Agricultural research studies in the Negev involve the painstaking comparison of environmental conditions, soil and water salinity, soil media, temperature and crop variety. The Negev Foundation-funded research has promoted high-tech agriculture ("from the roots up") and enabled brackish and saline water irrigation to evolve from the experimental to the commercial stage.

DESERT SWEET ™

The cultivation of specialty crops such as cherry tomatoes, melons, peppers, wine grapes, olives, pomegranates, jojoba (used in cosmetics), fodder crops, organic crops and strawberries, all irrigated with brackish water, has been perfected at Ramat Negev Desert AgroResearch Center with the help of The Negev Foundation funding. Farmers today throughout the Negev utilize techniques developed at the Center and market their products under the brand name of Desert Sweet ™, which has become synonymous for the high quality and excellent sweet taste of its produce. Year-round crop production in hothouses gives Negev agriculture an advantage over European and North American markets.

OLIVE ORCHARDS

Olive trees are associated with the Middle East. Since olive orchards require minimal irrigation, they are an appropriate crop for extensive cultivation in the Negev. The Negev Foundation funded research focused on the effects of brackish water irrigation on tree growth and fruit/oil quality of different cultivars.

NEGEV VINEYARDS
In 1997, The Negev Foundation sponsored a long-term experimental study aimed at the production of high-quality Sauvignon Cabernet and Sauvignon Blanc grape varieties. Research today includes analysis of grape cultivation under different salinity regimes and the resultant effect on the taste and aroma of the fruit for wine production.

SAND DUNES POTENTIAL

When the Ramat Negev Desert AgroResearch Center was first conceived 25 years ago, it was located close to water sources and existing roads. Large quantities of sand were trucked in at considerable expense from the sand dunes area more than a mile north of the Center. Following the huge success of experimentation with sand as an inert substrate for plant cultivation over the next two decades, the Center wished to bring its expanding research facility closer to the dune area. The Negev Foundation provided the funds for an access road from the main facility, electrical supply lines and the construction of two, one-acre greenhouses with irrigation and fertilization mechanization, computers, sensors and auxiliary equipment.

JOINT VENTURES

The Negev Foundation sponsors collaborative research projects between the Ramat Negev Desert AgroResearch Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Faculty of Agriculture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and other Negev institutions. Designed to solve a range of practical problems, improve crop quality and yield, and minimize the need for toxic chemical applications in the Ramat Negev region, these joint studies have also focused on a diverse range of topics, including the prevention of brown spot formation on melon skins and the control of root diseases in strawberries and other crops through solar energy.

AQUACULTURE

Aquaculture in the Negev is a relatively new field in Israel, which has evolved due to economic need and the abundant supply of underground brackish geothermal waters. Cultivated fish account for some 20% of the total world fish consumption today and more than a third of the annual worldwide aquaculture production. In responding to this trend, Israeli scientists are perfecting the propagation of new fish varieties in brackish water with an eye toward export market potential. The Negev Foundation-funded research is directed to studies concerning optimum environment (enclosures warmed in winter by solar radiation) to extend the growing season and yield, nutrition, breeding and life cycle of such popular varieties as sea-bream (Denise), sea bass, tilapia (St. Peters), shrimp and mini-lobsters. Exotic ornamental fish, one of the most rapidly growing and lucrative fields in the industry today, are being cultivated on farms in the Arava Valley.