Growers stage strikes

BENJAMIN PEIM THE MEDIA LINE

Israeli agriculture – once the epicentre of Zionist pioneering, symbolized by hearty kibbutz farmers and crate loads of Jaffa oranges – has been pushed so far to the margins of society that the work of planting and sowing is now done by almost entirely by foreign workers. Rather than sunburned sabras, or native-born Israelis, some 22,000 foreign guest workers, mostly from Thailand, pick oranges and avocados and cut roses and carnations. So, when a shortfall of 4,000 guest workers emerged during this year’s harvest – 15 percent fewer than the quota set by the government – farmers launched a three-day strike last month that threatened to choke off the supplies of tomatoes and milk.

Growers blocked traffic at the Arava junction in the southern Negev, handing out peppers and flowers to drivers and warning them that rising prices would one day make fresh produce affordable “only for the rich.” In the town of Netivot, farmers dumped fruits and vegetables on the road. However, themarker.com news service said wholesale markets and groceries still had produce and a spokeswoman for Supersol, Israel’s biggest supermarket chain, said the labor action had no effect.

“Everything is OK today, we haven’t had any problems,” she said, asking not to be identified. “I have no idea about tomorrow.”

Growers blame the Interior Ministry for refusing to process the applications filed to get the extra 4,000 foreign workers while the government says farmers failed to file in time. Whoever is right, no one has considered the possibility that Israelis themselves would make up the shortfall, even as the nation’s unemployment rate stands at 6.2 percent.

“I’ve offered to pay Israelis more than my Thai workers, and I even had one guy working for me until today,” said Pini Ben-Hemo, a farmer from Moshav Luzit, in central Israel. “But Israelis don’t like to work hard, they always come with problems. The Thai workers are here to work and they understand the tasks.

“I support the strike because preventing the foreign workers from working here will kill off agriculture,” he said.

Agriculture was the mainstay of the pre-state economy and in the country’s first decade. Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion got his first job in Palestine picking oranges and Moshe Dayan rued that he sacrificed the farming life for a military career. But, with Israel’s per capita income at $28,000, making it among the world’s wealthiest economies,

Israelis would rather work in high-tech and other professions. Even the kibbutzim, which are the focal point of Israeli agriculture, have forsaken farming for industry and employment outside the kibbutz.

Officially, 30,000 Israelis work in agriculture, but most of them are in managerial positions, not sitting on tractors or climbing ladders to reach apples, said Ayal Kimhi, a professor of agricultural economics at Hebrew University. Foreigners keep farming going, he added.

“It would definitely not survive; the industry depends on foreign workers,” Kimhi explained. “Local workers are much more expensive. Competition abroad is so tough that farmers can’t compete if the cost of labor is higher.”

Six decades ago, agriculture employed nearly a fifth of all Israelis, and immigrants were sent to cooperative farm settlements. By the late 1950s, development shifted to industry while technology reduced the demand for farm laborers. In 1955, an Israeli farmer could grow enough food for 15 people – by 2007, that number had grown to 100.

Today, the farming industry directly employs less than three percent of the labor force and accounts for about the same proportion of gross domestic product. According to Kimhi, Israelis shun agriculture because it is physically difficult and pays poorly. But Israelis aren’t alone: all over the world, farm work often ends up being performed by low-paid foreigners, he said.

“Surprisingly, even if you look at Thailand, you have foreign workers from Burma and other neighboring countries,” Kimhi said.

Nevertheless, Israel remains committed to its agricultural sector, and not just for sentimental reasons. To overcome its high costs and small scale, growers research and develop new products and niche markets. Israel has introduced more effective weed-killers, for example, and pioneered drip-irrigation systems that reduce the amount of water needed for farming. It has also shared this knowledge with developing countries.

“This is the laboratory for a lot of [agricultural] innovation. If you lose that, you lose a big source of income for the country,” Kimhi said.

^TOP