Agrochemical CEO Urges Farmer Entrepenuerism, Not Subsidies

Supporting farmers with subsidies is not the way to avert catastrophic hunger levels in coming decades, Erez Vigodman, the CEO of Makhteshim Agan, the world’s leading generic agrochemical company, told Haaretz.

Instead, agriculture must be brought into the 21st century.

“In the last two decades, technological innovations have transformed our world and assisted in speeding up processes in almost all areas, first and foremost in information communication,” he said. “The world has become more competitive, but one important field has yet to join the revolutionary process — and that field is agriculture.”

Vigodman has identified massive waste as an enemy of efficient agriculture. He’s called for a reduction of waste in picking and storing crops and in food production, packaging and distribution. An estimated 10 tons of food — between 30 percent and 40 percent of all food on the planet — is thrown away every day while millions go hungry.

The way forward also lies in efficient use of land and, especially, water.

“Most of the innovation in this field in the last decades led to an increase in the size of the products, instead of more significant innovations,” said Vigodman. “Apart from stopping the waste, the solutions must include more use of land reserves that could be used for agriculture, but the most urgent need is innovative ways to use water. Seventy percent of the water on the globe is used for agriculture, and we must find more efficient ways to use that water.”

He blames farming subsidies for inhibiting innovation. The subsidies “distort the market prices and decrease the attraction of investments,” and result in a lack of incentive for entrepreneurs, argues Vigodman, who is a member of the advisory committee of Israel’s National Economic Council and a graduate of the management development program at Harvard Business School. He is also a director of Teva Pharmeceuticals.

The clock is ticking in the minds of food experts. 2050 has been marked by some experts as the critical year, when the world population is expected to have expanded by 2.5 billion people, 95 percent of whom will live in developing countries.

“The role of agriculture today is more important than ever before,” said Vigodman. “I have no doubt that the challenge of food makes agriculture the next big thing.” He is wary of the popular term “food crisis,” which he considers “too extreme,” but adds that “even without talking about global crises, the issue of food is crucial.”

Israel is to some extent a role model for the face of agriculture’s future. It holds the world record for reusing the most water for agricultural purposes, said Vigodman. That can be attributed more to “the creativity of Israelis” than to any kind of government initiative, he said.

“You start off with near-impossible conditions, with hardly any land or water, and with different climates — and the productivity is growing based on innovative changes in production of milk, seeds, fruits and vegetables and the move to aquaculture,” he said.

“On top of that, 70 percent of the water used for agriculture is reused water — three times as much as the global average,” said Vigodman. “Israel proves that you can promote innovation in agriculture. The Israeli farmer is educated, an entrepreneur and individualist. He has a deep understanding, and is experienced with dealing with difficult conditions. All these factors created a very high level of agriculture. Still, most of the innovative methods originated from the farmers themselves, not as a result of state-initiated processes.”

Yet, Brazil is even further ahead than Israel, leading the world in agricultural research and development.

“The [Brazilian] government initiated the establishment of an organization for applied research, dealing with innovative steps in agriculture, leading some 10,000 technological projects, all focused on suiting the crops to the conditions in Brazil, including the needs, the climate and the agriculture,” he said.

It’s paid off not only in feeding the masses, but in Brazil’s standing as a food exporter, showing that what’s good for the world’s poor and hungry can also be good for the bottom line.

This article appeared in print on page D19 of the April 4th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.