"If Israeli Honey Isn't Sold, Beehives Will Close, and Fruit and Vegetable Prices Will Go Up. Everyone Will Be Indirectly Affected"

Who doesn't love honey? It's sweet, nutritious, and even considered healthy, not to mention its beautiful golden color. However, Israelis don't consume much honey, only 650 grams per person per year on average. This is a very low amount compared to consumption in other developed countries, where up to 1,500 grams of honey per person per year are consumed.

One reason for the low consumption in Israel is its high price: about 45 shekels per kilogram. But this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has sweet news for all of us: Five Israeli supermarket chains have been granted duty-free import quotas for a total of nearly 500 tons of honey, which will be imported from abroad and sold here at 60% less than the average price, allowing everyone to enjoy cheap honey during Rosh Hashanah 5784.

Although it's only a specific import permit, some already see it as a threat to the future of Israeli agriculture and a loophole inviting counterfeiters. One of them is Micah Erez, a beekeeper from the settlement of Merhav Am in the Negev, whose post received hundreds of responses and was shared over 1,800 times. "This year, most Jews will not eat honey on Rosh Hashanah," wrote Erez, "which means they will definitely think they are eating honey. It will look, smell, feel, and taste like honey... but it will probably be sugar syrup labeled as honey... The counterfeit industry is soaring and very sophisticated. Unfortunately, the external differences are minor. Most of the counterfeits are from China, but the world knows that, so they sell it worldwide at wholesale prices, and the packaging will say it's from Spain, Poland, or anywhere else in the world, even Israel.

"The politicians are proud that they will lower the cost of honey. So temporarily, that will be true... honey will be cheap this year and maybe for another year or two, and an Israeli family that buys two jars a year will save about 50 shekels. Many Israeli beekeepers will close their hives (which is great in a free market that has efficiency!), but most of our fruits, and also vegetables, require pollination. When there are fewer beekeepers, pollination prices will skyrocket, and then a kilo of watermelon or avocado or many other fruits, their prices will soar, and the savings we made on imported honey will backfire on us. The fruits and vegetables will be hundreds of shekels more expensive... politicians under the guise of 'lowering the cost of living' are going to raise the shopping basket by hundreds of percent".

"Destroying Our Agriculture!"

"I always try to write only good things," says Erez, the beekeeper from the Negev, "but when it was published that they were going to import honey to Israel, it caused me a lot of pain. They are destroying our agriculture! I had to get it off my chest. I didn't know the post would go viral. Beekeepers from all over the country contacted me – from the Galilee, from the Sharon, from the coastal plain, from Mount Hebron – and shared their concerns and pain with me".

Erez, a tour guide by profession, has thirty beehives somewhere between Sde Boker and Yeruham, and he operates them mainly for Zionist reasons: "I believe the desert, at least part of it, needs to be settled and flourished, and people need to come to the Negev. Growing bees here is part of making the desert bloom.

"From an economic standpoint, I'm only losing from beekeeping, but economics isn't everything in life. When Ben-Gurion brought hundreds of thousands of people to Israel in the days after the state's establishment, the whole country had to live frugally. Today they'd say: it's not economical, leave them in exile. But I reject that perspective and adopt a value-based viewpoint".

This is also why Erez fears honey imports from abroad: "Every year they import honey during the holidays, it's nothing new because although Israel is a land of milk and honey, it doesn't produce all the honey consumed here, and yet last year they opened import quotas and gave them to importers linked to the honey sector, but this year they gave them to retailers who aren't beekeepers, and their whole goal is just to profit, without any ideals.

"Competition is good, and Israelis have the right to buy honey cheaply, but importing honey from abroad could cause the collapse of Israeli beehives, as people will prefer to buy cheap foreign honey over the expensive Israeli one.

"Two-thirds of our food depends on bees. For us to have oranges, avocados, or almonds, farmers need bees to pollinate the flowers. If Israeli honey isn't sold, beehives will close, and when beehives close, pollination costs will rise, and as a result, fruit and vegetable prices will go up. When the avocado grower needs beehives in his orchard, he will have to pay more for pollination, and the consumer will pay for it. The price of avocados will rise, and unlike honey, which is consumed sparingly, avocados have a high demand in Israel. And of course, it won't just be avocados".

And how do you think it will end?

"Because Israelis are the world's largest consumers of fruits and vegetables, both in variety and quantity, we'll find that the damage to the honey industry in Israel will indirectly affect everyone. We'll discover that we imported honey to save fifty shekels for the average Israeli family, which buys two or three jars a year, but that same family will pay 10,000 shekels more a year for fruits and vegetables due to the rise in pollination prices".

"It's Possible to Import Quality Honey at Half Price"

In Israel, there are a few hundred registered beekeepers, responsible for the operation of about 120,000 beehives producing about 4,000 tons of honey a year, but not everyone is allowed to participate in the buzzing agricultural sector: Production and marketing of honey in Israel depend on obtaining a production quota from the Honey Production and Marketing Board. Regulation touches on every stage of production and marketing: placing beehives for pollination, bee grazing, honey production and extraction, selling, marketing, and importation – all these require the board's approval.

According to the Supervision of Supplies and Services Order of 1977, which derives its authority from the emergency regulations still in force in Israel, it is forbidden to raise bees without the board's approval; it is also forbidden to trade in honey or transport it in quantities totaling over six kilograms without written approval; even the amount of honey a beekeeper himself may hold is limited to "the amount needed for his personal consumption and does not exceed one hundred kilograms". There is also a penalty for violators: anyone who did any of these, "faces a year in prison or a 50,000-lira fine".

The three beekeeping operations that dominate the local honey industry are the Hadera Valley Apiary, the Ein Harod Apiary, and the Yad Mordechai Apiary. Yad Mordechai is Israel's largest honey producer, controlling more than 60% of the Israeli honey market. The beekeepers complain about opening the market to foreign honey imports, but the truth is that part of the honey branded as 'Israeli' is not entirely so; in 2017, an interview was published with Haaretz journalist Nir Gontaz with Yair Schwartz, a senior executive at the Yad Mordechai Apiary, who admitted that the honey marketed by the cooperative is not necessarily produced by it or entirely of Israeli origin.

Under Israeli law, it is enough for the Israeli component's price in any product to be at least 35% of "the product's price at the producer's business door" to define it as "locally produced goods", and even if a jar of honey contains 65% foreign honey, they can still sell it to you as Israeli honey.

This might be the reason the Ministry of Agriculture isn't afraid to open import quotas for honey before the holidays. "When we first opened duty-free honey import quotas during the term of Agriculture Minister MK Oded Forer," says attorney Naomi Kaufman-Pes, who until recently served as director-general of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, "there were claims that it might harm Israeli farmers. We listened to these voices, and in an agreement with the farmers, we created a direct support framework for honey growers in Israel in exchange for a real opening of the market for imports, a framework they wanted then and still want today.

"In this agreement, approved by those in the honey sector and farmer representatives, thirty million shekels were allocated for direct support to the honey sector, in addition to additional funds for supporting agriculture, efficiency, innovation, etc., which are all relevant also for farmers engaged in pollination and beekeeping.

"By the way, from the farmers' perspective, pollination by bees is the required action. Honey is a blessed byproduct of this action, but pollination is the main focus, and it demands significant inputs from farmers. It should be noted that agricultural organizations signed this agreement, but later retracted their commitment".

In parallel with negotiations with farm groups, the Ministry of Agriculture opened import quotas, leading to the importation of honey to Israel at lower prices. The Israeli consumer, able to choose between local and foreign honey, celebrated the competitive prices, which resulted in a 35% increase in honey consumption in Israel, even outside the holiday periods.

"Not only did we prove that it's possible to import very high-quality honey at half the price, ranging between 17 to 19 shekels per kilo," says Kaufman-Pes, "but we also showed that even when honey consumption rose, local production was not harmed. The claim was that honey is a food product with an inelastic demand, meaning demand that does not change, but in practice, consumption increased, which proves that there are people in Israel who do not buy honey due to the high cost of living, just as there are people who do not buy fruits, vegetables, and other products because of their high prices".

Not All Honey

But not everything is honey in the honey world. According to recently published data, lab tests revealed that almost half of the honey imported to Europe is entirely fake or mixed with sugar syrup. In France, for instance, only four out of 21 honey samples tested in the lab were real honey. Most of the counterfeit honey was imported from non-European Union countries, mainly China and Turkey.

Kaufman-Pes believes that unique local standards are not required in this context: "Importing based on unique local standards is an element that adds to the cost of living. Instead, Israel is now leading a reform in standards and regulation, so what is good for Europe is also good for us. Every imported product has an ingredients list printed on it, and the consumer can read it and decide for themselves if they want to purchase the product.

"We will not tell the consumer what to purchase, we do not get into these matters, but once consumers are given products with a European standard mark, including the ingredient list, they can choose for themselves. When import restrictions are lifted, it's easier to bring a variety of products to the country at various prices, including low prices that the Israeli consumer can benefit from.

"There's no dispute that local agriculture needs support and direct backing. This is a viewpoint everyone agrees on, both farmers and the government. But on the other hand, removal of import barriers is also part of the matter to benefit consumers and reduce the cost of living, and by the way, to make local agriculture more efficient. I support Israeli-made products, blue and white. It's very important to have local Israeli production, strong agriculture, and a strong industry.

"There is no argument that pollination is crucial since there are crops that will disappear without it. It's important to have Israeli honey, and it's important to have the growth of fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural products. But the clearest thing is that the Israeli public deserves a reduction in the cost of living".

Could it be that the current regulation in the Israeli honey sector, which even includes a ban on transporting certain quantities of honey, is excessive regulation?

"Regulation at its core is a right thing. However, regulation cannot be an unjustified burden, both economically and practically. There is a need for certain regulation of the honey industry, and this is why we advanced the Honey Law, which regulates what's needed to prevent illegal beekeeping and ensure sufficient pollination in Israel's agricultural areas, a law somewhat similar to regulation in the planning and building sector. Unquestionably, irrelevant blocking requirements must be abolished.

"Maintaining local agriculture is a supreme value from many perspectives: Zionism, settlement, and security – both Israel's security and its food security – but the concern to reduce the cost of living and the variety of products for consumers is also necessary and required. Eventually, the opening of the honey industry to imports with direct supports preserves local agriculture and provides a solution for thousands of people who usually can't afford this healthy product".

And to end with a sweet fact: Producing one teaspoon of honey requires collecting nectar from about a thousand flowers. Wing applause for the bees working hard to make our year a good and sweet one!

Courtesy of the newspaper "Olam Katan"