Earlier this week, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Volcani Center, Israel’s agricultural research center, to experience first-hand some of the recent developments made in the field and encourage further innovation from the agricultural sector. The visit was made to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Tu B’shevat, which serves as an ecological awareness day.
As part of the visit, the principal researcher of the Volcani Center, professor Yoram Kapolnik, presented the prime minister with the most recently researched varieties of fruits and vegetables which were developed at the institute. The research focused on improving varieties that are already in the market today by increasing longevity and quality, as well as developing entirely new varieties for commercialisation. A key point of emphasis is creating fruits and vegetables that appeal to the average consumer, both through appearance and through quality.
The prime minister Netanyahu spoke as part of the event, saying “I am very proud of Israel’s agriculture and of the work of the Volcani Center. The extraordinary creativity of Israel’s agriculture is a global strength. I witnessed this fact at the Expo in Milan and at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Countries from every part of the globe wish to take advantage of our innovations.”
Netanyahu also added that he would like to see Israel’s agricultural research capabilities “utilised at the commercial level both locally and globally”. For that he proposed establishing partnerships between the Volcani Center and interested countries to foster and exchange ideas and technologies which would expand the activity of the center.