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Galilee - Agriculture
Home  > Galilee - Agriculture

Galilee - Agriculture

Agriculture

Since biblical times, farmers have taken advantage of the fertile soil of the Galilee to raise a wide variety of crops. While farming activities continue to play an important role in the region, agrotourism has come to the fore in recent years. Visitors to the region can enjoy picking and eating fresh fruit in season including berries, cherries, apples, pears, and nectarines. A guided tour of the central packing and refrigeration plant in the Golan Heights provides an inside look at the how the industry operates.

 Come to Olive Country

The Galilee is renowned for its olive trees. Each year, during the Olive Festival, tourists visit the olive groves to learn how olive oil is produced, enjoy freshly baked pita bread, and take home a sample of the region’s wares.

 Fruit of the Vine

Wine production has become increasingly important in recent years. The Golan Heights Winery has risen to become one of the country’s top three wineries. In the early 1980s, Golan farmers from eight kibbutzim and moshavim planted vineyards of white grapes. The temperature, high altitude, and rich soil all provide optimal conditions in which grapes can flourish. Today, the winery produces 5.4 million bottles of wine annually and exports to more than 25 countries around the world.

  Fast Facts

• The Galilee-Golan region is the leading area for the cultivation of deciduous fruit and poultry production in Israel.
  
• The region is bordered in the west by the town of Shlomi, by the Golan Heights in the east, the Lebanese border in the north, and road no. 85 in the south.
  
• The topography of the area is diversified: The Golan Heights, where deciduous fruit orchards flourish; the Hula valley where field crops, sub-tropical and deciduous orchards, and citrus fruit can be found; and the hilly regions of the Galilee where deciduous fruit orchards and poultry production are the two leading branches.
  
• The region covers over 1,060 thousand dunams (10 dunams = 1 hectare) of which 280 thousand dunams are crop growing areas and the rest of the land is natural pasture.