In 1978, the U.S. and Israel established the Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD), with the primary mission of bringing together American and Israeli scientists to jointly address key agricultural and food production challenges concerning both countries. Showing tremendous foresight acknowledging agricultural R&D as key in national economic and social resilience, both governments backed their vision with an endowment to invest in our future.
Since then, BARD has been a shining example of U.S.-Israel collaboration, driving innovation and sustainable practices in agriculture and delivering major economic and human benefits to both nations. Our 45th anniversary is a time to both celebrate the impact of this unique partnership --and to accelerate programming and ensure the resources to meet the challenges ahead.
A key strength of BARD is facilitating joint research, which drives excellence and innovation by pooling the best of resources, facilities and specialized know-how in each country. These partnerships have produced groundbreaking innovations of tremendous benefit to both countries and even the global agricultural community. BARD’s collaborative framework is widely recognized as a standard of international cooperation, and serves as a benchmark for binational agricultural R&D programs.
Since its foundation, BARD has invested a total of $345 million in over 1,450 joint research projects. These have led to hundreds of new agricultural practices, commercial engagements, patents and breeding rights licenses -- driving economic growth, growing new industries and creating jobs in both economies. BARD has funded projects in nearly all 50 states, with a remarkable return of $16 for every $1 spent.
From soil and water quality to irrigation technologies, crop variety and health, post-harvest protection, and enhancing food security and safety, BARD-funded research has produced groundbreaking outcomes. Among them:
- Aquaculture: Developing full life-cycle hatchery-based aquaculture has provided a tool to induce fish to spawn in captivity, delivering global economic value of at least $12 billion (about $37 per person in the U.S.).
- Drip irrigation: Innovating technology utilization has revolutionized water management in agriculture, allowing for more efficient use of water resources in arid regions and providing sophisticated delivery systems for diversified cropping systems.
- Biological pest control: Developing new sustainable treatments and practices has reduced reliance on harmful chemical pesticides and promoted sustainable farming practices.
- Crop Varieties: Mapping genetic traits to develop crop varieties that are more resilient to drought, changing climate conditions and pests, improving yields and enhancing food security. Several new traits in wheat, tomato and other crops have already been commercialized.
- Soil management: Developing improved soil management practices enhances soil health and fertility while reducing erosion and degradation.
- Post-harvest technologies: Developing new technologies to improve food preservation methods, extend produce shelf-life, reduce food waste, and improve food security.
BARD’s impact extends beyond the U.S. and Israel, as technologies and knowledge are shared to empower farmers to improve their practices and livelihoods. Our work strongly aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG #2 to eliminate hunger. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), half of those hungry globally are farmers who cannot feed their own families, much less produce surplus to sell in the market for income. In the U.S. alone, 10% of families are food-insecure.
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Our world is facing challenges such as climate change and resource scarcity. With the global population set to approach 10 billion by 2050, BARD’s mission is more relevant and pressing than ever. The future challenge is clear: feeding more people faster and with fewer resources, while reducing the negative impact of agriculture.
With this in mind, BARD has recently refined and updated its research priorities, launched new and innovative funding tracks, and engaged additional stakeholders to identify and address emerging challenges and opportunities and to accelerate agricultural R&D solutions through binational cooperation.
The water scarcity and arid environment that drove Israel’s pioneering agricultural research and practices are now a global problem, affecting the U.S. as well. BARD is uniquely positioned to utilize Israel’s specialized arid agriculture expertise and bring together U.S. and Israeli scientists and stakeholders to share and deepen this knowledge to strengthen our farmers, communities, industries and economies.
An urgent mission is accelerating research-to-practice. In the past, translating scientific research into practice and industry has taken as long as 15 years – a pace we can no longer afford. BARD is now set to prioritize stronger ties between academia and industry to accelerate the time-to-market for agriculture technologies. This is key to our strategy of addressing the pressing food production challenges while driving economic growth and sustainability in the U.S. and Israel.
Drought, extreme climate events, loss of arable land and a declining labor force for agriculture are only some of our shared challenges. As the UN general assembly meets, policymakers, in the US and Israel, must act with the same foresight and investment shown 45 years ago in order to work today for tomorrow’s agricultural solutions. Together, we will pioneer a brighter future for our countries’ agriculture and food security.
Yoram Kapulnik, Ph. D., is the executive director of the Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD).
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