It is a Zionist Israeli story that has brought with it over four decades a message of progress and cultivation of an Israeli system of millions of vegetable seedlings, which have helped the growth of land work throughout the country. The “Shorashim” nursery, located in Moshav Ein HaSor in the Eshkol region, marks the 40th anniversary of its activities.

Yossi Aviaya Malachi and Hanania Avakrat

The professional knowledge of Shorashim began in the 1970’s in Netiv Haasara, with the beginning of the settlement in the Rafiah entrance, when Yossi turned his farm into an economy specializing in vegetable seedlings. With the evacuation from Sinai in 1982, Yossi Aviaya Malachi and Hanania Aavakrat Formed a partnership and lay the foundations for the establishment of a root nursery.

Hanania, 75, immigrated from Morocco in 1953 and settled in Moshav Mivtahim. Yossi lived in the Netiv Haasara. The name “Shorashim” (Roots) that was chosen for the nursery marks the displacement from the ground and rooting elsewhere. The root is the most important organ in the seedling, and it is critical that the root system be healthy and stable.

“The production of vegetable seedlings in growing molds and detached substrates was an innovative idea and the transition to growing seedlings using this method was revolutionary on a global scale” notes Raviv Avakrat, the second generation in the founders’ family, Marketing VP of the nursery.

According to him, the idea of the founders grew skin and tendon and had a crucial role in the whole accelerated process of the development of the vegetable and spice industry in Israel. The nursery specializes in the production of vegetable seedlings and spices from seeds, cuttings and graft seedlings totaling 150 million seedlings a year for farmers throughout the country.

They innovate and lead the development of advanced growing technologies

Raviv Avakrat notes that the vegetable seedling market in Israel encompasses about 500 million seedlings a year “and in watermelon, cucumber, pepper and tomatoes we hold a large chunk of the seedling market”

“We have always been innovative and leading in the development of advanced growth technologies. In trays, in the machinery, and this is also what leads and guides us in new and unique products along the way.”

“We are the exclusive producers of Jojoba seedling, we carried out the first project of the Cross Israel Highway along route six. Developing new molds for growing the “stealth” seedling (a graft seedling for growing cucumbers and melons) what distinguishes it are roots that know how to avoid soil diseases”.

In 1982, the nursery began its activities in Moshav Ein HabSor and the concept of Shorashim represented a connection to the values and love of the earth, settlement and flowering of the wilderness.

The nursery employs a wide range of workers from cities and towns in the south of the country. More than one hundred and fifty families make a living working in the nursery and come every morning to work from the northern Negev, the surrounding communities, Ofakim, Ashkelon, Beersheva and a large group of Bedouins living in Rahat. The nursery also employs 25 workers from Thailand.

Israeli agriculture is the most advanced and accurate

Raviv, 47, breathes well into Israeli agriculture and has a lot to say about what is happening on the ground. “Israel’s agriculture has the greatest dissonance between the stories told about it and the treatment it actually receives from Israeli governments.”

“Israeli agriculture is the most advanced and most accurate hightechwise that sells its knowledge all over the world, but in our domestic policy, the attitude toward agriculture and farmers is incompatible with reality.”

“We feel abandoned, we are presented as wasteful of resources, who do not know how to grow a cheap product, one that knows how to compete with imported produce, and the government pours sand in the eyes of consumers that it is all our fault.”

“The cost of fruits and vegetables is not the fault of the farmers but the government’s fault: irrigation water is expensive, very expensive inputs, expensive taxes and in the end come to us with claims. Skull tax and other inventions that may be sucked from the farmers.”

“Instead of encouraging and supporting agriculture, taxes and decrees are being imposed and input prices are rising and the product is getting more expensive, all of it the government’s responsibility. The mediation gaps make no sense in agriculture.”

“It doesn’t make sense that the brokerage gap would be so high, up to 100 percent or more for sale at the farm rate, and in the end the farmer is to blame for the high prices.”

Shorashim’s Nursery – Israeli Agriculture

Raviv is has a lot to say about the government’s treatment of agriculture and farmers, and it is time to ask him for a response to the ‘agricultural revolution’ in the reform introduced by the Treasury and the Ministry of Agriculture.

“The reform unfortunately will not benefit the farmers and will continue to close agricultural farms in the State of Israel. Wild imports of unregulated agricultural produce directly erode the production capacity of Israeli agriculture and will lead to the closure of Zionist agriculture. Most importantly: It will not cause lower prices of vegetables and fruits. Those who will benefit are the importers and chains that import meat and cheeses and it has been proven that prices do not fall, but vice versa”.

“Shorashim” Nursery

100 acres of greenhouses. 150 employees. Ten agronomists. Dozens of tumors. Hundreds of varieties. Two breeding sites. 150 million seedlings a year.

On the occasion of 40 years of transplanting, Sagi Malachi, CEO of Shorashim, wrote a blessing in the nursery’s calendar, stating:

“Over the course of 40 years of activity– we served, ordered, seeded, germinated, watered, fertilized, grew, sprayed, supervised, mistook, tested, assembled, improved, developed, rooted, harvested, coordinated, packed, transported, initiated, failed, learned, succeeded, persevered, sold and marketed more than four billion seedlings.”

“It’s time to say thank you to the dedicated and professional employees. To all the persistent and encouraging customers, to all the reliable and serviceable suppliers, to all our acquaintances and loved ones who have helped and supported over the years and all farmers with Shorashim.”

“Without you, all this blessed work would not have happened. We wish you from here on out years of growth and renewal, success in crops and prices, years of routine, health and ease.”