In the aftermath of the tragic events of October 7th, OLAM partner, Volcani International Partnerships (VIP), embarked on a significant pivot to address the urgent needs of Israeli farmers that arose in the wake of the attack.

OLAM spoke with VIP Executive Director Danielle Abraham about their new ReGrow Israel initiative, aimed at revitalizing the hard-hit agricultural sector and supporting affected communities during this challenging time.

Q: How did the events of October 7th impact Volcani International Partnerships?

Danielle: Our mission at VIP pre-October 7th was primarily to utilize Israeli agricultural expertise to tackle global food and nutrition insecurity. Because this involved helping agri-tech companies from Israel enter the African market, we were investing in both Israeli agricultural innovation and Israeli farmers and scientists, to ensure that we were always at the cutting edge.

By October 11th, I had already begun to speak with some of Israel’s preeminent agricultural leaders to determine where VIP’s added value could be to the agricultural sector. The next day, we established a small project we called Regrow Israel. The plan was to pivot the organization for three months: Put almost everything else on hold and think about how to support medium- to long-term agricultural rehabilitation in southern Israel, because that's where our expertise really comes in.

But when we went into the field, we saw something that remains a relatively untold story: Hamas came into Israel with a dual agenda. One, to murder, rape, torture, and kidnap the people. And two, to destroy Israel's agriculture, which they knew was a symbol of Zionism and Israeli identity, the economic foundation for the area, and critical to Israel’s national food security. They burned hundreds of thousands of chickens, they wrecked and stole millions of dollars worth of agricultural equipment. There was no point in talking about medium- or long-term resilience and rebuilding, because, at this point, the farmers needed help just getting back on their feet.

Q: Can you elaborate on the ReGrow Israel Initiative?

Danielle: By December, it became clear that Israel’s government compensation mechanism would not reimburse the farmers in full for destroyed agricultural equipment due to depreciation. So the first thing we did was raise $12.5 million dollars from the Jewish Federations of North America, to help replace all the agricultural equipment across the entire region, whether it belonged to a kibbutz, moshav, or an independent farmer.

The second obvious challenge was to replace the manpower that was lost. While there is a volunteer movement to work in farms across Israel, that is not a long-term solution; so we have begun to help the sector move towards automation, which can both address the labor shortages and simultaneously, build resilience for the day after. It makes farming more efficient, less dependent on labor and thus less susceptible to vulnerabilities, and also, more profitable and efficient in the long term.

We are currently closing funding right now for two automation projects: One is to introduce automation into moshavim (cooperative agricultural communities), which will help small and medium farmers. The second is to introduce automation into the dairies (primarily the kibbutzim). Overall, these projects are valued at about $15million.

And finally, we are working with the philanthropic community to identify needs and design projects that speak to their interests.  Whether that is to rebuild a cowshed or greenhouse, or lay the foundations for a philanthropic agricultural innovation fund. For each project, we are building expert teams that include farmers around every subject on which we are working.

Q: How has your decision to invest in ReGrow Israel shaped your approach to international projects and partnerships?

Danielle: VIP has spent a long time building up relationships and projects across the globe, and our international activities are our passion and the core of our work. At the same time, after October 7th, like so many Israelis and Jews around the world, we felt like we had to do our bit.

At first, we did, in fact, put everything on hold, other than projects that were ongoing and had to move forward. We had tomato seeds on the way to irrigation systems we were building in Malawi; that went on. Our partnership with [former UK Prime Minister] Tony Blair and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change to advise governments continues. I did put a hold on all my planned international trips, but I am trying to move partnership forward via Zoom meetings.

Right now, as we approach the one-year anniversary of the attack, we are starting to figure out how to relaunch our international projects, or more accurately – to pick up again where we left off. And we have to determine how to do this in a meaningful way, without damaging what we're building at ReGrow Israel.

But that said, to be honest, I don't actually see ReGrow Israel as completely distinct to our previous work. We have learned so much about how to rebuild, recover, and rehabilitate agriculture in a climate-challenged zone that is extremely relevant in the countries where we work. We've already had requests from partners around the world looking to learn from our approach at ReGrow Israel, and from the models we are using. So this is actually very strategic on the content side for international partners.

So what we are doing at ReGrow Israel is relevant in terms of content for international partners that are struggling with food systems.

Q: So, your mission hasn’t really changed? It’s just expanded?

Danielle: In today’s world, where antisemitism is merging with anti-Zionism, and where we are seeing a lot of anti-Israel sentiment, Israel needs to strengthen its relations with countries, organizations, institutions, and populations around the world. I believe Israel's agricultural and water expertise is one of the best ways to do that. So, we can not only leverage our learnings from ReGrow Israel to accomplish our original mission of utilizing Israeli innovation to support global agricultural efforts, but we can also use our learnings to strengthen Israeli international relations.

While there has definitely been a shift to the Israel-focused work for now, both VIP and ReGrow Israel are aimed at helping farmers, and they actually strengthen each other. We are building a strong Israeli agriculture with strong models of innovation, and we intend to share the expertise and learnings from ReGrow Israel with the world. This has always been VIP’s mission.

Q: What key insights have you gained about the process of pivoting through your experience?

Danielle: For the pivot to succeed, it has to be done for a good reason, and it has to be a really good fit for the current market. It needs to fill a gap. We never tried to compete with another actor. If another organization was already doing something, we didn’t go there.

You must be able to pace yourself (while also able to work without sleep!), because pivoting in an emergency is very, very difficult. It also helps to be laser-focused on the idea.

And I think you need an awesome team, which I'm very lucky to have; to be surrounded by people that are smarter than you, more capable than you, and lovely to work with. You need to have everyone on board and in the same spirit. Everyone came together after October 7th – everyone. People just showed up.

Ultimately, we were able to do something amazing because there was an urgent need, people were mobilized and united, and were driven to contribute something valuable. It's been a real privilege to be able to do this.

‍

‍*Photo: All photos belong to Volcani International Partnerships