How Israel became the most advanced country in agriculture

[Music] at the beginning of the 19th century early settlers who decided to settle in the lands of israel faced a huge challenge how to farm in conditions of sweltering heat and minimal rainfall the land was catastrophically barren but the desire to make this area livable was much stronger thus ways to develop agriculture without water and fertile soil have been found how exactly did israel manage to become the capital of advanced technologies in this area we will find out in this video on the innovative tech channel water scarcity has been and remains a problem that humanity has faced throughout history but if earlier a relatively small part of the world's population suffered from a lack of water then in the last century this problem has reached a global scale the terrifying trend was confirmed by an official study of the global water crisis scientists have found that at the beginning of the last century only 14 percent of the world's population which is more than 200 million people lived in areas with a certain degree of water shortage by the 1980s this share had increased to 42 and by the 2000s it had increased to 58 percent 3.8 billion people faced water shortages more than a billion of them lived in areas experiencing severe water shortages mainly in south and east asia north africa and the middle east for israel almost half of whose territory is occupied by deserts the issue of water extraction has also been acute at all times for a long time the main source of fresh water was lake kinneret in 1952 the new state began to build a national water supply system a network of pipelines canals and reservoirs for the supply of water from natural reservoirs and lake kinared in particular simultaneously the construction of hundreds of wells for the extraction of water from underground aquifers was launched in the country however despite significant successes in the fight for fresh water it was still not enough to meet the agricultural needs of the state amid a rapidly expanding population and booming industry israel is faced with a new challenge over the years the country's average rainfall has decreased and water resources have been depleted faced with new challenges the israeli government decided to turn its attention to the mediterranean sea as a new main source of water for agriculture nowadays fifty percent of israel's total water consumption is desalinated seawater however the country also uses other unique technologies for the sustainable development of agriculture israel has made tremendous progress in the so-called recycled water technology it is about reusing water for irrigation of agricultural land by recycling wastewater since the 2000s the country has invested over 750 million dollars in centralized water treatment this added 37 billion gallons per year to the country's total water production currently there are 67 large wastewater treatment plants in israel 10 of which treat more than 56 percent of the country's wastewater collection at the same time the largest water treatment enterprise is the shaft on wastewater treatment plant the plant named a model by the united nations treats 97 million gallons of tel aviv's urban wastewater per day water from the sewage system undergoes secondary biological and tertiary treatment and is then transported through a pipeline to irrigate 60 of agricultural land in the negev desert israel without exaggeration can be considered the world leader in wastewater treatment for comparison in the usa only 10 percent of water is recycled while in israel this share reaches almost 90 percent here is what gilad erdan former minister of strategic affairs and public diplomacy of israel and now israel's ambassador to the united states set about this today almost 90 percent of our wastewater is recycled that is about four times more than in any other country in the world this is a remarkable achievement and it benefits not only israel israeli companies help save water all around the world from africa to california and india another technology without which israel would never have turned deserts into blossoming gardens is drip irrigation instead of flooding the fields with huge amounts of water and fertilizer israeli hydraulic engineer sim hablas in 1956 proposed a way to deliver moisture and fertilizer literally drop by drop directly to the roots of plants this technology was born completely by accident noticing that one tree was more luxuriant than the others in the backyard blast dug up the soil near the tree trunk and found that water was dripping from the damaged pipe and fell directly to the roots it took blas and his team years to bring the idea to its logical conclusion but ultimately the drip system helped restart agriculture in israel and 109 other countries around the world from sugar cane fields in the philippines to tea plantations in tanzania israeli drip irrigation technology is not only flexible hoses made of stabilized polyethylene with drips that equalize the flow of water along the entire length of the pipeline the system includes devices for water purification and filtration fittings for distributing water throughout the field as well as equipment for dissolving and dosing fertilizers and of course automatics with drip irrigation water flows to all plants evenly and in the same volume leaves and stems of plants do not get wet there is no danger of the spread of fungal infections and the soil surface between the rows of plants remains dry which prevents the growth of weeds the netafim israeli company founded by blast that developed this irrigation method claims that the technology saves 25 to 75 percent of pumped water compared to classic irrigation thus less water fertilizers and pesticides are used as a result not only are the yields increase they are also less exposed to chemical pollution of aquifers the system works in such a way that half of the water used for irrigation produces twice the yield at the same time the coefficient of useful water use the ratio of water uptaken by a plant to that used for irrigation with drip irrigation is about 95 with surface irrigation 45 and with sprinkler irrigation 75 a significant part of israel is located in one of the driest regions on the planet but it is not only the lack of moisture that threatens agriculture in this region the soil in israel also cannot be called absolutely suitable for farming in such soil the root system of plants does not develop strongly enough as a result of which the plant receives fewer nutrients and gives a lower yield this problem is being fought in israel with the help of useful mushrooms there are many species in nature and most of them form mutually beneficial relationships with plants the so-called mycorrhizal fungi effectively expand the root system of plants with the help of mycelium a network of long microscopic filaments called hyphae the surface area of the mycelium can be up to a hundred times greater than that of the plant root itself this secondary root system absorbs moisture and valuable nutrients that would normally not be available to the plant for israeli farmers this is the perfect solution to increase yields in an environmentally friendly and absolutely safe way with the dynamic growth of the population in regions with insufficient water supply the battle for moisture seems to be a new reality that we will have to face in the coming decades this is why technology used in israel and exported to other countries could save millions of people in the driest places on earth a recycling water supply system seawater desalination technologies drip irrigation all these work perfectly in a single country and allow israel not to worry about a shortage of water and food despite climate change and a growing population will other countries be able to adapt all these technologies as effectively as israel did in its unequal battle with the desert will these technologies help stop global migration when water scarcity in certain regions becomes threatening only time will tell what do you think about this please share your opinion in the comments below the video [Music] foreign

Channel: Innovative Techs

Views: 944,410

Keywords: inventions, israel, technology, agriculture, farm, modern agriculture, most amazing, another level, engineering, amazing, facts you didn’t know, science, renewables, new Inventions, change the world, innovation, most, tech, innovative techs, Innovative

Id: SQu6T3NtX3M

Length: 8min 40sec (520 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 13 2021

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How Israel became the most advanced country in agriculture.