| ORGANIC FARMING - Many consumers purchase organic produce, considering it as unsprayed and hence healthier. However, as presented above, organic produce is sprayed with approved organic chemicals. According to Wikipedia, Organic agriculture is "an integrated farming system that strives for sustainability, the enhancement of soil fertility and biological diversity while, with rare exceptions, prohibiting synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, and growth hormones." You see, organic farming does not object to sprays, maybe because they, too, do not believe it is possible without sprays. The organic farming object only to “synthetic pesticides…” Well, pesticides, including non-synthetics ones, are harmful, unhealthy to non-target organisms, including people and the environment alike. To summarize, if you are looking for healthy, unsprayed produce, then Organic farming is not the answer because it never had a goal of being free of sprays. I AM A PUZZLED FARMER I followed and sprayed my orchards with pesticide, according to each farming regime's protocol, i.e., organic and conventional. I was spraying the conventional orchards with either conventional or organic pesticides, while the organic orchards I was spraying with organic pesticides only. The Ministry of Agriculture says; if you follow the labels, the health of people, non-target organisms, and the environment are secured, regardless of the crop protection regime you choose! If that is so, then WHY are people still buying the more costly organic produce? I was confused. DIGGING INTO THE ‘WHY’ To have an economically viable operation, a farmer must also be a business person, to market his produce at the highest price. Meaning, you need to know WHAT your end buyers, the consumers, want, and WHY they want it. I took a mission to understand "why some people buy organic," and I did it by asking organic consumers that very question. The most common answer was "because it is healthier to eat fruits free of sprays.” As an organic farmer, I knew this wasn't true; organic orchards are sprayed. However, I finally received an answer to WHY people buy organic produce; they view Sprayed Produce = Unhealthy Produce]; hence, Non-Sprayed Produce = Healthy Produce]. Simple isn’t it!? One may ask, "What about the general public, which is not buying organic? Don’t they care at all about sprays, chemical residues, and health?" In a survey conducted in Israel (2015) by Mashov Group, people were asked, "Do you have a concern that the fruits and vegetables we consume contain pesticides' residues?" Most of the people, 84% to be precise, answered – Yes. Health and environmental awareness in Israel is much lower than in the EU or the USA, yet most people are concerned about consuming pesticides with their fresh produce. We then asked the respondents, "Assuming you were offered fruits and vegetables from a well-known and safe brand, which did not contain dangerous pesticides, would you be willing to pay more for them than regular fruits and vegetables?" Once again, 84% said they are ready to pay more, with 68% willing to pay up to 10% extra! This survey state clearly that most people commonly share the issue of fear and concern from having chemical residue in our fresh produce, regardless of where they buy or what they buy, i.e., conventional or organic produce. Yet, the readiness to pay a premium to meet your personal (health) demands naturally varies amongst consumers. In general, people are ready to 'pay more' for 'more health.' Unfortunately, twenty-five years earlier, in the mid-90s of the 20th Century, I did not have that information before my eyes. I had to count on my guts feelings and what I managed to learn and understand through many personal communications with consumers, traders, and farmers. "CUSTOMERS RARELY BUY WHAT YOU SELL" When I realized WHAT consumers want, and especially WHY they want it, I thought to myself - Funny, in the Ministry of Agriculture's eyes, all produce is safe to eat, regardless of the crop protection regime it practiced. In the eyes of the farmer, (in this case, my eyes), I was selling a commodity, some for a premium price (organic) versus the mass market prices (conventional). In the eyes of “ordinary consumers," Fresh produce is the same, with the main differences being the Taste, Looks, and Price. And, consumers that emphasize the importance of health buy organic, although it is sprayed too. Funny, 84% of consumers that buy my conventional produce want it free of sprays, and 100% of my organic consumers wanted the same. Unfortunately, none of my consumers got what they want! That is terrible, and in my opinion, unacceptable. But once I knew what is essential for my consumers and WHY it became evident that I should focus on fulfilling their wish and supplying that need. I saw it also as a win-win opportunity for farmers to increase their income and for consumers and the environment to have a healthier future. INSIGHT No one goes to the supermarket saying, "give me produce that was intensively sprayed with organic/synthetic sprays, and make sure chemical residues level is high!” I finally realized that people want fresh, unsprayed produce because people (all of us) want to be healthy! It is as easy as it sounds. People do not want to get sick, shorten their lives by eating poison and get illnesses caused by pesticides. It appeared evident that most consumers would prefer buying produce that wasn’t sprayed, versus produce sprayed with organic or synthetic insecticide. Period. Since there isn’t a category of "no insecticides," people buy whatever is offered, conventional or organic, even though none answers their yearnings, and direct wishes for unsprayed produce or fewer sprays. A NECESSARY DETOUR It was 1994, and I just completed a Bachelor degree in plant protection, when it became clear to me that the best fruit category would be “none sprayed," or at least far lesser sprays. But there was a problem – the back-bone of crop protection was (and still is!) pesticide sprays, and there was no effective crop protection technology to replace sprays. For a NON-SPRAYED category, we need a way to control the main pest/s without sprays. My vision and hopes for a better future for farmers, consumers, and the environment are useless without an effective alternative for pesticides and a live demonstration to present its feasibility. No one would come to my help and give me the technology and knowledge I needed so badly. It was clear to me that if I want to realize my vision, I would also need to take full responsibility for creating a Package of 'tools', knowledge, and services to enable it. I made a detour in my carrier - the stages I envisioned were as followed; Starting by developing a zero-spray technology that would replace insecticide sprays. Continuing by demonstrating its effectiveness under field conditions. Finally, I hoped to be lucky enough (which I had great doubts about), to start marketing labeled produce under a new category of - free of insecticide sprays. I got to work, with the next steps being to apply the above plan. It was 1991 when I began my plant protection studies at the university. After graduation in 1994, I continued to research and completed my Ph.D. in 2004.
I became a world expert in the field of fruit fly meta-population ecology. Thus, based on a higher level of understanding insects' ecology, rather than poisons' chemistry, I was creating and bringing the knowledge required for future crop protection.. Now I had to complete the development of the technology, which I already started developing. In 2004, as I said my farewell to the academic lives, I founded Biofeed to develop a highly effective non-spraying technology for fruit fly management. I wanted it to be good enough so that conventional farmers would use it instead of sprays. I started developing that zero-spray technology, not because I thought it is easy, but because it was needed, and if I wouldn't do it, no one else would. I thought it would be a good idea to focus Biofeed’s R&D on fruit fly management. Why? Because fruit flies are accepted as the most challenging group of pests and often account for 50% to 100% of pesticide applications. One may say, “if you can control fruit flies without sprays, you can control anything.” I was glad to see the accomplishment of the detour with complete success; Biofeed has developed a series of fruit fly solutions, introducing unprecedented results [>><<].
We conducted extensive field trials in regions where fruit flies have no solution, and fruit infestation is higher than 50%, i.e., Africa and Asia. We were hoping to reduce infestation by 50%. Nevertheless, by combining the innovative FreeDome technology as an integral part of the methodology and concept of the Fruit Fly Certified Trade Zone (FFCTZ) protocol, we managed to reduce fruit fly infestation by a staggering nearly impossible rate of - 99%, versus sprays or any other best practice. Finally, today, under FFCTZ protocol, fruit flies are no longer a problem, and exporters/importers can safely trade with high value produce worldwide. “HOME RUN” Now that we got over the technological and knowledge impediments to produce fruits free of (or much less) insecticide sprays, it was time to focus on the main topic on our agenda. Finally, the No Insecticide Sprays Fruit Category became possible, and we named it Green Valley. We set mangoes, a high-value fruit, and the most common around Africa and Asia, to be the first product we launch under the Green Valley brand. Green Valley is the brand and operation arm for taking the technology and knowledge created by Biofeed and uses it to bring to life the vision of improved livelihood to farmers, growing crops free of sprays, for healthier consumers and environment. REALITY CHECK During the last four years, Green Valley demonstrated its ability to enable farmers to produce Export Quality mangoes across Africa and India (i.e., Asia). Yes, when working under Green Valley protocol, export quality is possible regardless of place, size of the farm, variety, climate (rainy or dry), and even when adjacent farms suffer over 50% fruit fly infestation. After years of hard work on developing and tuning the technology and protocols to obtain consistent quality results, it was time to re-focus toward our end buyers – the consumers. Fortunately, I found it to be easier than expected. You see, during the past four years, through thousands of posts and articles, I kept updating my Followers on the social platforms (over 30,000) about what I am doing, my thoughts, trials, challenges, breakthroughs, and of course, about the amazing field results. As soon as my Followers noted the great field results and the opportunity of getting Tastier Mangoes, Free of Sprays, I started getting requests to bring these fruits to Europe. People started asking when it will be available in their city. I decided to use the social platforms, in particular the LinkedIn survey tools, benefiting from the crowd wisdom, to ask the people for their opinion and get better clarity on the WHY of our target consumers. Note, LinkedIn surveys do not apply to strict scientific demand and hence should be handled with care. Surveys were released gradually, 1 to 6 weeks apart, with the respondents remaining anonymous. | 
