The water diplomats: How western Negev AgTech and WaterTech are taking root in Colorado
Israeli AgTech and WaterTech start-ups met the farmers, engineers, and officials ready to test them in Colorado's fields.
At Schell Farms in Sterling, Colorado, cameras and ground-penetrating radar mounted on a center pivot provide real-time data on corn and soil conditions. This allows farmers like Daniel Schell to quickly identify issues such as clogged nozzles and monitor soil moisture, preventing crop stress before it becomes a problem. Daniel Schell, representing the Western Negev Innovation Authority, introduced Israeli AgTech and WaterTech companies to Logan County, which is known for its agricultural economy worth over $6 billion.
Logan County is home to 1.38 million cattle and faces challenges such as extreme climate, water scarcity, and labor shortages. The Western Negev in Israel, Israel's food-security engine, also deals with these same issues. The BIRD Foundation, the US-Israel Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation, facilitated the connection between Israeli and Colorado companies.
The Autonomous Pivot system, developed by HaMitbah, provides data on irrigation hardware, detecting issues like clogged nozzles and monitoring soil moisture. This data-driven approach has helped Israeli farmers save water and improve crop yields, and is now being adopted in Colorado. Logan County Commissioner Jim Yahn, who has over 34 years of experience in water management, emphasized the importance of water conservation and shared historical water rights dating back to 1873.
The Western Negev's grassroots innovation approach could potentially be applied to water management in Colorado through county-to-county partnerships and the sharing of field-tested technologies and resilience.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
