In Israel where does most beef and chicken come from?

[White Israelite]

I've been studying about Israel's economy and one thing that I have always promoted is that Israel becomes a self sustainable country with a healthy economy, one thing that I have been wondering is with Israel being such a small country with little rainfall, I was wondering where most meat in Israel comes from?

I've been reading much of the meat is imported from Argentina and Uruguay, but that cows are also raised in Israel although primarily imported from Australia. From my understanding, most of the cows are not grass fed but are finished off with grain the last 2 weeks before slaughtered and that grass in Israel is not of sufficient quality for grass fed cows.

Does anyone have any further information about this?

[Zelhar]

Almost all of the cow meat is imported, mostly already frozen from south America, some live calves are imported from Australia to be fattened and slaughtered locally. There are some grass fed herds mostly in the Golan and Galilee, of course nowhere nearly enough to meet demand and I presume their diet is supplanted by grains  as I don't think there is enough grass year round. I think some of the excess cows from the dairy industry end up on Israeli plates as well. All dairy cows are fed on imported fodder which is mainly corn and soy proteins (the leftover after the oil had been extracted).

Chicken and Turkey meat is grown locally but of course they are fed on imported grains. Egg laying chickens- same story.

You are right that Israel is too small and too dry to be self sustaining agriculturally, especially in the land intensive cash crops like grain and soybean or as pasture land for cattle. Israel is pretty good at producing allot of yield (in terms of value and weight) per sq-km but for that it's mostly specialty crops like certain types of fruit and vegetables.

[fibrogirl]

This link says that 75% of all grains in Israel are imported:

http://israelity.com/2013/03/24/nostalgia-sunday-dagon-flour-mill/

I think Dagon flour mill in Haifa still brings in all the cereals and flour in Israel. It was still in operation when I passed there  just a few years ago.

I suspect Israel is self sufficient in fruit and vegetables.

I have been told that all the good Israeli produced olive oil is exported and the low quality oil is left for us to buy.

Israel has the highest milk yield per cow in the world. My brother for years had digestive problems when he drank Israeli milk but no problem with cow's milk in N.America and Europe. He researched this and he thinks that the food given to cows in a desert climate like Israel is less good than in wetter climates. He eats goat and sheep dairy when in Israel.
My hareidi dietician says that in the times of the Tanach cow's milk was not used so much. The Torah means goat and sheep milk when it refers to milk. 

I've also wondered if Israel would be self sustainable in a war. This is an interesting topic White Israelite

[Yerusha]

Most Israelis have been shown to be deficent in Vitamin D because its cows and chickens are all raised without access to sunlight, making their eggs and milk devoid of the essential Vitamin, as well as most Israelis being loathe to sunbathe. 10 minutes daily of full body exposure to midday sun is recommended to prevent D hypovitaminosis.

[Zelhar]

Yes we are self-sustainable in fruits and vegetables. We actually export to Europe high quality produce. When I was recently in London I noticed at Tesco that the red, orange and yellow bell peppers were from Israel (the green ones were from Holland), also high quality dates were from Israel and their label explains they were "from the west bank (Israeli settlements)" which probably means they were from the Jordan valley. There were also dates from Israel "proper" I think from Bet She'an valley or the Arava.

As far as I know Israel is also self sustaining in potatoes crop. So technically Israel produces locally enough crops to provide nutrition for its entire population.

Regarding the olive oil industry we consume more then we produce so we are a net importer of olive oil. 

[White Israelite]

The lower quality of certain products domestically and higher quality exported seems to be common in many countries now. In Colombia for example its said the highest quality coffee beans are exported to France and next north America america while the lower quality is domestic from what I've read.

The reason this topic is important is to imagine a scenario where Israel would need to depend on its own resources. I know Israel militarily manufactures a lot domestically and food is also key and important, I know grass fed is also very expensive and takes a lot of land and resources and it sounds like beef is not as commonly eaten as chicken, it sounds like a lot of beef is consumed in restaurants however.

[Zelhar]

The Israeli economy is far from autarky. Probably we can feed ourselves so we won't starve but there are other basic resources we lack like oil, iron, aluminium, coal, etc. moreover allot of the finished products are 100% imported such as cars, electronic equipment, textile. Everything that is produced locally is most likely dependant on imported goods and components.

[White Israelite]

I think most of the gas comes from mexico, cars mainly from Japan and South Korea. I think Israel had the capability to make cars and did at one point domestically although there was a joke the cars were being eaten by camels. I know many airplanes are manufactured domestically but I think most of the engines are imported. Israel has made ships but the Saar series or the latest I think was made on order in Mississippi so there's still quite a bit of the economy that relies on imports. That's somewhat concerning as many nations in worse economic stance still have a industry to support them or natural resources. I know israel has some natural resources but not to the effect of other countries.

[IsraelForever]

Where are Medjool Dates from, does anyone know?  If Arabs are making money off of it, I'll stop eating them.

[Zelhar]

Where are Medjool Dates from, does anyone know?  If Arabs are making money off of it, I'll stop eating them.

If it's from Israel, including Judea and Samaria then you can be almost 100% certain it's grown by Jews. In fact palm dates had been extinct from Israel until the Zionist pioneers  reintroduced them to the land. But there are other much bigger exporters (Algeria, Egypt, and other quranimal sources). Israeli dates are usually the high quality product though and their's are the box load  of lesser grade. Also if you are in the US I think you grow them locally in California.