The agricultural reform came into effect in July 2022 and its stated goal is to lower the cost of living. The main points of the reform are easing the import of fruits and vegetables, removing tariffs, and changing the strict import regulations that prevent imports to Israel. On the other hand, the reform is supposed to provide protections for Israeli farmers through direct financial support and a budget for research and innovation. Will the reform, which was accepted after quite a few postponements and changes, actually succeed in lowering the cost of living? And no less important, what does the reform say about the future of farmers and agriculture in Israel - and in the long run, what does it say about the nutritional security of Israeli citizens.

We tried to answer these questions in this episode of HUJICAST with the help of Professor Eyal Kimchi, director of the Department of Environmental Economics and Management at the Institute of Environmental Sciences in the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Hebrew University.

The reform encompasses all branches of agriculture; Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, olive oil and more. In our conversation we focused on the farmers who provide most of our fruits and vegetables. Vegetables and fruits that are imported to Israel are grown mainly in Jordan, Turkey and Egypt.

Israel, as an island nation, is completely dependent on imports in order to survive; for example, we import 90 percent of our grains. Israel must also import fertilizers, feed for livestock and a variety of other products. The corona virus, and lately the war in Ukraine, have disrupted supply chains in the world and raised prices. Apart from that, the future is shrouded in fog - the combination of the climate crisis, the population explosion and the geopolitical situation in our region, and in general, cast a heavy shadow on our nutritional future. In recent years we have experienced an increase in prices of food due to the increase in price of inputs; energy, labor, fertilizers, seeds, and of course water. Agricultural production does not keep pace with population growth.

The reform in agriculture, says Professor Kimchi, is necessary - whether it was done corrrectly is a completely different question. Can the countries mentioned above be trusted to continue selling us food at today's favorable prices given the crises mentioned? Not at all sure. Are the protections promised to farmers sufficient? Not sure. Will lowering tariffs and opening up imports benefit consumers in such a centralized economy as in Israel? Past experience shows that not always.

We also discussed the importance of agriculture in Israel. After all, not all things are measured by the bottom line of the supermarket bill , right? There are other considerations; environmental, scenic, touristic, maintaining the borders and more. Won't the immediate profit of lowering prices and bringing farmers to their knees hurt us much more in the long run? Time will tell. This, according to Kimchi, is the big question: how many of the farmers will manage to survive the reform and what will be its effect on those who remain.