Post-national Organic: Globalization and the Field of Organic Food in Israel - Re-Thinking Organic Food and Farming in a Changing World - page 142

years, Israeli agriculture relied on conventional agricultural practices, encouraging
widespread use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides (Tal 2006 , p. 69).
Beginning in 1985, a crisis occurred in Israeli agriculture. There were three
principal reasons for this crisis: (1) the dissolution of the national-Zionist ethos led
to a devaluation of the reputation of the agricultural sector. (2) A reduction of the
share of agricultural produce in the private consumption expenditure was tied to the
increase in per capita income 3 (3) Trends of liberalization in the agricultural sector
reduced the profitability of local sales. These and other factors led to the growth
of agricultural industrialization and a growing dependence on the export market
(Yustman 2001 , p. 581). Investments in agricultural research and development for
new export industries strengthened this trend.
Organic farming, which was not practiced in Israel, seemed feasible only to a
handful of people and it was certainly not considered as part of an export strategy.
Mario Levi was among the first to be interested in organic farming, and his personal
story reflects the genesis of organic agricultural in Israel.
Levi , an 87 year-old religious Jewish farmer, 4 immigrated to Israel about a decade
before the founding of Israel. He joined the religious kibbutz (Israeli communal
settlements) “ Sdeh Eliyahu ” in order to “ inhabit and settle the Land of Israel ”
(Taken from an interview with Levi, 13 March, 2011).
Until the 1960s he exported peppers to Europe. This export business flourished
until pests caused considerable damage to the crops. Levi and his colleagues
frequently used pesticides, but to no avail, and the pepper industry was dropped. The
sense of failure made him question the effectiveness of conventional agriculture and
the economic loss forced him to seek other agricultural activities. During this period,
Levi was sent by the Israeli Agriculture Ministry to a course on bio-organic agricul-
ture in Switzerland, as part of a government research project to find new agricultural
niches. Upon his return to Israel Levi decided to lead the establishment of organic
agriculture in Israel. First, he turned to his friends in the Kibbutz and suggested that
organic agriculture practices should be used to rebuild the exports lost to pests.
When the first attempts to grow crops succeeded, he contacted “ Agrexco ”, a
company owned by the government, to engage in exporting organic agricultural
products. At that time, this company was the only channel linking Israeli agriculture
to the global markets. At the same time, Levi joined the International Federation
of Organic Agriculture ( IFOAM ) and founded the Israeli Organization of Organic
Agriculture. The organization brought together a handful of farmer-owned factory
farms for growing organic produce intended for export. The organization operated
in full cooperation with Agrexco . This connection between an organic grower's
3 In accordance with Engel's law (named after the statistician Ernst Engel), as income rises, the
proportion of income spent on food falls, even if actual expenditure on food rises (Zimmerman
1932 ).
4 Typical to religious Zionists, Levi holds an ideology that combines Zionism and Jewish religious
faith. Typically as well, he strongly supports Zionist efforts to build a Jewish state in the land of