What flowers in Israel?

Answer 1

Everything!

In aggregate, Israel's flower, plant and propagation-material export brings upward of $200 million into the economy annually. The country is third only to the Netherlands and Kenya in supplying the European Union with its flowers. Each year 1.5 billion stems are exported, double from only 10 years ago - while the number of growers engaging in export has dropped by 75 percent. The system, along with the growers, has simply become more efficient.

"Flower export works nicely with the special characteristics of Israeli export and agriculture," says Zvi Alon, director general of the Ministry of Agriculture's Foreign Trade Center, himself from a farming family. "[Even] the small family farm model, a small area yielding a lot of produce; with superintensive farming and using technology, [about five acres] can be adequate."

Israel's total agricultural yield, including agriculture-related technology and other nonedible products, is about 2 percent of the gross national product - or $3.5 billion - of which 30 percent are exports, mostly of fresh produce.

Flowers, in particular, are heavily export-centric, with 90 percent of Israeli growers shipping their blooms out of the country. In the late 1970s, Israel was the first foreign country to enter the Netherlands' auctions and trade fairs; until then, only Dutch growers were allowed to participate. The events are "very exciting, and huge," Sharoni says.