Israeli farmers producing 90% of locally sold tomatoes, Agriculture Ministry says

The Agriculture Ministry announces that Israeli farmers are now producing 90 percent of domestically consumed tomatoes — more than before the war sparked by Hamas’s invasion of the Gaza border on October 7 last year, which saw local production plummet and Turkey banning tomato exports to Israel.

Turkish tomatoes had accounted for a quarter of the 200,000 tons consumed annually in Israel.

The ministry has expanded growing areas along the Gaza Strip border and provided alternative land to farmers whose fields were off limits for military reasons.

It has also increased land for tomato cultivation in northern Israel and on the Golan Heights.

Tomatoes in the stores at this time come from the Arava in the far south of Israel, the Jordan Valley in the east, and the western Negev, according to the ministry.