Innovation Nation: Israeli AgriTech Is Feeding the World
From drip irrigation to lab-grown protein, Israel's 500-plus agritech startups are attracting $2.1 billion in investment — and selling solutions to 130 countries.
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In a greenhouse in the Negev, tomatoes grow in sand. No soil, very little water. Sensors monitor each plant's needs in real time, adjusting nutrients and irrigation to the millilitre. The yield is four times what conventional farming would produce.
This is Israeli agritech, and it is changing the way the world grows food. The country that turned its desert green through necessity has become the world's leading exporter of agricultural technology — a remarkable achievement for a country of nine million people with almost no arable land.
Israel now has more than 500 agritech startups. Last year they attracted $2.1 billion in investment, a record. Their customers span 130 countries, from subsistence farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to industrial operations in China and Brazil.
The Water Paradox
The paradox at the heart of Israeli agritech is that it was born of scarcity. Israel has almost no freshwater. Its founders were forced to innovate or starve. Drip irrigation — developed by Israeli engineer Simcha Blass in the 1960s — now waters crops on every continent.
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