Water challenges ahead for Israeli potato growers

On last Saturday October 7, Israel was attacked from the Gaza Strip by members of the terrorist organisation Hamas, also affecting many kibbutzim. In the process, hundreds of people were injured, killed and taken hostage. The consequences are a war with great impact for residents in the region, the world and also for the potato…

Irrigation with sprinklers, rain guns, center pivots or linear systems – as opposed to furrow and drip irrigation delivering water under the canopy – distributes water overhead, much like natural rainfall does.

Of all irrigation practices, furrow irrigation loses most water through drainage and also loses more nitrogen through leaching than other irrigation practices. Drainage through deep percolation on the other hand is an advantage as it avoids accumulation of salts at the surface. Besides, erosion is considerable as the water flow to some extent always transports…

Where there is not enough rainfall and evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation, the crop is irrigated. That is if there is surface water or underground water available at acceptable distance and depth from the field. What is more, the grower needs to have available the capital to invest in equipment. The irrigation technique requiring the least investment…