Israeli Innovation Brings Farmers’ Market to the Digital Age

By: Arye Green

An Israeli Start-up developed a new digital platform for the online purchase of agricultural produce, cutting out the mediator and potentially saving the consumer billions of shekels a year.

The start-up, named General Exchange (G-EX), is competing for a NIS 20 million tender from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Haifa Municipality. The tender aims to foster the development of a platform that will significantly reduce the price of agricultural goods.

General Exchange was started by Yinon Raz, who says it is based on the understanding that intermediaries constitute a significant contributor to the high cost of agricultural produce in Israel. According to his estimates, farmers get only NIS 18 billion for products that are sold in retail for a total of NIS 40 billion.

Raz says the mediation is the core issue that needs to be solved to bring the price down significantly, and that farmers are the only producers in the market who do not know what their product’s retail price is.

The solution suggested by G-EX is an online commerce platform for farmers to sell their goods directly to consumers. The price will be determined purely through supply and demand with no external mediators involved.

The digital platform will be supported by a logistical apparatus to supply the goods to the consumer in a convenient and timely fashion.

Farmers in Israel have protested repeatedly in recent years and have claimed that they are not able to make a living working in agriculture. Mediators are one of the topics they have brought up, along with the high cost of water, labor and regulation they must comply with.

Raz is hopeful his platform will substantially reduce the cost for consumers. “We expect that the implementation of our system will slash the price of agricultural goods, and allow farmers to get the real price their goods are worth,” he said.

The system will first mediate between farmers and industrial consumers, such as restaurants and hotels. Later on, G-EX hopes to develop the platform further and make it available for the end consumer.

“This platform was developed first and foremost for the farmers, and we see them as partners in our journey,” Raz said.

  (TPS)