How the pomegranate market came to be

One factor in growing market for the traditional fruit is central role it plays in folklore of nations around world – including Jews.

By ANDREW FRIEDMAN
Pomegranate (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Pomegranate
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
In some ways, it is easy to identify with the Torah’s description of the Land of Israel as a land of wheat, barley and grape vines, pomegranates, fig and olive trees and honey (Deuteronomy 8:8). Ancient olive trees are among the most distinctive sights of a drive through Judea and Samaria. Along the Jordan River valley, from the Dead Sea in the south to Tiberias in the north, one cannot help but marvel at the stately date palms that line the landscape. Drive to any kibbutz or moshav and the wheat fields are bound to be a central part of the experience.
But for many years, one part of the biblical description of the Land of Israel did not match the reality on the ground: the pomegranate. As recently as the turn of the 21st century, the pomegranate was considered a luxury fruit, with barely any domestic market to speak of. Although some (mostly Arab) growers did cultivate pomegranate trees, most of these were in the gardens of private homes. On an industrial level, fewer than 20 farmers grew pomegranates on less than 5,000 dunams (500 hectares).
Fast forward to 2011. Israel has become a major player in the global pomegranate market and a competitor for major producers of the fruit, including Egypt, Turkey, India and Spain. According to the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry, Israelis today consume more than 16,000 tons of pomegranates a year, in a season that lasts from May to January. Though Israel’s annual export total of 24,000 tons is a drop in the bucket when compared to the output of other, larger countries such as Egypt, Turkey and India, European importers say the quantity of Israeli pomegranates far outstrips the produce they receive from other countries. Local growers say that fact is the key to their survival.
“I definitely charge more for my produce than growers in Egypt or Spain, but the consumer is getting a totally different product, in terms of color, taste and nutritional value,” said Ilan Cohen, a pomegranate farmer at Moshav Sde Ya’acov near Afula. ”You can’t compare Israel to other countries that have so much more water than we do, as well as a huge supply of cheap labor. I can’t compete with Spanish or Egyptian growers in terms of price – if I had to accept the prices that they get paid for their fruit, I’d have to close my business.”
UNTIL THE mid-1990s, the pomegranate season in Israel was essentially a two-week affair, beginning a couple of weeks before Rosh Hashana and ending immediately after the holiday. That began to change towards the end of the decade, when research on the health benefits of pomegranates began to make headlines and caused a spike in demand for the fruit in Israel and abroad. Businesspeople worldwide quickly identified the earning potential in increasing output and quality, but were restricted by the fruit’s natural limitations: Pomegranates are renowned for their short shelf life, and too many seeds (the edible part of the fruit) were found to be hard and difficult to digest, even in apparently healthy fruit.
To develop an industrial pomegranate market, researchers at the ministry’s Volcani Institute of Agricultural Research, began experiments to address the challenges and to expand the domestic and export markets for Israeli pomegranates. A team of scientists at Volcani’s Neveh Ya’ar regional research center near Haifa set about creating new varieties of the tree that would yield better fruit and could thrive in a variety of climates, from Israel’s humid north to the harsh climate of the Arava.
According to Dr. Doron Holland, head of the research team, the result has been a series of early-ripening pomegranates that grow in the north and droughtresistant strains that grow in the south. In addition, Volcani researchers have developed a spray to prevent trees from bearing fruit until climate conditions can be expected to allow them to flourish. This allows the tree to save its resources, as it were, for developing strong, healthy fruit at the appropriate time of year.
“We’ve seen a remarkable improvement of pomegranates over the past six or seven years,” said Holland. “First of all, we’ve made great strides toward eliminating inedible seeds inside the fruit. Secondly, the colors are much better defined than they used to be. Our varieties have distinctive colors, from a strong light-pink to a darker green. That’s not critical for the flavor or for the nutritional value, but that’s what customers are looking for. It’s easy to scoff at that sort of consideration, but it’s a real one. When you’re marketing the fruit, you’ve got to provide something that customers will buy.”
In addition to the quality test, local advances have helped Israeli farmers take a leading role marketing the fruit. Because pomegranates have a notoriously short shelf life of about one month (in contrast, apples are routinely kept in the fridge for up to a year before hitting supermarket shelves), it has always been difficult to market them on an industrial scale. Traditionally, that has meant there are pomegranates on the shelves for less than two months.
To get fruit on supermarket shelves earlier in the year, scientists developed drought-resistant varieties of pomegranate. That helped expand the range of pomegranate farming to include all regions of the country, from the burning hot, arid climate of the Arava to the temperate climate of the Golan Heights, which enjoys ample rain in the winter and dew in the summer. In addition, new varieties of pomegranates were developed to bear fruit early in the summer. That gets pomegranates to market shelves for longer periods of the year.
“Sellers can charge more for pre-season or early season fruit, and the fact that there is fruit on the shelf for nine months a year is instrumental in getting people used to buying pomegranates,” said Holland.
Another factor in the growing market for pomegranates is the central role the fruit plays in the folklore of peoples and nations around the world. Many Jews are familiar with the custom of eating pomegranates on Rosh Hashana night because the fruit is said to contain 613 seeds, to match the traditional number of mitzvot in the Torah. To Muslims, pomegranates are said to “cleanse you of Satan and from evil aspirations for 40 days,” while in China they are a symbol of fertility.
Despite the huge growth of the pomegranate market over the past decade, however, Cohen said some recent developments have made things difficult for local growers. The liquidation of Israel’s largest export company, Agrexco, in mid-September threatens to curtail a large part of Israel’s export capability. That would lead to oversupply in the local market, which would subsequently lead to a sharp drop in prices. While there are other Israeli exporters who deal with fruits and vegetables, none are as large as Agrexco. Cohen said that could lead to a crisis in the local market.
“[If we lose a lot of export capability,] it could be very bad for us. We basically have too much fruit to sell here. I am hopeful that a solution will be found. If not, it will cause a crisis for our moshav and for all pomegranate growers around the country,” he said.