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The Robert H. Smith

Our Vision: Feeding future generations through modern, knowledge-based agriculture, while preserving the quality of the environment.

The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment has been a major contributor to Israel's remarkable achievements in agriculture, through its groundbreaking research and education of generations of students.

The world around us is changing, there is growing awareness of the state of the environment, and there is growing concern due to the over-exploitation of natural resources by mankind. Reduction of water and food resources combined with population growth can lead to hunger. This "new world" has led the Faculty to commit to a responsible role in preserving the environment for future generations, and while doing so, to continuously search for ways to increase sustainable food and water resources.

Tour the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment

Join us for a virtual tour through some faculty landmarks:

See the Greenhouse of the Future, the Bee Research Center, the Fish Research Facility, the Cannabis Research Facility, the International School of Agricultural Sciences, the Joseph Margolis Experimental Farm, the Greenhouse, and the Hebrew University Veterinary Hospital

HUJIBITES

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Sesame: From Ancient Seed to Modern Crop

Sesame seeds are healthy and tasty, but it’s a very labor-intensive crop, as pods must be picked by hand. As a result, sesame production has left Israel, moving entirely overseas. Now, Idan Sabag is working to bring it back. Together with Prof. Zvi Peleg, he is bringing sesame into modern agriculture, making it better suited for mechanized harvest. Idan Sabag is a doctoral student in the Department of Plant Sciences & Genetics in Agriculture
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Medicated Crops

Irrigating with Treated Wastewater

In a world facing increased water shortages, irrigating crops with treated wastewater isn’t just a good idea – it’s a necessity. But what happens when that wastewater contains traces of pharmaceuticals? Dr. Evyatar Ben Mordechay is analyzing how the pharmaceuticals that enter our sewage make their way into the agro-environment, and back into our bodies via crops we consume. Dr. Evyatar Ben Mordechay recently graduated and is now a postdoctoral researcher Department of Soil and Water Sciences.
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Salty & Dry: Plants Struggle to Survive


Healthy soil is critical for sustaining life on earth. In fact, every single bite of food starts as a plant growing in the ground. Dr. Yair Mau studies how the basic act of watering crops affects soil salinity, while gaining insights into basic processes that affect soil quality. He also studies how plants cope with environmental stressors posed by climate change. Dr. Yair Mau is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Soil and Water Sciences.

Yissum - The Tech Transfer Company of the University

 

Out of the Lab Podcast

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Saving Our Planet is Not a Cliche

For this Researcher it’s the Center of What Matters: In this episode, host Molly Livingstone speaks with Prof. Yael Mishael. After following her heart into environmental studies, she quickly became the black sheep of her family…of artists. However, her passion gave her the drive to not only take on research, but become a leader in green tech as the Hebrew University’s Director of the Center for Sustainability. In this episode we discuss it all, from tips on how you can live a more sustainable lifestyle, to how waste can even effect good wine, and why yes the cliche: “saving our planet,” is still relevant and more important than ever. 

The Superwomen Behind the New SuperFood?

In this episode, host Molly Livingstone speaks with the young co-founders CEO Dr. Jasmin Ravid and CTO Dr. Daria Feldman behind Kinoko-Tech, a startup harnessing the power of fungi and deep-tech fermentation to produce the next generation of superfood – sustainable, delicious and highly nutritious. In this candid conversation, you’ll learn about how the three women founders went from a group full of strangers in a Hebrew University accelerator to a winning team and eventually how they left academia for industry. They share their experiences as they head into another funding round, scaling up, and why they are as passionate about their product, as they are knowledgeable.

Can You Smell That?

In this episode, Host Molly Livingstone of Yissum, the Hebrew University’s Tech Transfer Division, speaks with Prof. Masha Niv about her childhood move from Russia to Israel, her love for food, sociology and science and how she ended up researching taste and smell. Prof. Niv shares her new diagnostic approaches and drug development, what it’s like to be a woman in science today and her research on the loss of taste on the road to recovery from Corona.