Agriculture ministry presents first 25-year national food security plan

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter and his ministry’s director-general Oren Lavi unveil the final version of the country’s first 25-year national food security plan.

Embracing long-term planning against the backdrop of climate change, and taking account of population growth and supply chain disruptions, the blueprint calls for a 33 percent increase in Israeli agricultural production by 2035, rising to 65% by 2050.

“Whatever we can produce in Israel, we will produce here, and whatever we cannot produce, we will import,” Dichter tells a National Food Security Conference.

Work to develop a food security policy began in 2022 at the initiative of Victor Weiss, then climate adviser to the National Security Council.

It was turbocharged by the war against Hamas in Gaza, which exposed the limits of the state’s growing reliance on food imports over recent years.

The plan — developed with researchers, farmers, and industry leaders — focuses on reducing food waste, encouraging agricultural innovation, and diversifying import sources to avoid reliance on single trade routes.

A ministry spokesman confirmed that there is no budget to implement the plan at this time.