For the first time after more than 10 years, the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture has declared they are planning on opening new cannabis farms all over the country – and everyone wants a piece of the cake...
The giant empty greenhouse I visited in one of Israel’s southern villages just might tell the story of the entire local agriculture industry. “Look at this ghost house,” Avi Raviv, a local farmer tells me, “not a long time ago the place was filled with pepper cultivation which decorated our life with beautiful green, yellow and red colors – now the land is gaping, it pleads for a drop of water”.
Avi isn’t the only Israeli farmer who reminisces about the good old days – in the last few years the agriculture industry in the holy land has suffered from a series of blows after the boycott that the European Union announced on Russia in 2014 caused them to lose one of the leading consumers of Israeli agricultural products. If you add to that the decision that the local government made to start importing inexpensive fruits and vegetables from abroad, you can understand why Israeli farmers decided to abandon the business.
But it seems like a new player just might come to save the game for the Israeli farmers, and after years of Stubbornness and fixation, the Ministry of Health decided to consider expanding the local cannabis farm in the country – and everyone wants in on the idea.
A tale of a thriving industry
The Medical Cannabis program in Israel started about 10 years ago (2006). The first company, called “Tikun Olam”, opened a cannabis farm next to the city of Safed in the north of the country, and in the years that followed eight more companies have joined the exclusive club of Israeli Medical Cannabis Growers named collectively as “Shulchan Hamegadlim” (“The Growers Table”).
These unique farms provided cannabis for sick people who got a special permit to consume the “dangerous drug”. At first there were only a few hundred lucky patients who got access to the treatment, but as time went by the number had slowly climbed up to almost 30,000 patients today.
Although the Israeli Medical Cannabis program gained an international reputation, over time the local patients had started to complain about decline in quality, unstable strains, delays in the distribution – and lately a group of patients even got together to file a class action against all of the cannabis farms alleging that they use prohibited pesticides.
The combination of the existing problems at the farms, the number of patients with permits (which is slowly but constantly rising), and the new wave of out-of-work farmers, had led the government to decide after ten years that it is time to open the market for new cannabis growers.
The most desired and valuable permit
In July last year the Israeli Ministry of Health published a comprehensive document of almost 100 pages, explaining all the details on the procedure of applying for opening a new cannabis farm. The complicated process and the exhausting bureaucracy didn’t deter hundreds of farmers from applying and trying their luck.
Noa Barel and Dana Meltzer, from the “Arava” region in the south, are amongst the first lucky farmers who already have the new permit for opening a cannabis farm. “If the country would allow the export of this product we could make the all region bloom, and maybe even help to save the collapsing local agriculture industry,” says Barel.
“More than agronomy, growing cannabis is technology,” Barel answers when we ask her about the lack of experience the new farmers may have in this specific field. “We have years of experience in agriculture, and cannabis experts from Israel and Spain that are escorting us and we’re learning from their experience”.
One of the hundreds of Israeli farmers who have applied for a cannabis growing permit and is still waiting for a final answer is Ronen Koenig: “After 23 years of growing traditional crops, we got to the position where we are seriously considering closing the business,” he tells me with a sad concern on his face, “Cannabis cultivation just might be our last chance to survive, I’m praying to God the government will issue me this permit”.
Even the current growers are in Favor
When we get to talk about the subject with some of the cannabis farms that are already working, it seems as if they are not concerned at all with the option that new players will join the game. “I don’t see any problems with opening new cannabis farms,” says Gerry Coline, from “Teva Adir”, a cannabis farm located at the south of the country. “The industry is growing rapidly, and I’m sure there is enough space for everyone.”
“Opening the market for new cannabis growers is a great idea,” says Omri, one of the workers from another cannabis farm near Tel-Aviv, “this move can ensure that the patients will get a better product for less money.”
Omri also thinks that new cannabis farms would not only do good for the consumers, but for the existing growers as well: “The more competition in the market – the better. I really think that Israel has the potential to become a cannabis superpower on an international scale.”
Opening the export – a necessary key to success
There is no doubt that the surprising announcement on behalf of the Israeli Ministry of Health declaring the opening of new cannabis farms had raised the morale of a lot of the local farmers, but there is still those who are asking to cool the enthusiasm:
“If they are going to open new cannabis farms in Israel without doing a few more necessary steps – the whole idea will go to waste,” says Oshri Levi, a legalization activist and an approved Cannabis patient himself, “the government has to decide on one of the three: raising the number of approved patients, allow farmers to export their cannabis, or declare full legalization – if they wouldn’t decide on at least one of these moves, most of the farmers will find themselves stuck with a few tons of rotten buds and deep debt in their pockets.”
You don’t need to be an expert in business (or in agriculture) to understand that Oshri has a point: if there will be an unlimited amount of approved cannabis growers on one hand, and a very limited clientele on the other hand – it’s a dead end situation, with an inevitable economic collapse.
So it seems that the holy land is packed with experienced farmers who are just waiting for the chance to grow high quality cannabis, but it looks like only the government will determine whether there will be a real revolution in the Israeli agriculture industry, or just another wasted opportunity.
Originally published in Weed World Magazine Issue 127
Images of Teva Adir Cannabis Farm
