New Mission for IDF Soldiers: Eat More Carrots

Baruch Hashem, it’s been a very good year for carrots. The Israeli market is full of high-quality, low-cost carrots, and Israeli carrots have taken over the markets in Russia (the biggest foreign buyer of locally grown carrots) and elsewhere.

Now, it’s the IDF’s turn to contribute to the carrot economy, Army Radio reported Thursday. In order to avoid a situation where carrots would rot in the fields because there are no takers, the Agriculture Ministry has sent an emergency request to the IDF to figure out ways to feed more carrots to soldiers. Also being asked to contribute are chessed groups and social service organizations, which are being asked to take more carrots off the hands of farmers for distribution in care packages.

However, that latter request may be more difficult to fulfill – as the warehouses of many chessed groups are already filled with carrots. Thus, said the Ministry, the IDF is the next address for “absorption” of the carrot oversupply. The Ministry said that it would be happy to provide appropriate recipes for the use of the carrots, suitable for soldiers from all backgrounds, from tzimmes to Moroccan carrot salad, and everything in between.

If that doesn’t work, the excess carrots will either have to remain in the field, or be fed to animals – neither a preferred outcome, the Ministry said. “We consider it an important task to prevent damage to growers and to avoid wasting food,” the Ministry said in a statement. “We would prefer to avoid having to destroy or otherwise waste these carrots.”