One of the strongest indicators of a country’s resilience is its supermarket shelves. Pictures from recent years of empty shelves have been seen all over the world, from Venezuela to Lebanon, countries on the brink of collapse, to developed countries like the US and England, where there are occasional shortages. Empty supermarket shelves represent a lack of basic security.
In Israel, which has plenty of news, perhaps due to the history of the Jewish people, a temporary shortage of butter or eggs is enough to make headlines. During the current war with Hamas, the Home Front Command sent a benign message about water storage that immediately sowed unintended panic at the supermarkets. As Abraham Maslow stated, the need for food precedes even the need for security.
The subject of food security – the ability of a country to enable the supply of food to its citizens during a crisis – has received attention from more and more countries in recent years, in light of a chaotic world of wars, epidemics, and climate change. Problems with a country’s food security can arise from economic reasons and change the world order. For example, the “Arab Spring” in 2011 is generally attributed to the rise in wheat prices, and led, among other things, to a coup in Egypt.
Food security problems can arise from epidemics. They can result from extreme weather events, such as droughts or floods – and we expect many more such events in the coming years – or from supply chain failures, shrinking agricultural land, or even “trivial” issues such as an increase in transportation prices and exchange rates. All of these may make food inaccessible to parts of the population.
Israel is at the beginning of a long and hard war and is already beginning to experience difficulties. In the last week, the economy experienced immediate effects. Most of the vegetables and some of the milk produced in Israel are farmed in land near the Gaza Strip, which, not for nothing, was given the name “Israel’s barn,” access to which is heavily restricted.
The rest of the food industry is also suffering from a tremendous lack of manpower, whether due to reservists who’ve been called up or Palestinian and Arab-Israeli workers who are afraid or cannot get to work. Other workers are confined to their homes with children in areas heavily affected by the fighting. The problem is felt both in supermarkets and in dairy farms; a lot of milk is spilled.
In addition, there is a severe shortage of transportation. Trucks and drivers have both been mobilized for the war effort. In light of the challenges, the industry will focus its capabilities on core products, and therefore Israelis will soon feel a shortage of niche products, such as gourmet delicacies and food products that are perceived as luxuries.
All this may just be the prologue. As the fighting drags on and possibly even develops on additional fronts, we will discover that for one of the cornerstones of our diet, protein, Israel relies almost exclusively on imports. Over 85% of the beef in Israel is imported (as live calves or frozen meat). Poultry is mostly farmed domestically, but 90% of the feed for raising it is imported. Imports are made by sea, and there are already increasing challenges in shipping insurance prices and the rate of unloading at the ports, which are causing shortages and price increases. In the scenario in which the conflict escalates (which hopefully we won’t reach), it is possible that foreign ships will refuse to dock at the Haifa and Ashdod ports, and perhaps even in Eilat, and either way, insurance prices will skyrocket. In the North, settlements near the border were recently evacuated, and they usually supply a significant portion of the eggs and chicken in Israel.
Are we prepared, and who is responsible?
As far as we know, there are emergency reserves amounting to approximately NIS 100 million for a limited number of food products intended for consumers, including oil, sugar, tea, and baby food. There are also emergency reserves of wheat for industrial use. There are no emergency reserves of high-protein foods such as legumes or canned meat.
Who is responsible for this? Normally, the responsibility for food falls through the cracks, as there are many ministries with different responsibilities (Agriculture, Economy, Treasury, Health, etc.). Unfortunately, all the governmental organs listed above and the National Emergency Management Authority don’t have an up-to-date national strategic plan for maintaining food security. Even now, most of the work concentrates on providing solutions to immediate problems.
At this time, the farmers, food industry, government, and related parties are working around the clock to provide for consumers. However, there is an immediate need to formulate a national strategic plan for food security, as over 40 countries around the world have done in recent years.
Countries similar in size to us that rely on importing protein by sea, such as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, have placed significant emphasis on diversifying import channels and developing technologies such as alternative protein that enables local, durable, and efficient agriculture. Singapore aims to produce 30% of its protein locally by 2030, relying on innovative foodtech.
The national plan must determine which body should oversee food security, what types of food need to be stored, and how to verify international supply lines on the one hand and maintain self-production capabilities on the other. An analysis of the necessary nutritional components is required, with an emphasis on protein, and this analysis can also serve as a North Star for the government for calmer times in terms of foods that should (or shouldn’t) be grown here and how they can be supported.
The Agriculture Ministry started working on the subject about two years ago; now is the time to step up and look ahead. If it does this, Israel can become a world leader on the matter of food security, as it has done in the past decades with the most advanced water solutions in the world.
Nir Goldstein is CEO of the research institute GFI Israel, a foodtech think tank, and Eyal Malis is a former CEO of Tnuva, Israel’s largest food company.