Visit to Central & Northern Arava-Tamar R&D Center

Last week, the DryGair team went down to the Arava desert for the annual agricultural expo at the Arava-Tamar R&D Center. The center is one of the largest agricultural R&D centers in Israel, focusing on arid desert agriculture.

The annual expo is also one of the largest in Israel, bringing together growers, equipment manufacturers and new technology developers. As such, it’s a great place to catch up on the latest trends and witness some of the cutting-edge research done at the institute.

The Arava Desert

The Arava desert is located along 180 km, from the Dead Sea in the north, to the city of Eilat on the Red Sea coast, in the south. The width of the region varies between 3 to 10 km from the mountains of the Negev highlands in the west and the Edom Mountains of Jordan, in the east.

The Arava region also holds special significance in the Israeli horticulture market. It produces about 60% of the total Israeli export of fresh vegetables and about 10% of the cut flowers export.

The drive to the expo is a beautiful one, going through the different parts the Israeli desert. This year, there were heavy rains in the weeks leading up to the expo. So the normally arid landscape was as green as it gets, with blooming flowers and patches of grass.

R&D Tour with Shabtai Cohen

Upon arrival we met with Shabtai Cohen, DryGair’s company agronomist, and one of the leading researchers at the R&D Center. Cohen operates several trial greenhouses in which he researches various plants, their unique traits, and their ability to grow in an arid climate.

Among the experimental crops we were shown were different types of myrrh, massive moringa plants, mangos, bananas, and even raspberries. These crops are all being grown in the arid Arava climate, which would’ve seemed impossible in the past.

There are fascinating trials being done at the R&D Center these days, and it’s a thrill to witness. The research done at the center often leads to scientific and agricultural breakthroughs, and much has already been implemented into our modern day-to-day agricultural activities. So it’s always wonderful to witness the trials in real-time.

We would like to thank Arava-Tamar R&D Center for hosting us and continuing the tradition of this annual exhibition.