A drone with a pollination device is seen in action at the kibbutz in Eyal.JERUSALEM - As climate change and global population growth pose ever greater challenges for agriculture, Israeli technology offers a wealth of inventions and advanced tools to help farmers adapt.
Such artificial pollination can help boost crop yields to feed the world's growing population, said Thai Sade, founder and CEO of Israeli company BloomX."Our pollination is an attempt to deal with many of the problems we have today, which we expect to worsen in the future," said Sade, noting the shortage of pollinating insects and the risks global warming poses to them.
Avocado trees rely on honey bees for pollination, he said, but"we don't really know if they'll come or not, and when".- Farming robots - A recent report by Start-Up Nation Central, a non-governmental organisation that promotes Israeli technology, listed more than 500 agri-tech companies in Israel. "At the end of the day, he remained alone," said Maor, who proceeded to found and head Tevel, a company that uses drones to pick fruit from trees.AFP | MENAHEM KAHANA"At the same time, crops will increase -- there will be more people and more consumption. The gap is growing, and that's where robotics enter."
The drones use suction to gently pull the fruit off the branch and place it in a bin, with humans needed mainly to oversee their operation, Maor noted.