Food waste cost economy NIS 1 billion during first six months of war — study

Lack of access and reduction in farmhands caused shortages that saw vegetables prices rise 18% and fruit prices 12%, says paper calling for more support for local growers

Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

Leket Israel volunteers gather near the Gaza border to help farmers, on March 11, 2024. (Leket Israel)
Leket Israel volunteers gather near the Gaza border to help farmers, on March 11, 2024. (Leket Israel)

Food waste cost the economy around NIS 1 billion ($275 million) during the first six months of the war against Hamas in Gaza, according to a study published Sunday.

According to the new chapter written for January’s annual Food Waste and Rescue Report by Leket Israel—the National Food Bank and BDO consultants, in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Ministry, around 22 percent of fruit and vegetable produce went to waste between October and April, compared to a 9% average over the equivalent period before the war.

War damage, limited access to fields, and a 40% drop in farmworkers led to shortages of agricultural produce that helped spark an 18% rise in vegetable prices and a 12% rise in fruit prices.

Gidi Kroch, CEO of Leket Israel, said the findings underlined the folly of the government’s policy to increasingly import fruits and vegetables rather than rely on local growers.

“Strengthening local agriculture is an essential economic need and a necessary condition to ensure food security and strengthen national resilience for Israel’s citizens,” he said.

Thousands of foreign farm laborers left Israel after the October 7 attack by Hamas terrorists, and many Palestinian farmhands have been barred from entering the country.

Brothers in Arms volunteers help on a farm amid the war in Gaza (Brothers in Arms Civilian Situation Room)

Were not for the hundreds of thousands of volunteers who came through various organizations to help rescue over 35,000 tons of agricultural produce, the percentage of waste would have stood at 25%, according to the study, currently only available in Hebrew.

Leket Israel, one of several organizations that sent volunteers to help farmers, rallied 70,000 people from Israel and overseas to provide agricultural support. The group rescues food that would otherwise be thrown away and distributes it to those in need via some 200 nonprofit organizations.

Israel has over 2.5 million dunams (600,000 acres) of agricultural land for fruit, vegetable, and field crop cultivation, some 20% of it near the Gaza border.

This includes 60% of the country’s total land for potato cultivation, 50% for tomatoes,  and 40% for carrots and cabbages. Much of the land has been off-limits since October 7, when Hamas terrorists swarmed into Israel, murdering 1,200 people and kidnapping 251 to the coastal enclave.

Dutch volunteers Anja van der Stok, left, and Jannie Slim, right, pick lemons on a farm in southern Israel, as part of a post-October 7 solidarity tour, March 4, 2024. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP)

A further 10% of agricultural land lies close to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts on a near-daily basis, resulting in 24 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists.

On Saturday, 12 children and teens were killed by a Hezbollah rocket on a soccer pitch in the Druze town of Majdal Shams on the Golan Heights. The attack has sparked worries that it could lead to all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terror group based in Lebanon.

The northern region includes around 60% of the apple orchards and more than 35% of orchards growing peaches. It also produces many of the country’s eggs and turkey meat.

Israelis pick and sort the first cherries of the season in an orchard at Kibbutz Malkia, near the Israeli border with Lebanon, May 5, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

The study’s authors said they calculated food waste at NIS 1 billion figure by combining NIS 670 million ($185 million) worth of food (150,000 tons) that would not ordinarily be wasted, NIS 135 million ($35 million) in environmental costs (such as fuel and fertilizers used to produce the food that went to rot), and NIS 210 million ($60 million) in additional healthcare costs expected as a result of the consumption of less healthy food.

Chen Herzog, chief economist of BDO and the chapter’s editor said that it was critical for Israel to increase agricultural output, address labor challenges, and provide incentives to support Israeli agriculture as it rebuilds farming communities destroyed by Hamas and Hezbollah.

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