he Farmers' Natural Insurance Fund: The heat load caused damage of more than NIS 30 million

The heat load that Israel is currently experiencing is causing damage to farmers. This is a heavy to extreme heat load and temperatures of more than 38 degrees in different areas of Israel.
Sunday morning in Kent, the Farmers' Natural Insurance Fund, dozens of notices of weather damage and heavy heat load for various crops were received. The damages received so far are from all regions of the country, including the southern Golan Heights and the Upper Galilee, the center of the country and especially the Emek Hefer region as well as agricultural farms in the southern Negev.
A preliminary examination in Kent revealed that most of the damage to the plantation and vegetable industries was due to heat damage affecting the flowering and thawing of the fruits and vegetables, causing a significant reduction in the volume of future crops. These include damage to tomato, pepper, citrus, avocado and watermelon crops. Another significant injury due to the heavy heat is from sun blows causing the fruit to burn on the trees, burning the fruit for marketing later. In the segment, including wheat crops, the concern is for fires due to the heat wave and expected winds.
According to Shmulik Turgman, Kent's CEO, in recent years, as a result of global warming, we have witnessed very powerful weather events that cause heavy damage in a short period of time. With regard to the current heat wave, the initial stage is the assessment of damages of over NIS 30 million, but it is still too early to determine the extent of the final damages. He said Kent would increase the value of the exporters' fields so that they could determine the extent of damage as soon as possible and that the fund could compensate farmers accordingly.
According to Turgeman, in a similar heat wave that occurred just a year ago, in May 2019, the foundation paid various growers compensation of NIS 25 million. During the high temperatures measured during the day, we are also witnessing unusual heat. As far as agriculture is concerned, this is a problematic combination and we expect the total amount of damages to be very high and will amount to tens of millions of shekels. "