How do you grow large amounts of crops in an arid desert? You do what Isreal does.
How do you make sure plants get the water they need without wasting any of this vital
resource? You do what Israel does. How do you ensure that soil doesn’t become depleted of
nutrients from over-farming? You guessed it; you do what Israel does. So, how does
Isreal manage to turn its deserts into fertile farmland in a sustainable way? Let’s find out.
This extremely small country sits on the banks of the Mediterranean and is mostly
made up of desert. Yet, Israeli agriculture is booming. They lead the world in sustainable
farming technology and innovation in the sector. Over the last several decades,
their groundbreaking practices have developed more out of necessity than
anything else. What they have come up with is truly amazing and will forever change the world.
To put the harsh climate of Israel into perspective,
parts of the country only get around 1.2 inches of rain a year. On average,
rainfall tends to be around 12 inches along the coast but tends to fall mostly during
the winter months between November and March, meaning the rest of the year is dry. This is
a huge problem for farmers who need to grow crops year-round to feed their families and
the country. But in this harsh environment, growing plants can be incredibly difficult.
For this reason, Israeli farmers and scientists have found ways to make the most out of their
water, land, and crops. This is not only good news for the people of Israel but for
the world as a whole since Israeli researchers are more than willing to share their practices
and technology with other farmers. These innovations allow countries that may also
have harsh environmental conditions to grow crops year-round using very few resources.
The most obvious problem to overcome with farming in Israel is the lack of water.
How do you turn deserts into farmland in such a hostile environment? There are a
few innovations that Israeli agriculturalists and researchers have come up with that turn
the desert into a bountiful place to grow crops. And since around 8.5 million people
are living in a country the size of New Jersey with a growth rate of around 1.6%,
Israel needs to be able to produce as much food as possible.
So, where does a nation made up of mostly desert get its
water from? The Mediterranean Sea ofcourse!
The major issue with using water from the Mediterranean is that it contains salt.
Since salt water kills most plants that are grown on land, this may seem like an unusable
water source. Israel gets around this problem by using desalination facilities to remove the
salt and create fresh water. This is not just done for agricultural purposes but for drinking water
as well. The problem with desalination is that it can be energy intensive and costly. However,
if done right, as Israel has done, it can provide an almost unlimited source of water.
Israeli desalination plants work by pumping salt water from the Mediterranean Sea into
a pre-treatment chamber where the water passes through several different filters to remove any
sediments or particles that might be suspended in the water. These impurities need to be removed to
ensure the rest of the process goes smoothly. If larger particles make it past this tank,
it can cause blockages in the next series of filters, which could result in the whole
system needing to be cleaned before the desalination process can begin again.
The pre-treatment process uses a mixture of gravity and jets to move the water through the
filtration system. Once the water is cleared of any larger particles, the salt needs to be
removed. Since the salt is dissolved in the water, the molecules are too small to take out with
conventional filters. Instead, the desalination process employs the use of reverse osmosis.
Reverse osmosis occurs when water is forced through a semi-permeable membrane with pores
small enough that only water molecules can pass through. Since the salt molecule NaCl
is larger than a water molecule, H2O, the salt gets trapped behind the membrane while
the water molecule passes through the microscopic holes. But it’s not just
salt that reverse osmosis removes; it also separates any other dissolved substances
from the H2O molecules. This results in a sterile, almost completely pure water source.
But this is not the last step in the operation. Interestingly, Israel's desalination process is
so effective that minerals and chemicals must be put back into the water to ensure it meets taste
and anti-corrosion requirements. This happens in the third stage at desalination plants before the
water is pumped out of the facility to faucets and irrigation systems across the country.
Again, the process of desalination is super effective and can generate
enormous amounts of fresh drinking water, but the entire procedure
requires a massive amount of energy and, therefore, can be very expensive.
Israel knows that they have very little choice in the matter, so the country has
invested heavily in desalination plants along its coast. There are new plants being added
every few years to ensure that freshwater production can keep up with population
growth. This water source also needs to reach farms and agricultural businesses,
which puts a lot pressure on Israel’s desalination plants and water distribution infrastructure.
As a result, Israel takes things a step further. As with their farming practices, they take
advancing the technology of desalination very seriously as well. If they are going to generate
enough water to irrigate their land, engineers and scientists know that waste must be reduced
as much as possible. Water is like liquid gold in the desert, and not a drop should be wasted.
A huge problem in most desalination plants and water treatment systems is the loss of
water due to leakage. Even a slight crack in a pipe can result in thousands of gallons of
water being lost every day. This is too much waste for something so crucial to Israel and
its irrigation systems. Therefore, Israel has invested heavily in infrastructure and sensors
that detect cracks very early on so they can be patched or repaired. These systems
and technological advances allow Israel’s leakage rate to be the lowest in the world at only around
7 to 8% loss during operation. For most water systems, the typical loss rate is close to 30%.
This means that Israel is saving millions of gallons of water from being wasted each year.
Plus, almost all of the water used by farmers and Israeli citizens gets recycled so it can
be repurposed. Over 80% of the water flowing to farms and households in Israel is recycled.
This is also the highest reuse of water out of any nation in the world. Over half the water
used for irrigation and agriculture comes from water treatment plants,
where waste is removed using a series of natural and artificial filters. This is a
time-consuming process and can take as long as six months to purify the wastewater completely,
but in the end, it’s worth it. Recycling water is one of the most important components of turning
deserts into farmland. Nothing else matters if no clean water sources are available to grow crops.
We will now explore the secrets and technologies that allow farmers to
grow crops in the desolate deserts of Israel. We know that water is required
and that it comes from a mixture of rain, desalination plants, and recycling facilities,
but how do agriculturalists actually convert deserts into farmland?
One of the key components of this process is precision irrigation. Just like in the water
treatment and distribution process, Israeli farmers don’t want to let any water go to
waste. Precision irrigation allows farmers to water their crops more effectively using
less water. This means that they are not only saving money but saving resources as well. There
are several ways this is done, each of which is more sophisticated and effective than the last.
Drip irrigation is one aspect of precision irrigation that saves on water and nutrients
while also making sure each plant gets the sustenance it needs. Drip irrigation works
exactly as you’d expect. The hoses and nozzles that distribute the water are
close to the ground and drip directly onto the dirt above where the roots are located.
This water then seeps into the ground and nourishes the plant. This simple
but effective process allows for more water to be absorbed by the roots before it evaporates.
Sometimes the irrigation system is actually funneled underground and provides water
directly to the roots of plants under the soil. Both methods reduce the amount of
water needed to sustain a large field of crops compared to traditional watering systems that
spray sizeable amounts of water across a field, allowing more water to evaporate as a result.
And although drip irrigation is mostly used for fruits and vegetables, it can also be highly
effective for growing field crops such as rice, wheat, and corn. In fact, recent studies coming
out of Israel suggest that drip agriculture is especially effective for growing these types
of crops. It has been found that by using drip irrigation instead of paddies, the amount of rice
grown in an area can increase exponentially. This, of course, is a huge advantage, but on top of
increased yields, drip agriculture uses 70% less water, reduces methane emissions by almost 100%,
and decreases arsenic uptake by as much as 90% when compared to traditional farming methods.
These numbers are huge and allow for sustainable farming on a whole new level. The grim reality
is that the arid conditions Israel is fighting against could become the norm in many parts of the
world as the planet’s climate changes and droughts become more frequent. However, it would be best if
we don’t wait that long. Drip irrigation is one way to conserve resources while increasing yields
and decreasing greenhouse gases like methane. It is a win-win for both humans and the planet.
And Israel hasn’t stopped there. Instead, they have taken drip irrigation to a whole
new level by using variable rate irrigation technology to accompany their already
sustainable practices. This new tech is a game changer and could literally save the world.
Variable rate irrigation, or VRI, uses a series of sensors and software to measure the moisture,
nutrient content, and several other factors to distribute precise amounts
of water to each plant as necessary. This is huge because it allows individual crops
to receive the right amount of water to help them grow while reducing waste even further.
Think of VRI like this. Every moment of the day, the sensors are reading the moisture in the soil
around the roots, how much water is being lost to transpiration, and weather conditions in the area.
Using all of this data and more, a computer can calculate the precise amount of water a
plant needs at any given moment. It’s so accurate that two plants next to each other may get vastly
different amounts of water throughout a day based on the type of crop and its needs. This boosts
yield and growth as the VRI system customizes an entire watering schedule for each specific plant.
The best part about VRI systems that are already turning Israeli deserts
into farmland is that the technology can be integrated into already existing irrigation
systems around the world. Even at farms that are using traditional spraying techniques,
VRI can be implemented to identify areas of crops that may need more or less water. This
is done by integrating VRI technology and GPS sensors into a farmer’s daily watering schedule.
Based on the weather and saturation of the soil, the VRI software can recommend which
parts of a farmer’s field should get watered and when. In the long run, this will increase crop
yields and decrease water use. GPS can also be used to identify gradient changes and different
topography that may affect runoff and could result in plants receiving too much or too little water.
In order for this technology to work, farmers and irrigation specialists need to work together
to implement the best VRI system for each farmer’s needs, but as the technology in Israel progresses,
integration is becoming easier and easier. At some point, VRI will likely become the
standard for most agriculturalists as it’s already a game changer when combined with
drip agriculture in certain parts of the world, like Israel, Africa, and India.
As you can tell, the necessity to evolve and improve agricultural practices in Israel has
led to some brilliant innovations. But Israeli scientists and farmers
haven’t stopped there. Further technological advances are needed to ensure that growing
food in a desert remains viable. This is where monitoring and automation come in.
A plant might need water while a farmer isn’t around. Maybe they are at the market selling
their crops, or perhaps it’s the middle of the night. These situations have led
to the development of automated irrigation systems that immediately disperse water as
a plant needs it. These systems, coupled with variable rate irrigation and drip irrigation,
have allowed farmers to spend less time watering crops so they can
focus more on harvesting and tending to other aspects of their business.
And even though it usually doesn’t rain in many parts of Israel,
the region is blessed with rain from time to time. These systems work together to
identify weather patterns and to ensure that crops aren’t overwater or drowned.
As the climate changes and certain countries around the world find their
population continuing to increase, growing enough food to feed the masses will become
much more imporant. This is oftentimes easier said than done, as regions experiencing large
population growth tend to be developing nations with limited resources. First and foremost,
Israel has been very generous with its agricultural advances, and several organizations
are working to bring these technologies to parts of the world that need them most.
But there are also other agricultural practices that allow Israel to increase crop yields while
also reducing their impact on the environment and reducing the amount of resources they use.
Things like vertical farming and hydroponics have become game changers in the agricultural
sector. Plants can be grown in greenhouses with very little space and no soil. Hydroponic
systems allow plants to get the nutrients and water they need with minimal waste. And
since these systems are self-contained, it makes recycling water easier and controlling
runoff and pests much more manageable than growing crops in traditional ways.
Israel is also experimenting with natural ways to reduce pests and weeds on their farms. Even
in the desert, insects feed on farmers’ crops, and weeds spring up to steal nutrients. Israeli
scientists have been experimenting with modified pollens that target a weed’s reproductive cycle.
These pollens are much less harmful than herbicides as they are not composed of
deadly chemicals that, when ingested, can cause serious harm to humans and animals.
Not only are these modified pollens safer, but they are much more effective at killing
herbicide-resistant strains of weed. This is because there is no way for a weed to
build up a tolerance to pollen since it’s a natural part of its reproductive cycle.
But there are even simpler technologies that allow Israel to increase crop
yields in the middle of the desert. For example, by using shade cloth coverings,
the amount of evaporation can be reduced, and crops can be protected from the intense
radiation from the sun that can dry them out. Farmers in Israel are combining high-tech
systems like variable rate irrigation with classic techniques such as shade cloths to
generate hybrid farming practices that work even in the harshest environments.
Israel is also returning to the basics and choosing to grow crops that are more resilient
and suitable for arid environments. This may seem like an obvious choice,
but many agricultural companies around the world tend to grow plants that are
not native or suitable to the environment they’re placed in. By using massive amounts of water and
putting large quantities of artificial fertilizer into the soil of a field,
you can grow pretty much anything anywhere. However, the cost of doing this on the land
itself is immense. Unsustainable farming practices like these will make environmental
catastrophes like algae blooms and resource depletion even worse than they already are.
Therefore, Israeli agriculturalists and scientists are working on breeding
different drought-resistant plants to generate seeds that require less water and nutrients
to grow. Plants like Ramon almonds can resist embolisms that result in blockages of a tree’s
water vessels. This allows them to thrive in arid climates. The research conducted by
Israeli scientists on the Ramon almond has shown that this particular tree could be a
vital crop in the future as areas become drier and hotter due to climate change.
Researchers have also found that lemon trees are an excellent plant to grow in
the deserts of Israel when supplemented by their irrigation technologies. Lemon
trees close their stomata--which are similar to the pores of your skin--once
they absorb enough carbon dioxide to carry out photosynthesis. This prevents the lemon
tree from taking in too much CO2 while also reducing the amount of water loss.
It will never be sustainable to grow water-intensive crops in a desert,
but it can be sustainable to grow drought-resistant crops
in the desert using recycled water and advanced irrigation systems like is being done in Israel.
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