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Faculty Firsts | The Robert H. Smith

Faculty Firsts

Research at the Faculty has improved and increased yields of fruits, vegetables, grain crops, flowers and cotton; helped overcome problems of pest damage and soil contamination; led to the most efficient use of water for agriculture;  produced ground-breaking innovations in irrigation techniques; helped develop Israel's annual flower export from almost nil in the 1960's, to its current status as one of the largest exporters of flowers in the world, and much more.

  • Long shelf life bred tomatoes with improved taste and disease resistance
  • Intensive arid-zone agriculture
  • Soil solarization – a nonchemical method of controlling soil borne plant diseases
  • Green-farming techniques – use of natural biofilterizers and biocontrol by parasitic insects – to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides
  • Recycling technologies – wastewater reclamation and compositing of solid municipal and agricultural waste
  • Improvement of drip irrigation

The Hebrew University's Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment opened its gates in 1942 to 21 students. Since then, it is the only institute of higher education in Israel offering university degrees in agriculture and currently has 2400 students enrolled. The Faculty offers academic programs leading to B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in agriculture, B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in nutrition (at the School of Nutritional Sciences) and a degree in Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (at the only School of Veterinary Medicine in Israel). Our Faculty is the home for the International School of Agricultural Sciences which offers post- graduate programs on various agricultural subjects. These programs are conducted in English for the benefit of foreign students.

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