News — Israeli researchers came to a surprising conclusion in a recent study, pinpointing agriculture as a key to solving the country's growing ecological problems. Land used for agriculture provides Israel's best method for preserving open space in the face of rapid development in a country on its way to becoming the most populated in the Western world.
This finding flies in the face of environmental wisdom in the United States, which views agriculture as a contributor to environmental degradation.
"While agriculture in the United States is seen as destroying wilderness, here the choice comes down to agriculture or roads and shopping malls," said Dr. Ofira Ayalon, who authored the June 2003 report together with Prof. Yoram Avnimelech for the Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Dr. Haim Zaban of Zenovar Consultants.
Recent government announcements on new settlements planned for the Negev and Galilee are evidence that the government continues to convert agricultural land to development.
Yet agriculture is vital to Israel's economy and health as a nation, Ayalon added.
Twenty percent of Israel's land is cultivated, with agriculture contributing 2 percent to the country's GDP and employing 75,000 people. An additional 90,000 employees work in sectors related to agriculture and agricultural products. The industry also feeds Israel's population and is a major exporter.
Agriculture's indirect economic value -- in the form of improving air quality, providing an escape from urban environments, processing waste products and even protecting borders -- is estimated to reach hundreds of millions. None of these values can be imported, the scientists point out.
"It is clear that our physical and emotional well being cannot abide a situation where all our food is imported and our beloved landscape is covered with concrete and asphalt, even if there are profits to be made in the lucrative real estate market," Ayalon said.
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