Agriculture leaders from Florida, Israel discuss COVID-19 solutions
Agriculture leaders from both Florida and Israel shared how the industry has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic during a Zoom panel discussion.
The Consulate General of Israel in Miami and the international law firm Holland & Knight LLP hosted the discussion, which was part of the Florida-Israel Agriculture Innovation Summit. The four-day virtual summit was hosted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and organized by the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator.
“We are grateful to [Florida] Commissioner [of Agriculture and Consumer Services] Nikki Fried for the initiative to create an interactive dialogue between Israel and Florida to discuss innovative solutions in the agriculture field,” said Galit Peleg, interim consul general of Israel in Miami.
Meital Stavinsky, co-chair of Holland & Knight’s Israel Practice and moderator of the discussion, told the viewers, “The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted, among others, the importance of food security, globally and here in the U.S.”
“As consumers during the shutdown, we experienced supply shortage in the supermarkets,” she continued. “Farmers, on the other hand, had to deal with ensuring the health of their workers, and also strains on regular distribution channels as result of shutdown of education institutions, the hospitality industry, restaurants, cruise lines and theme parks who had no need of placing regular bulk orders during that time.”
Representatives of agricultural companies who participated in the discussion included Kent Shoemaker, CEO of Lipman Family Farms in Immokalee; Naty Barak, senior advisor and chief sustainability officer emeritus of Netafim in Israel; and Yemel Ortego, marketing and strategy leader of ADAMA in Israel.
The panelists discussed how their companies are meeting challenges such as employee health and safety, restricted travel, disrupted distribution networks and changes in demand and packaging. They also discussed the merits of government support during the pandemic, and more generally in driving innovation and collaboration.
“We’ve had to adjust to so many things, but I think that’s why it’s important, no matter how big your company is, to be able to be nimble,” Shoemaker said.
Barak said, “I think we have to be more efficient, we have to be more aware to the environmental issues and we have to intensify farming and agriculture without damaging the environment.”
Ortego added, “We want to make good choices about innovating quickly and implementing good practices to emerge stronger out of this crisis.”
“The ones innovating will capitalize on growth opportunities, and to be successful in agriculture or any other business, we basically need to rediscover customer needs, and evolve and adapt to meet those market needs,” he continued.
Visit facebook.com/fibatampa/ to view the discussion, which took place on the summit’s fourth day.
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