For the people of Israel, the land is both home and a crucial challenge. Nearly two-thirds of the country is desert; much of the rest is stubbornly pocked with boulders. Nowhere in Israel is cultivation easy. In order to survive here, this magnificent but unyielding terrain must be engaged and made into a living and fertile land. Israel's innovations in the realms of agriculture, viticulture, and other forms of cultivation have been remarkably successful at drawing life and sustenance from the earth. Vegetables are being grown in the Negev, and award-winning wines are produced from grapes grown in forests three thousand feet above sea level. These agronomic innovations help Israelis, of course, but they are also providing solutions for much of the rest of the world.
Grapes ripening at Rota winery vineyard, near Sde Boker. Photo by and © 2016 Vision Studio
