JNF, and Eli Aflalo, co-chair, met with mayors of Podgorica and Kotor, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development …More

World Food Prize Laureate and Israeli-American scientist Dr. Daniel Hillel is helping to inspire the next generation of sustainably minded scientists and scholars. During a three-day residency at the University of Delaware this week, Hillel plans on discussing his time spent researching and living on a Negev kibbutz as well as his innovative micro-irrigation system that helped transform and modernize agriculture in arid lands worldwide. Dr. Hillel, who now conducts research at Columbia University-Earth …More

Agriculture may have been present in the Negev region as early as 5000 B.C., according to recent research by Ben-Gurion University archaeologist Hendrik Bruins. The findings, if confirmed, could have significant impact on how historians and archaeologists view the inhabitants of the region 3,000 years prior to the Jewish exodus from Egypt. Current scholarship suggests that agriculture did not exist in the Negev until approximately the first century. Prior to that, inhabitants survived by being herders and raising …More

Israel’s largest producers of root vegetables put out more than 200,000 tons of product in 2012, a recent activity report stated. Yaham cultivates massive amounts of root vegetables for the Jewish state, like onions and potatoes. While Israelis enjoy a large portion of that effort, the produce is also exported around the world, adding necessary commerce to Israel’s economy. "We produce and market root vegetables from 14 communities at western Negev,” said Dror Tanuri, CEO of Yaham. “Our …More

The Jewish state’s largest crop illustration has been created in the image of Shimon Peres, to honor the Israeli president’s 90th birthday later this year. The field formation was sculpted in Kibbutz Tel Yosef, where residents decided to surprise the president with the celebratory homage. Each year, Peres makes a helicopter trek from Jerusalem to the northern Galilee to take part in a memorial service for Zionist activist Joseph Trumpeldor. While en route, Peres’ pilot told the president: …More

In 1870, the first Jewish agricultural school was founded in what would become Israel. Mikveh Israel was created as a way to teach new agricultural advancements to classrooms of boys, who could then use the skills as a trade and way to develop the largely desert scape of then-Palestine. The school opened in an area southeast of what is now Tel Aviv, a plot of land that was leased from the Turkish sultan. The Ottoman Empire allocated 750 acres for creation of the school, which today makes up part of the …More

Several Americans will be among this year’s recipients of Israel’s prestigious Wolf Prizes, an annual designation considered a strong indication for Nobel Prize nominees. The recipients were announced yesterday, with the awards intended for handout at the Knesset in May. Israeli President Shimon Peres will head the ceremony. Seven scientists and one architect were named honorees for the prize, which comes with a $100,000 reward. They include Yale Professor George Mostow for his contribution in the …More

This year’s International Agriculture Conference in Tel Aviv highlighted some of the groundbreaking ways Israeli scientists are helping to feed the world. The Jewish state’s official YouTube channel uploaded a video last week, highlighting some of the most exciting companies in today’s agriculture market. Zeraim Gedera is a produce company specializing in vegetable seeds. The group made the world’s first seedless pepper, telling marketers, “It’s a great pride for us that …More

The president of the Navajo nation recently made a visit to Israel, finding comparisons between his people and the Jewish state. President Ben Shelly and his wife Martha made the trek as part of a goodwill mission to learn more about Israel’s agricultural and tourism advancements. “We set on this mission to look at how Israel has advanced in growth in some of the same areas we face on the Navajo Nation,” Shelly said upon arrival Saturday. The trip was organized using funds from Navajo …More

Israelis are being exposed to dangerous pesticides at rates far above the residents of the European Union. A recent report by the Israel Union for Environmental Defense found high levels of 105 pesticides on fruits and vegetables, many which have been banned in the EU due to their carcinogenic properties and dangers to healthy, childhood development. "There is a need to act swiftly to limit the public's exposure to pesticides," Amit Bracha, CEO of the group said. The study, which was based on samples collected by …More