Raanan Katzir*
*SACOG, " Sustainable Agriculture Consulting Group"
4 Efter St. Tel Aviv, 69362, ISRAEL.
Tel: (-972-3)-6991381.Celular: (-972-58)-727-976
Fax: (-972-3-) 6990152. E-mail: rannan@inter.net.il
A. Summary

The advanced agriculture of the 21 century, could be determine as the sustainable management of the natural resources as soil, water, crops, animal husbandry, climate and the human resource, for agricultural production. Under the intensive or the subsistence agriculture, natural resources are destroyed when non conservation methods are applied. Food security is endangered. Urban population at present, comprises half of the world population, depends mostly on their food security on the rural society food production.
The Israeli case presented here, demonstrates farming under arid and semiarid conditions. An intensive agriculture, based on sustainable management of the scarce and vulnerable natural resources. Utilizing secondary resources as desert area, recycled sewage and saline water. Taking advantage of the introduction of new botanical species. Establishing methods to overcome harsh climate conditions. Applying IPM to reduced pest and diseases hazards. Enhancing permanently the human resource to develop an advance farming system, in order to supply the local and export food demands.
B. Introduction
We are living in a world where the environment is constantly changing. Our globe is becoming warmer, as a result of the Greenhouse Effect, which generates extreme changes of climate in different parts of the world. In South America, for example, the El Niño phenomena is causing heavy rains and disastrous floods, whereas in Africa, the Middle East and North America, long periods of drought are occurring. In both cases, agricultural production is being damaged and the potential food supply, mostly for poor people, is decreasing.
Our air is steadily becoming contaminated as a result of released toxic gases, originating from polluting industries and intensive transportation systems. This air contamination in the industrial countries of the North is causing the Acid Rain phenomena which is drastically causing deterioration of the forests in Canada, the Scandinavian countries and Siberia.
Air contamination of CFC (Chloro Flour Carbon) gases is causing the hole in the ozone layer to become larger, increasing incidents of cancer and skin diseases among human beings in Chile,
Argentina and Australia.
The Global Warming effect is increasing the melting of the polar glaciers and, as a result, the sea level is rising. The threat of inundation of coral islands and coastal areas is increasing.

The agricultural industry, which is the main supplier of human food and vegetative raw material, is using high amounts of pesticides for plant pest and disease control, bringing about increased resistance among pests and microorganisms that attack plants. This resistance to . Pesticides , at present, is the main reason that chemical control in agriculture is unsuccessful, resulting in heavy damage in pre-and post-harvest agricultural crops. As more toxic material is needed, more pesticide residues remain on the plants, contaminating food stuff and causing toxic effects to consumers. This also negatively effects the natural fauna and restricts the export capabilities of fresh food, due to the very strict regulations of industrialized countries.
The world's water resources are also steadily diminishing as a result of the increasing needs and use for agriculture, industry and human consumption. In the arid zones of the world, people are facing serious water shortages. This could be one of the reasons for national and international conflicts.
Deforestation activities, over grazing, poor agricultural practices and fires, which are very drastic in some developing countries, are the reasons for soil erosion, followed by soil particle sedimentation in riverbeds downstream, causing heavy floods in the plains. This phenomena is also responsible for reducing the absorption of water into the ground, in the mountainous and hilly areas, and for significantly reducing the outlet capacity of springs and underground aquifers.
The increasing and uncontrolled use of fertilizers in agriculture is causing a buildup of underground water contamination, mainly of nitrates, with serious consequences for human health. In addition, heavy industries contaminate soils and underground water sources with heavy metals and organic solvents.
At present urbanization is also becoming very common in most of the world’s societies with half of the world's population living in urban areas. In most of the developing countries, uncontrolled immigration from rural areas is causing immense human concentrations to develop in enormous cities, made up of many millions of inhabitants. In these very densely populated societies, poverty, crime and unemployment dominate. Heavy and dense transportation systems and industry in these cities use fossil fuels and, as a result, the emission of toxic gases increases. Many large cities, like Santiago,
Chile, Mexico City and Athens, where local topography does not allow for natural outflow of these gases, are often forced to close the civic centers to traffic, since the situation becomes unbearable for the urban population. In cities where the infrastructure is weak, sewage water with no outlet can be found streaming into the streets. This is the reason for intestinal diseases and the contamination of potable-water conducting systems. Sewage water contamination of rivers and lakes is also destroying the potential use of these bodies of water as a resource for drinking and irrigation water.
The contamination of bodies of water also leads to their destruction as a fishery resource.

C. The Third World visa-vis the Industrial World
The apocalyptic viewpoint, as described, is very characteristic of many Third World countries. Our world is quite drastically diverse. The industrial countries in the North are advanced economically and technically, while the developing countries in the South, of Africa, South America and Asia, are constantly facing economic difficulties and social problems such as poverty, unemployment, insufficient health services and lower rates of food consumption. Four-fifths of the world's population that are living in the developing countries must try to survive under these extreme circumstances.
The industrial countries are characterized by high income per capita, advanced technology and more stable governments with better budgetary options. Therefore, they are able to invest in infrastructure improvements, searching for and applying environmental solutions to reduce ecological disturbances and to improve the standard of living of its inhabitants.
Third World societies have a lower income per capita. The governments are poorer and cannot invest in improving the infrastructure and environmental conditions, which in turn constrains social and economic factors.
D. The Israeli Case
The State of Israel is small, only 20,000 km², located in the Middle East in an arid zone, where water is the most limiting factor for development. Israel lacks favorable natural resources for agricultural production. Half of the country is desert and the other half is semi-arid, depending very much on winter rains, which usually fall between November and March.
The state is relatively young, only 52 years old, founded in 1948. In the early years it struggled for its independence and survival while absorbing hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came mostly as Jewish refugees from Europe and the Arab countries.
Over thousands of years , vegetation in this area has been destroyed. During Biblical times, agriculture in Israel was mainly rain-fed, based on sheep, goats, wheat and olives - a classic example

of subsistence agriculture. However, since the beginning of the modern Jewish settlement in the
19 th century, steady transformation occurred, from subsistence to mixed farming, ending with the modern market-oriented agriculture for local and export markets. Agriculture was based on high skilled human resource element, comprised of only 2.5% of the working force. Technological innovations are practiced. Factors like research, extension and the establishment of infrastructure, as support for national and regional production services, were emphasized.
Since we are dealing with an eroded arid and semi-arid country, with very vulnerable environmental conditions, an approach for adapting sustainable agricultural methods is required. The aim is to conserve and maintain in the long run viability of the use of natural resources for food production, for the present population and the generations to come. The Israeli case can serve as a positive example: that even in a country like Israel with fewer advantage of natural resources, when agricultural research, extension, economic investment and highly qualified human resources are emphasized and integrated, the result can be very fruitful.
E. The Israeli Experience
Agriculture could be defined as the sustainable use of natural resources for food and vegetative raw material production. Natural resources, such as water, soil, plants, animal husbandry, climate and, above all, the human factor, should be managed in such a way as to prevent ecological disturbances while efficiently being used for agricultural production on a yearly basis.
Following are some of Israel’s main achievements in sustainable agricultural management of its scarce and limited natural resources.
1.Water
Since water resources are more abundant in the north and scarce in the south, a national water carrier was constructed in the 1950s to conduct water derived from the Sea of Galilee towards the center of Israel to supply drinking water to the urban areas of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Two extended water pipes conduct the water of the Sea of Galilee to the cultivated areas in the arid zone of the south.

The sewage water in Israel is recycled locally in oxygenated or sedimentation pools to a required standard and is then used, under strict health regulations, as irrigation water.
Rainwater is collected at the stage of runoff after heavy rain. The water is pumped from the usually dry riverbeds into specially constructed reservoirs to be used during the dry summer for irrigation.
The drip irrigation system, which is an Israeli invention of the early 1970s, is widely used as a lowconsumption, irrigation method. This method enables precise water application and is therefore regarded as a water-saving technique. Drip irrigation is integrated with the application of fertilizers in a method known as fertigation. The fertilizers are applied directly and precisely to the plant roots, according to the amount needed, based on laboratory analysis of foliage and therefore the method is regarded as sustainable, in order to prevent underground water pollution.
Another advantage of the drip irrigation method is the use of saline water, available in the aquifers of the arid areas in the South. Some salt tolerant crops have been found, such as tomato, melon, beet, cotton, asparagus, Bermuda grass, dates , grapes, olive and others. The wells with the saline water are deep and therefore thermal. Sources of thermal water are being used for heating greenhouses and for fish production in ponds. The used water is recycled for irrigation purposes.
2. Soil
In the low precipitation area of the arid zone , soil conservation methods, like constructing terraces and contour plowing, enhance the harvesting of rainwater, to increases soil moisture locally.
These methods have allowed for the large expansion of reforested and savanna areas. Today, due to the use of fertigation , sand dunes are being intensively and largely cultivated successfully with such crops as citrus, avocado, mango, vegetables and flowers. The desert characterized by high radiation and temperatures during winter, is suitable for the intensive greenhouse production of off season crops , mainly vegetables, fruit flowers and fish for export to the European market.
The heavy and wet soils in the northern valleys , which are affected by salinization, were affectively drained by introducing drainage systems.
3. Crops

4. Animal Husbandry
Raising cattle for milk production, under the extreme temperatures of the desert, will negatively effect milk production due to heat stress. Diversified measures have been developed and introduced successfully into the milk production industry to alleviate heat stress and increase milk production, such as ventilation, humidifiers and high and ventilated construction.
The technology of using chicken manure for beef-cattle nutrition is also widely used.
5. Climate
Desert climate conditions, during the winter season in Israel, are favorable for the greenhouse production of vegetables and flowers for export purposes. Under greenhouse condition, many factors that influence growth can be controlled very efficiently like: soil-less artificial media, water supply, radiation, light, temperature, air humidity and carbon dioxide levels. These technologies enable the production in desert areas, which normally cannot be used for agricultural production, of off season agriculture produce for export.
6. Plant Protection
Pest and disease are destructive factors for agriculture. Since their effect on yields, pre-and post- harvest, is so decisive , sustainable control measures have been developed. Integrated Pest

Management (IPM) is the basic control approach. Through regional IPM services operate , based on field monitoring of pests , pest and damage threshold levels can be measured. Only selective pesticides are applied, if necessary. Biological control methods have been adopted in order to reduce, as much as possible, the use of chemical pesticides. As a result, pesticides residues, which constitute a threat to human health and are therefore a major limiting factors for export , are restricted.
In the greenhouse industry , the use of special kinds of plastics such as Infra Red or Ultra Violet plastics, which are influencing the introduction and spread of light in the greenhouse, is common. It has been found that the use of these plastics is controlling the movement of aphids and other sucking insects known as viruses vectors, and as such preventing virus spreading and contamination.
Plastic such as polyethylene sheets, are used as soil covers, during hot summer , to absorb sun radiation to heat the soil. The application of this technique achieves a very effective soil treatment against pests , diseases and weeds . Such treatment, is replacing toxic chemicals, like methyl bromide, and therefore is regarded as highly sustainable method.
7. The Human Resource
The human resource is the most important factor in this configuration. It includes the farmer as producer, and all the human services regarded as supporting systems for agricultural production. The factors involved are research, extension, finance, supply of imputes, local and export marketing infrastructure, regional development project like water resources and irrigation systems.
Agricultural regional R&d projects constitute a unique factor on the regional level. Within this framework, farmers , researchers and extension specialists are cooperating in order to identify regional agricultural problems , generating specific solutions and applying them in practice. This system has proved to be very efficient in solving regional agricultural production barriers.
The State of Israel has a very diverse climate and topography. Every region has its unique characteristics . The mechanism of regional R&D contributes special knowledge and technology to emphasize the advantages of the various regions. This vast variability enables the farmers of the different zones to grow such a wide range of crops, despite the small size of the country.
In recent years , new aspects of agriculture development have been focused on agro-industry, agro-tourism ,organic agriculture, peri-urban agriculture and small farmer entrepreneurship. All of these fields are new and based on the principles and technologies of sustainable use of natural resources, which bring farming to a higher level and new challenges to the Israeli farmer.

F. Epilogue
The short history of Israel’s agricultural experience, developed on relatively degraded land while introducing agricultural sustainable methods, has led to the achievement of the high level of success in the field of agriculture. This experience can be studied and used as an example by other countries.