The Plant Protection and Inspection Services at the Ministry of Agriculture oversee and manage ongoing control of the organic market in Israel. According to the Ministry's data, in 2022, 711 entities were engaged in organic agriculture, a decrease of 1% compared to the previous year, when 720 entities were engaged in the field. About half of them (47%) are cultivators and the rest are marketers, factories, packing houses, exporters, importers, etc. At the end of 2022, there were about 47,000 dunams of organic land in Israel, in addition to another 3,500 dunams in the process of being converted to organic land, of which 35% is allocated for field crops and 33% for fruit crops.
An analysis of the review of the various crops shows that there has been a decline in the total amount of organic cultivation areas in Israel, by 7%, compared to last year. The sharpest decline was recorded in the cultivation areas of fresh spices (33%), due to a significant reduction in dill cultivation areas (171 dunams). In parallel, there were more moderate declines in the cultivation areas of field crops (11%), fruits (11%), and various crops – vegetable gardens and orchards (8%).
Alongside the decline in total organic cultivation areas, there has been an increase in diverse cultivation areas, indicating new trends in Israeli agricultural crops. The most prominent trend was recorded in vegetable cultivation areas, which expanded significantly by 28% (to 713 dunams), in view of an increase in sweet potato and pepper cultivation areas. Within the fruits group, there was a significant increase in some crops, such as olives (2,531 dunams), grapes (176 dunams) and dates (312 dunams). Moreover, we may see more oranges and tangerines next season, as citrus cultivation areas have also increased by 10% (236 dunams) in the past year.
Cotton returns
In addition, in the past year, for the first time, there has been a "revival" of one of the branches of organic agriculture; The cultivation area of cotton, an industry that has suffered a decline in recent years, has increased substantially (an increase of 354 dunams from 1,023 dunams to 1,377 dunams) thanks to the rising global demand for organic cotton.
As part of the ongoing overseeing of organic produce producers, the Plant Protection and Inspection Services at the Ministry of Agriculture conduct year-round inspections to ensure that the produce sold as organic is indeed organic. Thus, in the past year, the division's inspectors uncovered 48 cases of pesticide residues in organic products. More than half (60%) of the anomalies were found in fresh organic plant produce (such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, carrots, dill, cucumbers), while other anomalies were found among processed plant produce (argan oil, vanilla sticks, olive oil) and animal products (such as organic eggs), at the same rate (about 15%). All deviations were investigated and handled by the approval and control bodies authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture. In parallel, the findings of the investigations were transferred to the Ministry for examination, and the produce was disqualified for sale as organic.
The inspectors of the Division also oversee local points of sale and markets offering organic produce. In an examination conducted in 14 stores offering organic produce throughout the country, which examined, inter alia, the implementation of the Organic Produce Regulation Law, which includes separation in the storage of produce, marking the sales shelves and sampling for laboratory tests, one exception was found due to prohibited pesticide residues that was disqualified for sale as organic in yellow pepper at a grower from the central Arava that was presented for sale in a large supermarket chain in central Israel.
The Ministry of Agriculture notes that after the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for direct marketing of organic produce on websites and social networks increased, and therefore enforcement of organic marketing began online as well. In the past year, 4 complaints were received from consumers of products presented as organic produce without proper permission and in violation of the law. All complaints received were forwarded to the Central Enforcement and Investigations Unit (CEIU) at the Ministry of Agriculture, which placed the produce under organic inspection, if it met the requirements of the law, or removed the misleading labeling indicating that the produce was organic.
Identifying organic
So how do you identify organic produce? Each organic product packaging has the uniform organic symbol of the State of Israel (Ministry of Agriculture), and the overseeing symbol of one of the approval and control bodies authorized to grant the grower and the organic producer the permission to mark the product as organic. Please note, according to a amendment to the law approved in 2014, any product called "organic" is obligated to bear the stated symbols and meet the requirements of the Organic Produce Regulation Law. That is, any product marketed as organic and does not bear the approved symbol, is not recognized as organic.
Shlomit Zioni, Acting Director of Plant Protection and Inspection Services at the Ministry of Agriculture, stated: "The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is constantly acting to improve transparency and make information accessible to the general public, and therefore, following the understanding of the demand for organic agricultural produce, we have developed a database of organic farmers (in Hebrew), in which it is possible to check from anywhere and in real time, whether the agricultural produce marketed as organic is indeed organic. In addition, I urge consumers to look for the organic symbol on the product.