Of all the options available to Israelis who feel the need to volunteer during the ongoing war in Gaza, it seems that the most popular is helping the country’s farmers. Social media platforms are full of posts from people who, until recently, had never put on a pair of Wellington boots and spent the day working in the field, describing their experiences. It looks good and it is almost certainly necessary at this time – but it is far from clear to what extent we can count on this volunteerism in the long term. One Tuesday late last month, a group of volunteers arrived in the western Negev to help harvest the pomelos when it started to rain heavily. “We got caught in an almighty downpour. So much rain and mud. The volunteers ran to their cars and left,” says Benny Avitan, a farmer from Nir Akiva, a moshav some 10 kilometers from the Gaza border. “Don’t get me wrong: the volunteers are wonderful. Their solidarity warms the heart, but this is obviously not the solution. A volunteer manages to harvest half a container of fruit a day. The workers from Hebron, who can’t get here at the moment, harvest 12 or 13 containers a day each.”

Avitan’s is one of the largest farms in Israel, covering an area of around 16,000 dunams (around 4,000 acres). He says that he currently needs 200 additional workers. Avitan usually employs laborers from Hebron who have amassed considerable experience harvesting citrus fruits, but they are currently barred from entering Israel – even though they have been individually approved by the Shin Bet. “The workers from Hebron would not have walked off the job because of the rain. They would have waited 10 or 15 minutes until it stopped, making themselves tea in the meantime, and then they would have gone back to work. The volunteers left the moment it started drizzling. They saw rain and mud – and they went home.”

Elsewhere in Israel there are other farmers who, while appreciating the work of the volunteers, are disappointed with the Agriculture Ministry. “Before October 7, I employed 170 workers – 20 percent of them from Thailand and the rest Palestinian. Now, I have 20 workers from Thailand who decided to stay for some reason, and four or five Israelis,” says Shimon Avian, who grows strawberries in Kadima and Tzur Moshe. “We get a lot of volunteers and I am truly grateful to them. They do what they can. But now there is work that they cannot do, like putting down infrastructure and laying plastic sheeting. We have to take the sheeting off every morning and put it back at night. Not many volunteers would be willing to do such hard labor. I am worried that, later on in the year, if the Palestinian laborers are not allowed back, I will be forced to close my business – or at least to declare a year of inactivity.”

Avian’s cousin, Tzachi Ariel, also grows strawberries in Kadima. “Oren Lavi, the director general of the Agriculture Ministry, told me that he is bringing workers from India, but I am still waiting to see them. I asked him whether they would arrive after the rain. After all our strawberries have been washed away. The Agriculture Ministry’s response has been disappointing. They could have asked the pre-military academies, the students; they could have planned, arranged and organized all of the volunteers, so that we would have had regular workers here. But they let each organization work out how to organize the volunteers by themselves. As I told a friend: this government doesn’t deserve a nation like this.”

In total, Israeli agriculture employs around 75,000 people – more than half of whom are foreign workers or Palestinians from the West Bank. Compared to other countries, Israel employs a huge proportion of foreigners.

‘Maybe the Workers Will Arrive in Two or Three Weeks’

According to Agriculture Ministry figures, some 10,000 of the 30,000 Thai workers who were in Israel on October 7 have now left the country. The Palestinian workers – numbering around 20,000 – were barred from entering Israel.

In total, Israeli agriculture employs around 75,000 people – more than half of whom are foreign workers or Palestinians from the West Bank. Compared to other countries, Israel employs a huge proportion of foreigners and it is no coincidence that the lack of foreign workers has created a massive crisis from the industry. In the European Union, for example, where there is freedom of movement between member countries, around 6 or 7 percent of workers are foreign. In the United States, just 9 percent of agricultural workers are not citizens.

A large proportion of the vegetables that are sold in Israel are produced in the Gaza envelope: around 60 percent of the potatoes, half of the tomato-growing areas and around 40 percent of the cabbage and carrots, according to data published by the Knesset Information and Research Center. The first two weeks after the war were extremely tough, with shortages of produce in grocery stores and a sharp rise in price, but thereafter there was an improvement. Now, however, farmers are worried about what will happen in three or four months from now, given that some farmers were afraid to take the risk of planting crops and those in the Gaza envelope were unable to do so because they did not have the workers. If an additional front of fighting opens up in the north, this could also have a catastrophic impact on the egg market, since around 70 percent of eggs are produced on moshavim along Israel’s border with Lebanon.

The most urgent problem is the lack of workers. The Agriculture Ministry, in cooperation with the Finance Ministry, launched an incentive program, whereby anyone who works for at least two months for the same agricultural employer will be given a grant of 3,000 shekels ($820). The goal is for farmers to have regular employees and not different volunteers on a daily basis. In the Gaza envelope, the state is offering double that amount for the first two months and an additional 4,000 shekels ($1100) for the third month. This too, however, is only a temporary solution since the incentives are only available until the end of March 2024.

Like Ariel the strawberry farmer from Kadima, there are many others in the industry who believe that the Agriculture Ministry could have done a lot more when it comes to organizing the voluntary efforts of Israeli citizens – like setting up volunteer groups in the pre-military academies, among students and even civil servants. Ministry officials reject this, however, saying that their purpose is not to organize volunteers, in part because of insurance issues, but they do say that they are in contact with the volunteer organizations and that the Agriculture Ministry website offers a service connecting farmers who need workers with people seeking to volunteer.

The mission that the Agriculture Ministry is currently focusing on is bringing more foreign workers to Israel. As part of this effort, a dozen private staffing agencies – which already have a license to bring foreign workers into the country – have been authorized to find 5,000 workers from various countries. The state has signed off on this problematic measure despite the fact that it could potentially open the door to illegal commissions. “In terms of the permits, there’s no problem bringing more foreign workers here,” says Yuval Lipkin, deputy director general of the Agriculture Ministry. “But not everybody wants to come here when there’s a war happening. This is the greatest agricultural crisis Israel has ever faced and we are also suffering on this issue.”

The fact that Israel is a rather unattractive destination for foreign workers is also something that the owners of private staffing agencies have experienced. “For now, no one is coming,” says Shula Keren, the owner of an agency which finds foreign workers for employers in the Central Arava region of Israel. “We’re working night and day, but we don’t feel like there’s been any progress. Everything takes time, medical exams, good-conduct tests; some people come from countries that are very hostile to Israel, so we have to help pay for flights. I cannot see anything changing over the next three weeks. There is a massive shortage of workers in the Arava. There were 3,000 workers here and 500 of them have left, because their families in Thailand pressured them to come home.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Haggai Garbach, the owner of A.G. Agencies in Rehovot. “We’re trying to bring workers from Tanzania and other African countries, but there is so much red tape and so many different permits are needed. Maybe they will start arriving in two or three weeks. The whole world knows what the security situation is like in Israel. If there are flights and if they have all the requisite permits, they could come.”

Over the past 20 years, the Israeli policy has been to sign bilateral agreements with various countries. One such agreement was recently signed with Sri Lanka, specifically because of the war. Bilateral agreements are important because the countries themselves take responsibility for sending workers, which eliminates as much as possible phenomena like human trafficking and the payment of illegal fees. Israel is currently in the process of negotiating a bilateral agreement with India, six months after a similar agreement was reached to bring Indian construction workers and caregivers to Israel.

Benny Avitan, a farmer from Nir Akiva, a moshav some 10 kilometers from the Gaza border. “Don’t get me wrong: the volunteers are wonderful. Their solidarity warms the heart, but this is obviously not the solution.”

‘Freezing Imports Now is Purely Political’

The crisis in the agriculture industry erupted while Israel was busy implementing a major reform introduced by the previous government. Or rather, while Israel was busy arguing over implementation of the reform. During the tenure of the previous government, then Agriculture Minister Oded Forer (Yisrael Beiteinu) – with the backing of his party leader, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman – introduced a far-reaching reform which included the gradual reduction of taxes on fruit and vegetables, to be implemented in six tranches over five years. Two of these tranches have already happened.

At the same time, farmers were supposed to see their financial support from the state increased as part of the policy of bolstering local production to better compete with imported produce. One unresolved problem, however, are the regulations governing flora and fauna, which determine from which countries it is legal to import fruit and vegetables, given the concern over the inadvertent import of pests that could harm Israeli crops. In other words, there are some countries that Israelis cannot import produce from, irrespective of the question of taxes. From the perspective of those who support imports, this is being done solely because the Agriculture Ministry wants to protect local farmers.

The reform was roundly criticized by farmers’ organizations but, in the end, it was approved. However, disagreements with the Finance Ministry are currently delaying payment to the farmers.

Either way, the third installment of reduced taxes, which was due to be introduced in January, was postponed due to the war – and in part because of a request by Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter. This is a rather odd decision, given that, in the first two weeks after the war broke out, the price of tomatoes skyrocketed and the only thing that brought them down again was the import of tomatoes from Turkey – despite concerns in Israel over comments by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Gadi Leviatan, the owner an agricultural import and marketing company, Israeli consumers are paying the price for the government’s decisions: “You can argue about the taste of the Turkish tomato, but they are keeping the price reasonable."

“Let them revitalize the agriculture industry, let them invest whatever it takes to get the fields working again,” one former Agriculture Ministry official told Shomrim, “But, in the meantime, do Israeli citizens not deserve to be able to go to the supermarket and buy tomatoes at a reasonable price?

“The problem is that it is impossible to hold any kind of methodical discussion these days and there is a romanticized rather than practical vision of agriculture. We need to open up the market to more imports and to reduce taxes even further. This war has proved that local production – even when it is working at full capacity – cannot supply everything that the Israeli market consumes.”

Notwithstanding Dichter’s request, the Finance Ministry is responsible for taxation levels in Israel and it could have, had it wanted to, decided to go ahead with the third stage of the reform plan. The treasury’s decision was also highly influenced by the ongoing war. “We did not manage to reach understandings with the Agriculture Ministry over direct support to farmers, in accordance with the reform,” one Finance Ministry official explains. “Under these circumstances, we did not want to reduce taxes unilaterally since we hope to reach an agreement in the future. Now, during the war, is not the time for these discussions. We offered direct support, which is four times the amount that European farmers get, but they are asking for 15 times. That’s why everything has been frozen.”

In response, the Agriculture Ministry claims that the treasury has not yet transferred 270 million shekels ($73 million) in direct support to farmers, saying that the contested sum is much lower. Agriculture Ministry officials also prefer not to argue during wartime. “Minister Dichter asked us to halt the third stage. We are at war and at times like this, we must stop,” Lipkin explains, “but the treasury committed to transferring the money to farmers for the stages of the reform that have already been enacted. This is money that belongs to the farmers which is being held by the treasury.”

Lipkin rejects criticism over the reduction in taxes and biohazard protection measures. “This is a free market. Importers decide whether to buy tomatoes from Turkey or from somewhere else. As a ministry, we support local produce. Criticism of our biohazard protection measures is misplaced because more and more countries have become open since June 2022. Tomatoes, for example, can be imported from several countries, including Greece, so that is no longer a problem.”

Importers, for their part, are frustrated. According to Gadi Leviatan, the owner of Triple Sal, an agricultural import and marketing company, Israeli consumers are paying the price for the government’s decisions. He says that he prefers to import tomatoes from Turkey, rather than Greece, because the former have a longer shelf life and are less expensive. Moreover, the cost of transporting the produce from Turkey is cheaper. “You can argue about the taste of the Turkish tomato, but they are keeping the price reasonable. Thanks to them, the price of tomatoes hasn’t hit 10 or 12 shekels for a kilogram ($3 a pound).

“We are still not permitted to import deciduous fruits, like plums, peaches and nectarines. We can only import grapes during the winter months. The moment more countries open up, the quicker prices will fall. Unfortunately, unlike when Forer was in charge, the Agriculture Ministry is currently entrenching itself in old positions – without justification. Freezing imports at the moment is purely political – right at a time when the cost of living is going crazy. This is a mistake that we will pay for heavily in three or four months from now.”

“For now, no one is coming,” says Shula Keren, the owner of an agency which finds foreign workers for employers in the Central Arava region of Israel. “We’re working night and day, but we don’t feel like there’s been any progress."

‘Farmers Need Long-Term Support’

The war in Gaza led to the collapse of many military conceptions, but it does not appear that one of them is the concept of “food security.” In the argument between supporters and opponents of importing produce, one of the last points raised is the concern that Israel would not be able to feed its people during a war. Apart from the fact that Israel is not self-sufficient in this respect during normal times – after all, Israel import many basic foodstuffs, like rice, wheat and grain to feed livestock, which means that it’s reliant on imports for bread, milk, eggs and poultry – it now appears that there is a clear winner when it comes to the argument over providing fresh agricultural produce.

“Everything that we were told for years was untrue,” says one Finance Ministry official. “Because of the war, we are seeing that what’s lacking is local produce, while the ports are working without a problem, so there’s no shortage of produce arriving from overseas. Now we must take a long, hard look at the claim that food security relies on local produce, because at the moment, the opposite appears to be true: the measures taken thus far to ease the import of produce have helped the country’s food security.”

This statement highlights a question that, it seems, has never been properly addressed in the Israeli public discourse: Why are fruit and vegetables that are the result of the hard work and sweat of foreign workers and are often produced using seeds imported from overseas considered ‘Israeli produce,’ while imported produce – especially during wartime – is seen as anti patriotic and harming local farmers? And what is this “food security” that everyone is talking about?

When Oded Forer was agriculture minister, efforts were made to start finding a precise definition for this elusive concept, but it was not completed and it seems unlikely that it will be now. According to Lipkin, “local produce is defined as anything that was grown fresh in Israel. The fact that the workers are not from here does not make the tomato any less Israeli. When talking about food security, we’re actually talking about whether the various industries can work without interruption so that there will be a steady supply of produce to all parts of the country. A strong agricultural sector means a strong country – and agriculture also protects borders.”

Not everyone, however, agrees with this position. “We have to start from the belief that the role of the Agriculture Ministry is to ensure that there is always fresh produce on the shelves and not to look after the farmers themselves,” says a former Agriculture Ministry official. “The problem is that over the years, apart from specific periods, the ministry has always stood by the side of the farmers and is less interested in the broader picture of the whole public. Now the easiest thing in the world is to impose limitations on imports to benefit the farmers because the public is behind them. But it won’t last forever and, in a few months, consumers won’t be willing to pay more for tomatoes.”

Other officials from the industry with whom Shomrim spoke say that the ongoing war provides a new opportunity to introduce mechanization and technology into the industry and provide examples from across the world. In fact, the money from the previous government’s reform was supposed to be used by farmers for this very purpose.

“When we talk about food security, this does not mean that all of the produce is from here,” says another former official from the Agriculture Ministry. “When we opened up the branch to exports, it also strengthened the local industry because of the improvements it had to make in order to be competitive. There is an opportunity now to revitalize and modernize Israel’s agricultural infrastructure.

“In Europe, for example, they grow cherry tomatoes on a kind of wall so that they can be harvested by robots. The more you invest in technology and mechanization, the less reliant you will be on foreign workers in the long term – and that’s the right thing to do.” After Brexit, the former official adds, many foreign workers from other countries left the United Kingdom because of the change in British immigration policy. As a result, farmers there introduced more machines into the fields, like machines that automatically harvest strawberries.

Dr. Uri Mayer-Chissick, an expert in the history of food and nutrition who has been keeping close tabs on the politics of food in contemporary Israel, also believes that there is an opportunity to radically change the industry. He argues that Israel should not wait for external events to initiate change. “The state should see agriculture as a strategic asset and strengthen it like it strengthens other vital infrastructure -such as electricity and water,” he says. “In Europe, the number of foreign workers is much lower and that is because governments there encourage – with funding – young people who want to work in agriculture. There are plenty of ways to encourage many more people, including young people, to work in agriculture.

“Support for farmers must be long term and a lot more intelligent. The European Union, for example, decided that it wants organic farming and that it wants 25 percent of all produce to be organic – so it invests in that. When we think about agriculture, we have to think 10 years ahead. The European Union’s agriculture budget is planned seven years in advance, so that the farmers have some security.

“Israel does not really support its farmers during peacetime, so it’s easy to understand why the industry is collapsing during a war.”