Sustainability and Developmentin the Arava and Beyond

Southern Arava Agricultural Research and Development

What Is Sustainability?The ability to meet our needs without

impairing the ability of future generations to meet their needs at the same level.

A sustainable system must take into account human beings’ basic needs (food, housing, energy) as well as their social and economic needs and the health of the environment.

The following diagram illustrates the human needs met by a sustainable food system.

Population Dispersal

Political stability

Professional

fulfillment

Cultural developme

nt

Stability

Independence

Employment

Aesthetics

Energy

BiodiversityWaste

treatment

Tradition

Independence

Nutrition

Border security

International trade

Challenges to Sustainability in a Full Earth

In the words of the economist Herbert Daly, today we live in a “full earth,” in which all global biocapacity is needed to sustain life as we know it.

In a “full earth” we must both change our consumption habits and increase the production from scarce resources.

Population density in 1700

Challenges to Sustainability in a Full Earth

Areas once considered uninhabitable are now serving as both population centers and agricultural regions.

In this reality, lessons learned from settlement and agriculture in the Arava are important throughout the world.

SARD: A Leader in Desert Sustainability Since 1964

The Southern Arava is a hyper-arid desert, receiving less than 30 mm of rain most years.

The Southern Arava Agricultural Research and Development Center (SARD) has been a leader in hyper-arid agriculture since it began as a research station in 1964, taking part in developments ranging from drip irrigation in the 1960s to Irrigation on Demand today.

JNF/KKL has been a major supporter of SARD from its inception

Global and Local Contributions

Local (Hevel Eilot)3,500 residents in 10

kibbutzim and 2 community settlements, most along the border with Jordan from Eilat to km 101.

Economic base = agriculture, mainly dates, vegetable crops, and dairy, and processing of these products. (In addition, renewable energy, tourism, services)

Why is Hevel Elot Important to Israel?

Although Hevel Elot includes only 0.04% of Israel’s population, it encompasses about 10% of its territory, including its southernmost borders.

The central area of Israel, “from Gedera to Hadera,” is one of the most crowded in the world.

A strong economic and social base in the Negev is essential both to hold Israel’s borders and to allow the country to develop while preserving open spaces.

Population Dispersal

Political stability

Professional fulfillment

Cultural developme

nt

Stability

Independence

Employment

Aesthetics

Energy

BiodiversityWaste

treatment

Tradition

Independence

Nutrition

Border security

International trade

If we return to our “sustainability diagram”, we see the areas in which the Arava is important to Israel’s sustainability

Why is SARD Important to Hevel Elot?

The Southern Arava has virtually no rain, summer temperatures above 40⁰ C (105⁰ F), and saline groundwater. Despite these conditions, the region subsists mainly from agriculture.

SARD researchers have worked throughout the years to develop efficient irrigation to allow farmers to produce more while using less water (and polluting the aquifer with less leachate), to find appropriate new crops suitable to the Arava with added health benefits, to minimize chemical inputs through integrated plant protection regimes, and to maximize the profit from the mainstay of the local economy (dates).

Population Dispersal

Political stability

Professional fulfillment

Cultural developmen

t

Stability

Independence

Employment

Aesthetics

Energy

BiodiversityWaste

treatment

Tradition

Independence

Nutrition

Border security

International trade

If we return to our “sustainability diagram”, we see the areas in which SARD strengthens Hevel Eilot

Conflicting NeedsMany of the needs depicted in the previous

slide conflict with each other. Is it more important to settle the borders or preserve desert ecosystem services?

One of SARD’s missions is to balance these demands, lowering the environmental costs of filling human needs.

Previous Research: Effect of Salinity on Crops

Date trees irrigated with moderately saline water yield 33% less fruit than those given fresh water. Higher levels of salinity bring even lower yields and growth.

Pictured here: Medjool date palms of identical age and genetic makeup after 10 years of different quality water.

Irrigating with fresh water also reduces the amount of irrigation needed, lowering water consumption and pollution from leachate.

Previous Research: Effect of Salinity on Crops

This finding, along with similar findings for many other crops, led the Water Authority to lower the price of saline water, saving millions of shekels a year for the region. Plans are now in place to bring desalinated water to the Arava to improve the quality of irrigation water.

Previous Research: New Crops: Marula

Marula trees were brought from South Africa to the Arava, where the desert conditions and saline water are appropriate for their cultivation

The Marula has several agro-technical advantages: the tree requires little care between harvests, it attracts few pests, and the ripe fruit falls to the ground, where it can be collected mechanically.

The Marula fruit is high in Vitamin C and polyphenols. Initial clinical trials showed that Marula juice was effective in lowering the LDL and raising the HDL as well as lowering the oxidative stress in blood serum in humans.

Developing an agricultural branch of Marlua plantations alongside an industry of producing health products based on the Marula fruit and pit can strengthen the Arava economically.

Commercial garlic is reproduced from cloves, which are susceptible to viruses that reduce their size, resulting in lower yields, and are easily transferred from one season to the next. We have adapted to local conditions the use of virus-free garlic bulbs for reproductive purposes, resulting in yield increases from 30-100%. The aridity and isolation of the Southern Arava are advantages for virus free garlic production.

Commercial Virus-Free

Our research has led growers in the Southern Arava to establish a cooperative for the production and marketing of virus-free garlic to Israeli farmers for seeding. Today all fresh market garlic production in Israel is based upon virus-free garlic produced in the Southern Arava.

We will soon complete development of protocols for irrigation and fertilization scheduling specific to garlic. The next step is establishing the specific conditions required for storing garlic for reproductive purposes.

Previous and ongoing research: Production Chain for Virus-Free Garlic

A phytotron is an enclosed research greenhouse used for studying interactions between plants and the environment. SARD is enclosing date bunches in portable climate-controlled phytotrons, which will allow us to examine the fertilization process under different environmental conditions, essentially turning the tree into a laboratory.

Commercial Virus-Free

The date palm is dioecious, having separate male and female plants; in commercial date farming the pollen from male trees is collected and then transferred to the female trees. The process is imperfect and is critical to a successful harvest. The effect of environmental conditions of the fertilization process and the later development of the date is not fully understood.

Previous and ongoing research: Phytotron for Studying Date Fertilization

Social Sustainability Social sustainability is as important as biophysical needs. The

Arava must attract a larger population in order to meet its economic, cultural, and educational demands.

The dream of greening the desert and settling the borders that brought pioneers 50 and even 30 years ago is no longer attractive.

The younger generation is as idealistic and motivated as its predecessors, but with different dreams: living in harmony with the desert surroundings and achieving personal and professional fulfilment.

1950s: David Ben-Gurion: “If the state does not conquer the desert, the desert will conquer the state”

2000s: Local environmental activists protest mining of the Samar Sand Dunes.

Future DirectionsFuture development must include the following keystones of environmental, social, and economic sustainability:Reduction of waste and resource consumption:

We need to know we are part of the solution, and not the problem, of the environment.

Employment opportunities based on skilled work rather than physical labor:

Professionally challenging work appropriate for men and women of all ages

High economic and social added value:Arava residents want to know that they are

producing high quality food with important health attributes, in addition to earning a respectable living.

Environmental Sustainability:Improving Food System Efficiency

WaterLandCapitalLaborEnergy

Food Production Systems

Agriculture

Industry

Aquaculture

FoodWaste

Pollution

Our goal is to increase the food and decrease the waste produced from each unit of resources expended, by reducing inputs, increasing production, recycling waste, or a combination.

A food system is the means by which we take natural and human resources to produce food.

The process depletes finite resources and produces unwanted byproducts (pollution, waste) as well as food.

Example: Use of vegetative waste

WaterLandCapitalLabor

Energy

Food Production Systems

Agriculture

Industry

Aquaculture

Food

Pyrolysis/ Gasification

Biochar to improve soil

Energy

source

Vegetative waste (for example, date fronds) can be treated in different ways (for example, pyrolysis or gasification), each of which has different results: some produce more biogas to be burnt directly for energy, some producing more fertilizer. The best process depends on the particular needs of the entire local system. Therefore local research should concentrate on finding appropriate holistic solutions.

Social Sustainability: Technological Development

Just as our lack of water allows the region to be a leader in efficient irrigation, our distance from population centers and sources of labor must make us leaders in technological development.

In addition to our lack of workers, the young generation is interested more in high technology than in agriculture. Precision agriculture based on a high degree of automation will help attract hem.

Meanwhile, we must deal with the older generation of farmers, who are often reluctant to accept change.

Social Sustainability:

Technological DevelopmentChallenge: To reduce physical work while

preserving or improving quality. Precision agriculture allows the farmer to 10,000 trees as if each were a single tree in a garden.

Unexpected benefits: mechanical date harvesters were developed to save labor. SARD research showed that in addition to saving 30-50% of workers, the systems reduce tractor hours by 50-70%, saving both capital investments and fuel consumption.

Appropriate conditions to assure quality preservation of semi-dry Medjool dates during long-term storage and shelf-life were established enabling year-round marketing.

A new product of ‘Fresh’ Medjool was developed, which excels in large size, high moisture content, delicate texture and taste, decreased sugar concentration and high revenues.

Appropriate conditions were established to assure long-term quality preservation for year-round marketing.

Environment friendly protocols were developed for postharvest quality improvement of Medjool dates.

Semi-dry Medjool

‘Fresh’ Medjool

Economic Sustainability:

Added Value for Produce

Dates were found to be rich in antioxidants polyphenolics. Regular consumption by healthy subjects improved serum lipid status, indicating that dates have anti-atherogenic benefits.

The effect of water salinity on the health value of garlic and pomegranate was studied. Increased salinity enhanced the concentration of health promoting phytochemicals in both crops.

Economic Sustainability:

Added Value for ProduceSARD researches the health benefits of crops produced in the Arava. The extreme conditions of the desert often improve their health properties.

Research infrastructure Over the years SARD has developed a unique research infrastructure for

studying desert agriculture. The lack of rain allows us to study irrigation in the field in completely controlled experiments, without “interference” of natural precipitation.

Cooperating with larger research institutions (Volcani Institute, Faculty of Agriculture of Hebrew University) SARD has developed lysimeter systems on different scales ranging from near laboratory conditions to open fields. These systems monitor drainage water, input (irrigation and rain), and change in storage, from which the researcher calculates evapotranspiration. They also monitor the amount and quality of water leaving the root zone as drainage, for calculation of environmental ramifications of agricultural management scenarios. In each system, the input (water and fertilizer) and output (runoff, vegetative growth, evaporation) are carefully measured. These measurements form the basis for testing different treatment regimes, and guiding farmers in everyday work.

Many of the systems were developed in cooperation with Crystal Vision, Kibbutz Samar, adding a source of professional and economic growth in the region.

Field with integrated lysimeters for irrigation research: Each row in the field receives an individual irrigation treatment. Water and solute balance are accomplished in a lysimeter located in each row..

Rotating lysimeter system weighs each planter while continuously rotating slowly, giving all plants identical growing conditions but individual irrigation. Drainage water quantity and quality are monitored and water and solute balances calculated.

Split-root growing system: measures irrigation at the level of ml, allows observation of different sections of the plant’s root system. Kept in temperature and light controlled room.

Field with lysimeters to advance commercial farm monitoring and automated irrigation scheduling: Lysimeters dispersed in an open field measure evapotranspiration and are used to control irrigation according to the real-time needs of plants.

Large lysimeters continuously weigh and monitor deep drainage for perennial crops to close water and solute balances, calculate evapotranspiration and leaching requirements, and to understand plant response to different irrigation regimes.

Importance of research infrastructure internationallyNo other research center can monitor plant growth

and water use under different irrigation regimes through a continuum ranging from near laboratory conditions to open fields, and on a scale from individual vegetables to mature trees.

In addition to meeting the needs of Hevel Eilot, this infrastructure is important internationally:For the developing world, knowledge gained from

SARD’s research can form the basis for knowledge transfer to arid communities in Africa and Asia.

Southern Europe is expected to become considerably drier in the coming years. Researchers from Italy and Spain in particular are looking toward research from SARD to help their regions adapt to climate change.

SARD International Food Security Projects In Turkana desert, Kenya, we aided

nomads depending on international food aid to begin self production of nutritious food (Funded by JNF)

In India we transferred knowhow and modern technologies in desert agriculture, irrigation and date production.

A cross-border project developing the Jordanian Arava valley, creating 10 farms

Additional projects in Thailand, Laos, Peru, EcuadorMali, Burkina Faso and more.

What we needThe large lysimeters have proven their worth

several times over: through the ability to monitor long-term evapotranspiration and leaching requirements of individual trees over a long period of time, we proved the negative effect of saline water on date palms, changed the understanding of the behavior of the trees at different times of day and night, and showed farmers that they can save up to 30% in irrigation water.

These systems are limited, however, because in reality trees are not grown in individual planters. Even the most advanced system cannot accurately mimic the hydraulic conditions of an open orchard. Farmers resisted changing irrigation routines because of the lack of confidence that trees in an orchard will behave exactly like trees in a planter.

Whole Orchard Water Balance

Whole Orchard Water Balance

We plan to create a drainage system 4 meters deep that will collect the leachant individually from each of 16 trees planted according to the accepted practice in the Arava and receiving individual irrigation schedules. Water balance will be continuously monitored using data of input, output and changes in soil and tree. The system will allow comparison of behavior of individual trees within an actual orchard.

Lessons learned from this system will be directly applicable to commercial growers, with no need to compensate for differences between experimental and field conditions. Water savings are expected to reach nearly 2 million m3 annually, or about 15% of current consumption; fertilizer will be saved proportionally

No system like this exists in the world. It will serve as a unique platform for the study and development of a wide variety of topics: from calibration of remote and near sensing techniques, to understanding of spatial variability in soils and microclimate. Researchers from developed and developing nations alike can come to SARD to participate in utilization of the platform, study the system and adapt the concept for research on other locally relevant orchards crops or for research in forestry or ecohydrology.

Whole Orchard Water Balance

Cost of system:NIS 1 million

Additional Needs Laboratory: Our laboratories are too small for our needs. A newly

renovated research facility for the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center and the Renewable Energy Initiative is nearing completion; we have partial funding to expand the building to include our soil and water and post-harvest laboratories as well. In addition to upgrading our research facilities, this move will allow closer collaboration between the local research institutions.

Scholarships for Doctoral Candidates and post-doctoral scholars: We need to expand our research staff. Finding researchers willing to live in the Arava is difficult and demands planning long in advance. Government grants generally do not have the flexibility and long-term nature needed to bring a family from the center of the country to the Arava. We are looking for funding to bring doctoral students to complete their research at SARD, in the hope that they will continue on after their studies.

Greenhouse – climate and irrigation controlled greenhouse as a research tool needed for testing agrotechnologies and crops under changing conditions.