ISRAEL - Applies AI to Crop Irrigation

A new Israeli study suggests that machine-learning models may soon give growers a far more precise way to predict how much water their crops use each day, while also laying the groundwork for earlier detection of plant stress.

Led by Shani Friedman and Nir Averbuch under the supervision of Prof. Menachem Moshelion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the study drew on seven years of continuous, high-resolution measurements from tomato, wheat and barley plants grown in semi-commercial greenhouse conditions.

Two variables emerged as especially influential: plant biomass and daily temperature. “These variables consistently shaped how much water plants consumed,” Friedman said. “Understanding how a healthy, well-irrigated plant is expected to behave on a given day also allows us to detect when something is off.”

In the longer term, insights from the model point toward more advanced precision agriculture tools for growers supporting better irrigation scheduling and water savings.

-www.jpost.com, 17 December 2025

Commentary: There seems to be no end to agricultural research development in Israel; and, we must add, it is tremendously effective.

How successful this AI application to crop irrigation will be in the future, only time will tell.

The following is found on Google relating to Israel’s agriculture:

Key Statistics & Trends

• Economic Contribution: Agriculture contributes about 1.28% to Israel’s GDP (2024), but agrifood-tech sector attracts billions in investment, driving innovation.

• Production Value: Total output value was around NIS 32 billion in 2021, with exports around NIS 4.1 billion.

• Employment: Agriculture employs a very small portion of the workforce, around 0.76% in 2023.

• Water Use: Israel uses significant desalinated water, reducing water stress, with agriculture’s share of water abstraction decreasing but still substantial.

• Land Use: About 29.7% of Israel is agricultural land, with significant portions used for fields, orchards, and pastures, even in arid regions.

We are reminded of God’s original promise to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt: “For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year” (Deuteronomy 11:10-12).