The Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Institute (), previously known as the Agricultural Research Station of the Jewish Agency for Israel, is an Israeli agricultural research center. It serves as the research arm of the

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

of the State of

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and provides research opportunities for local and international scientists at post-graduate levels, as well as educational opportunities for Israeli and international youths, farmers and scientists. The organization supports Israeli agriculture research, focusing on plant sciences, animal sciences, plant protection, soil and environmental sciences, food sciences, and agricultural engineering. The organization was founded in 1921 in

Ben Shemen Ben Shemen (, ''lit.'' very fruitful) is a moshav in central Israel. Located around four kilometres east of Lod, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council. In it had a population of . Etymology The village's name is take ...

, Israel, by Yitzhak Elazari Volcani, for whom it is named. Stamps of Israel - Volcani Center

History

During 1921, in the village of

, the Jewish Agency established the Agricultural Experiment Station under the leadership of Yitzhak Elazari Volcani.Katz, Shaul and Ben-David, Joseph "Scientific research and agricultural innovation in Israel." ''Minerva'' 1 June 1975 13(2) p. 152 - 182. doi:10.1007/BF01097793 Accessed 27 March 2014.Horowitz, Menash
"History of agricultural research in Israel."
Agri.gov.il Accessed 26 March 2014. It was the first scientific institute in the British Mandate of Palestine.Loebenstein, Gad; Putievsky, Eliyahu and Thotapilly G. (ed.)
"Agricultural research management. Chapter 18, Agricultural research in Israel."
Springer 2007 p. 357 - 365. The station was established in response to a proposal by

Chaim Weizmann Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( ; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born Israeli statesman, biochemist, and Zionist leader who served as president of the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization and later as the first pre ...

and

Arthur Ruppin Arthur Ruppin (; 1 March 1876 – 1 January 1943) was a German Zionist and one of the founders of the city of Tel Aviv.Todd Samuel Presner, ’German Jewish Studies in the Digital Age:Remarks on Discipline, Method nand Media,' in William Collin ...

, who recognized the need to advance agriculture in Israel. In 1932, the station was moved to

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

. In 1951, its control was transferred to the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture (Israel having been created in 1948), and the station was renamed the Agricultural Research Station (ARS). When Yitzhak Volcani died in 1951, after a directorship of thirty years, the organization was renamed the Volcani Institute in his honor. In the 1950s, the station was relocated to its present campus in

Rishon LeZion Rishon LeZion ( , "First to Zion") is a city in Israel, located along the central Israeli coastal plain south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. Founded in 1882 by Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who were ...

, and in 1971, the ARS became part of the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Focus of research

Israel is a country with limited water resources. Its

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

ranges from Mediterranean in the north to semi-arid and arid in the south. Due to these factors, research by the ARO has focused on: * Agriculture under arid conditions and on marginal soils *

Irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

using recycled

wastewater Wastewater (or waste water) is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of do ...

and

saline water Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish wat ...

* Crop cultivation in protected environments *

Freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

under conditions of water shortage * Minimization of produce losses through

pest control Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest (organism), pest; such as any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the da ...

and post-harvest storage methods
Seed banking
* Breeding and development of new strains of crops and domestic animals better suited to adverse conditions"Coordination of agricultural research in the Mediterranean area - ARIMNET - Israel."
Arimnet.net Accessed 1 April 2014. On July 24, 2017,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

announced the ARO as one of the laureates of the UNESCO–Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences for 2017, stating "The institute has successfully developed cutting-edge innovations and methodologies in agricultural research with practical applications as well as capacity building programmes to promote food security in arid, semi-arid and desert environments, advancing human well-being."

Organization

The Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) has six institutes at three regional campuses (Rishon LeZion, Newe Ya'ar, and

Gilat Gilat () is a moshav in southern Israel. Located in the western Negev desert between Beersheba and Ofakim, it falls under the jurisdiction of Merhavim Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The moshav was founded in 1949 by Jewi ...

). The institutes include Plant Sciences, Animal Sciences, Plant Protection, Soil, Water, and Environmental Sciences, Postharvest and Food Sciences, and Agricultural Engineering."European Commission Standing Committee on Agricultural Research - SCAR - National research systems, Israel."
European Commission. Accessed 1 April 2014. There is a seed laboratory for testing seed quality for local use and for export, and a plant

gene bank A gene bank is a type of biorepository that is used across the world to store the genetic material of animals, plants, and other organisms. It preserves their genetic information in the form of reproductive material like seeds, sperm, eggs, emb ...

to collect, preserve, and evaluate plant species indigenous to Israel, including

landraces A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolat ...

and primitive

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s. Kidum, a unit of the ARO, manages the commercialization of the organization's intellectual property, technology transfer, and the establishment of partnerships, joint ventures, and business enterprises.

Collaboration

The Agricultural Research Organization collaborates with other government-sponsored researchers, related industry bodies, educational institutions, farmers, and international organizations and scientists. The ARO's funding is from the Israeli government, farmers' organizations, and the private sector, as well as the US and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. Investment is encouraged through the application of

intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

. Private sector investment stems from companies in related industries, such as manufacturers of pesticides, fertilizers, seeds, plastics, irrigation equipment, and greenhouses.

Education

The Agricultural Research Organization trains students in basic and applied agricultural research methodology and practice. Masters, doctoral, and post-doctoral students may complete their studies through the ARO's collaboration with universities, including

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

;

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

;

Ben Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Named after Israeli national founder David Ben-Gurion, the university was founded in 1969 and currently has f ...

;

Technion – Israel Institute of Technology The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a public university, public research university located in Haifa, Israel. Established in 1912 by Jews under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire, the Technion is the oldest university in the coun ...

;

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

;

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

; and

Ariel University Ariel University (), previously a public college known as the Ariel University Center of Samaria, is an Israeli university located in the urban Israeli settlement of Ariel in the West Bank. The college preceding the establishment of Ariel Unive ...

. The ARO hosts visiting scientists and post-doctoral fellows from Israel and abroad. The organization has a post-doctoral fellowship program for up to 40 candidates from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. In collaboration with Israel's Agency for International Development and Cooperation, research staff are involved in providing courses to scholars from developing countries, under the auspices of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. The Volcani Institute also hosts courses for farmers from Gaza and the West Bank. In 1973, a science-oriented youth unit was founded in cooperation with the

Israel Ministry of Education Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Junior and high school students may participate in activities including day-long study and enrichment sessions; special research projects and high school assignments in biology, agriculture, and the environmental sciences; science-oriented summer camps; and projects for the benefit of disadvantaged communities.Meyers, Nechemi
"Using cucumbers to curb crime."
Jewish Tribune 12 July 2006 Accessed 31 March 2014. In 2006, the unit initiated a therapeutic agricultural project for the education and rehabilitation of youth at risk, The Organic Gardening and Marketing Program. The treatment program offers boys and girls an opportunity to study and work in organic gardening and marketing.
moag.gov.il (translated from Hebrew). Accessed 31 March 2014.

Notable staff

Current

* Ellen Graber * Shlomo Margel * Efraim Lev

Past

Shmuel Hurwitz Shmuel Hurwitz (; 12 September 1901 – 1999) was an Israeli agronomist. Biography Hurwitz was born in Minsk, then in the Russian Empire (now in Belarus), and studied in Moscow. He was a close friend of the poet Saul Tchernichovsky, with whom ...

* Avraham Fahn (Head of Forestry Department) *

Itzhak Arnon Itzhak Arnon (; born Isaac Aharonowitz; 1909–2005) was an Israeli agronomist. Arnon was born in Antwerp (Belgium). He studied agronomy at Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech. In 1932, Itzhak Arnon immigrated to Palestine. In 1933, he was appointed inspecto ...

(Head of the Institute) * Eli Putievsky * Shimon Mazeh *

Margalith Galun Margalith Galun (; 21 February 1927 – 16 April 2012) was an Israeli lichenologist. She was a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and established the Israeli collection of lichens at Tel Aviv University. Founder of the aca ...

* Zdenka Samish (Head of Food Technology Department)

References

External links

Volcani Institute of Agriculture Research, official website

Official Facebook page

Official Linkedin page

Official X (Twitter) page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Agriculture Institute Agricultural research Agriculture in Israel Research institutes in Israel