On a recent hot
afternoon, a group of farmers from around the world wandered through the cow
barns at Kibbutz Afikim, an agricultural cooperative founded by Jewish
immigrants from Russia in 1924. It was late June in the Jordan Valley; the
temperature spiked at 90 degrees. But the delegation of farmers had just asked
to leave an air-conditioned conference room and use their limited time to see
the cow barns. Despite the high temperatures, the nearly 900 cows were calm,
many lying in the mud that covers the floor of their barns, which are partly
open to the outside and cooled by large fans.
These barns at Afikim, and
Israeli milk cows in general, are a growing attraction for visitors as Israel’s
dairy industry has emerged as one of the most efficient and productive in the
world. Despite limited rainfall and high summer temperatures, Israel has the
highest national average of milk production per cow. And amid the fast-growing
global demand for dairy products, especially in the developing world, there is
increasing interest in how Israel gets so much milk out of each cow and the
technology it uses to do so.
“Happy cows give a lot of
milk. People from around the world are coming here, and they see that it’s
terribly hot, but that the cows are happy,” said Ofier Langer, a former
executive at several Israeli high-tech companies who established the Israeli
Dairy School six years ago. The school organizes seminars and tours of farms
and other facilities. “We have a lot of ways to teach the world’s farmers how
to make their cows happy,” he says.
According to the Israeli
Dairy Board, dairy and agricultural tours are also organized by the government,
corporations, and other organizations. Many of the sites they visit—including
dairy barns, milking technology companies, and cattle feed production
centers—are located on or were founded by kibbutzim. Because of its connection
to the kibbutz movement, an in-depth look at the dairy sector offers these
visitors a window into the history and culture of Israel and the changes it has
seen over the years. Those who come to see the dairy sector also come away with
a deeper understanding of the country.
For more information see http://tinyurl.com/zbghukb
2 comments:
Fascinating. I can see all farmers could learn from this. I knew a little about Israel and the kibbutz system in the seventies. But am interested to learn much more especially now I have committed to helping Jews make alya? sekonditakradi@gmail.com
Thanks for all the information you provide. It is vital for everyone to understand Israel and the Palestinian problem. Palestinians knowingly or unknowingly (lies taught to children by their parents and in schools) propagate lies, around the world, to people ignorant about the middle eastern situation, who do not take time to research or learn about Israel. Unfortunately, your information does not reach many.
I think that the only way to educate people is to teach History in schools, History not only about Israel, but about WWI and WWII, China, and many other countries. This is the only way to counter-attack Palestinian lies about history.
Recently, at a breakfast meeting, a woman sitting next to me commented on how cruel Israel was, to send all Palestinians to Gaza and build a wall to starve them. I could not help expressing my outrage at this statement, but she did not want to believe the lies of Zionists, who came to take away the Palestinian land. She had no time for research -- everything else was untrue. Why would Palestinians lie? she asked.
Fortunately, the man sitting across the table was a Canadian, born in Egypt.
She apologized for hurting my feelings. I am well aware of what the Palestinians say, I told her, but there are two sides to every story, and encouraged her to check with the Larousse dictionary and Google.
If History is not taught in schools to educate children and adults, the world will continue to be in great trouble.
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