Correspondents' Correspondence Back to the Land
SALPETER, ELIAHU
Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS Back to the Land Tel Aviv??The announcement that the...
...the ability to show others how to meet their food needs could strengthen Israel's international position...
...Airfreighting has been fine-tuned, too: A phone call about increased demand for a certain vegetable, say, can bring planeloads of it to the European housewife's table within 36 hours...
...The "avocado story' is taken as a model: Ten years ago this was considered a "fancy food" and Israel exported only 800 tons of it...
...In 1961, 17 per cent of the working population was engaged in farming...
...Gregorio Rubinstein, a native of Argentina, more than five years to perfect his process, which he claims will also make cigarettes much cheaper...
...To stay ahead in this competitive market, Israel plans to extend seasonal availability and expand the variety of crops...
...They were eventually replaced by diamonds, high fashions and sophisticated electronic ware...
...Now, experts believe the time has come for a major effort in the area of food trade...
...Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS Back to the Land Tel Aviv??The announcement that the world's first genuinely tobacco-tasting, nicotine-free cigarettes had been industrially manufactured in Israel-from lettuce leaves of all things-was greeted with a skeptical smile here...
...While most of Europe is covered with snow or icy rains, hundreds of acres of Negev and Jordan Valley farmland here are turned into hothouses for growing vegetables, strawberries and flowers through the use of inexpensive plastic bubbles...
...For one thing, the new "tobacco" was developed by a veteran biochemist who already has to his credit the discovery of methods for transferring various specific tastes to foods before their final processing...
...In preindependence days and the early years of statehood, working the land not only had special meaning, but citrus fruits were the country's main export items...
...Yet this was not the usual smoke-without-fear-of-cancer story...
...Refocusing on agriculture, they argue, would have important economic, political and social benefits: Farm exports could contribute significantly to narrowing the present huge trade deficit...
...The country's recent association with the European Common Market (due to enter into force this summer) should provide new opportunities for boosting farm exports...
...it typifies the possibilities of cooperation between Israeli and Arab entrepreneurs (the International Tobacco Company of Beit Jalla, on the West Bank, is a part of the venture and is scheduled to market the new cigarettes under the brand name of Long Life): and it again spotlights the potential for expanding the country's agricultural industry...
...and, perhaps most important, expanding the agricultural sector would increase the number of Israeli farmers, making possible a better demographic distribution of the population...
...It took 56-year-old Dr...
...For another, the effect is achieved by temporarily introducing small amounts of real tobacco into dried-out lettuce leaves made especially aroma-receptive by a new, 10-stage biomechanical treatment...
...pomegranates and mangos are being promoted...
...Strains that mature earlier are being developed and, in Europe, tastes for new "exotic" fruits such as guavas...
...But three other factors account for the interest of Israelis in this invention: It is an example of the valuable know-how new immigrants can contribute to the country's economic development...
...In addition, Israeli farmers are capable of responding quickly to changes in demand: When the fruits imported from other countries depress prices in a foreign market, they can switch to those that have remained profitable...
...since then agricultural production has gone up about threefold, and the percentage of farmers has dropped by more than half, thanks to technological advances...
...last year Europeans ate over 10,000 tons of Israeli avocados.- ELIAHU SALPETTR...
...Climate and flexibility are Israel's important advantages...
Vol. 59 • March 1976 • No. 7
