Until the Corona epidemic emerged, until it was stopped by one of the global market momentum, the inhabitants of the big cities did not feel existential dependence on local farmers. Every morning, vegetable-loaded trucks that grew in greenhouses in Mexico entered New York. Every evening, vegetable-loaded aircraft took off from eastern Turkey, directly to the Berlin markets. Marketing of agricultural produce, like all other consumer products, has lost its dependence on domestic production. Even in the middle of winter, grapes from South Africa were offered on Tel Aviv shelves. In the Tel Aviv metropolis, interest in the fate of the country's farmers ceased, and attention was focused on comparing prices to Berlin.

The Treasury and the Ministry of Agriculture were unanimous in the need to release the market and open it up to competing imports, even for fresh agricultural produce. The economic justification test was made to the leading criterion, which is why they also exposed Israeli agriculture to the global market competition. When they allowed, for example, before each holiday, to flood the market with imported fish from China, they severely hit the Israeli fishery industry, but explained that this was the way to lower the cost of living. Thus they continued, despite the danger that Israeli agriculture would be destined for the textile factories of the country, which were decided against the cheap import dump from China.

In light of the global trends that the Israeli government has given her, the struggles of Israeli farmers, to whom I was a partner, have come to a dead end. Farmers in the country have difficulty surviving and farms are closing down.

With the Corona crisis, an opportunity was created to redefine the basic assumptions of the state's attitude to agriculture as a vital national asset. First, we have learned these days that, in the face of global market momentum, each country is first and foremost about self-care to satisfy its needs. It is now clear that the state's independence in producing the necessary food is no less than an existential need. Public health depends not only on the quality of medical services, but also on the quality of food. Obviously, it is easier for the state to monitor proper standards on its own when the food production process is local.

And beyond that, remember that even in the digital age, the human soul needs the open space, which since human history includes not only free nature but also agricultural landscape. The ecological equilibrium between the city and the village establishes the cultural uniqueness of the city by connecting it to where it grows.

And finally, a homeland consciousness: In the exile constraint, the Jews focused on trade and white-collar occupations, leaving agricultural labor to others. Upon the return of the Jews to their country, a. D. Gordon about a century ago: "If we do not work the land with our hands, our land will not ... The land will not be ours and we will not be with the land. We will also be foreigners here, just like in the Diaspora." It's time to get back to the basics: Local farming is an existential interest.