(RNDARC)

Understanding the critical need for RNDARC to expand small-scale experiments to the magnitude necessary to foster commercially viable desert grown crops, The Negev Foundation has funded several key projects at the Center:

HOTHOUSES

Hothouses employ agritechnology, harnessing manpower resources and energy to raise crops that will be cost-effective, competitive and attractive for local consumption and export. Four commercial-size (2000 square yards) hothouses have been built for purposes of new experimentation, such as bee pollination and underground drip irrigation.

SOLAR GREENHOUSE

Based on an experimental model developed at Ben-Gurion University, The Negev Foundation sponsored the construction of a new 1000 square yard solar greenhouse for the cultivation of commercial crops using technology developed at RNDARC. In 1999, researchers discovered several deficiencies that were previously undetected in the experimental model. The Negev Foundation secured further funding to modify the solar greenhouse, improving the quality and efficiency of the structure.

LABORATORY

Essential to the monitoring of agricultural production is the ability to assess product quality and composition. The new laboratory has provided RNDARC with improved facilities to conduct analysis and advanced research in arid land agriculture.

AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT

Purchase of farm machinery, field equipment, computer hardware and software for the centralized control of the greenhouse and hothouses.

PROJECT 21st CENTURY: THE RAMAT NEGEV DESERT AGRORESEARCH AND BUSINESS CENTER

The Ramat Negev Desert AgroResearch Center (RNDARC) has achieved phenomenal success in its research efforts, as evidenced by both national and international recognition. However, its facilities are deteriorating and inadequate to meet growing needs. While the Hebrew University's Faculty of Agriculture and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have long provided RNDARC with access to their laboratories, RNDARC requires its own research complex on site in order to spur progress into the 21st century.

The planned AgroResearch and Business Center will take full advantage of the evolving synergy between growers, researchers and multinational agribusiness. Not only will the new Center expand the scope and quality of research through the provision of sophisticated modular laboratories, equipped with the latest technological advancements, but it will also serve to promote agribusiness and host international collaborators and students.

The Center, estimated to cost $2.5 million, will be the first of its kind in Israel and is a top priority for The Negev Foundation, constituting the central focus of its fundraising activities. Our goal is to break ground early in 2005. The complex will comprise three main components:

• Laboratory and Training Wing for the analysis of product quality and composition, and field conditions.
• 100-seat conference room will provide facilities for meetings, A/V presentations and other events.
• Administration Wing for the offices of seven support staff and eight research scientists.
• Service Wing for storage of equipment and supplies.

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom…For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water…”

Isaiah 35:1

Will There Be Enough Food?

By 2010 Israel’s food self-sufficiency may be threatened.

• 65% of the fresh water currently used for agriculture will not be available.
• If present trends continue, half of Israel’s current farmland will have been sold or converted for industrial, commercial or residential uses.
• Israel’s population, fueled by immigration, is projected to grow to 10 million from the present 6 million.

Can Israel provide enough food to meet its growing nutritional needs? Where will people live? And most importantly, is there enough fresh water for the future?

The Negev Desert, where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob tended their flocks, occupies 6,757 square miles – 2/3 of Israel’s total land area (8,019 square miles). The Negev was ignored during modern Israel’s first four decades. David Ben Gurion said, “If we do not conquer the desert, the desert will surely conquer us”.

Farming in the Desert

In 1981, native pioneer and leading desert agronomist, Yoel DeMalach, realized that the abundant supply of brackish (salty) water 3,000 feet below the desert floor was enough to provide for Negev agriculture for hundreds of years to come. DeMalach assembled a team of top Israeli scientists and local farmers and established the Ramat Negev Desert AgroResearch Center (RNDARC) to determine how to grow crops with salty water, something never done before. Through landmark research, RNDARC has been able to successfully cultivate a variety of traditional fruits and vegetables, establish fish farms and beef cattle herds and grow forage crops in the previously unproductive Negev Desert.

Making the Most of Limited Resources

The ability to utilize brackish water has changed the destiny of the Negev. It is the key to the realization of the Biblical prophecy that the deserts shall flourish, making Israel a land overflowing with milk and honey. The ability to grow crops with brackish water relieves the demand on the limited supplies of fresh water, the most precious resource in the Middle East.

RNDARC has become Israel’s foremost-applied desert agricultural research facility. Scores of new super-intensive greenhouse farms have sprung up and new jobs have been created. All this made possible with technology developed and perfected at the Center.

RNDARC must continue to provide the necessary innovative agricultural services to the expanding Negev farm communities as well as maintain Israel’s edge in hi-tech agricultural science. To take full advantage of the emerging synergy between growers, researchers, and multinational agribusiness, a new, state-of the-art, ecologically friendly facility is required to seamlessly integrate basic agricultural research, applied agricultural technologies and agribusiness opportunities into a single multi-functional building.

Expanding Technology Requires Improved Facilities

Until now, RNDARC has made the most of its inadequate, deteriorating facilities. The Ramat Negev Desert AgroResearch Center, The Hebrew University Faculty of Agriculture and Ben Gurion University have long provided each other access to their facilities. These institutions are now straining under the increasing demand for services. New, modular lab sites, as well as facilities to accommodate agribusiness representatives, will help RNDARC progress into the new century, expand the scope of its research, host greater numbers of collaborators and students from around the world, and help generate new business opportunities. This facility will be the first of its kind in Israel.

Architectural drawings have been executed and a capital campaign has been launched to raise $2.5 million needed to build the Center. This project is the top priority for The Negev Foundation and Ramat Negev, and will be the focus of the Foundation’s fund raising activities through completion. Groundbreaking is anticipated in early 2005.

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