Disabled Negev Gardeners Team with Insect-Free Produce Firm to Grow Strawberries

Photo Credit: ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran

Working with Chasalat, the largest insect-free produce company in Israel, ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran’s team of nearly 40 gardeners with disabilities make the Negev bloom with an array of spices and botanical fruits fit for fellow Jews of all backgrounds and beliefs.

A group of disabled gardeners has teamed up with the largest insect-free produce company in Israel to cultivate organic and pest-free strawberries for consumption in the local Israeli market.

The challenge was difficult: Insect-free strawberries are particularly difficult to cultivate.

Nevertheless, the feat was accomplished by ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran’s inclusive gardening team, which cultivated a crop worthy of the best agricultural producers for the haredi community.

Nearly 40 gardeners with disabilities and their supervisors at the rehabilitation village worked with the well-known Chasalat company on the project.

Fittingly, the very first strawberry harvest took place on December 3, which is recognized annually as International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

“It was such an exciting challenge, and we are the perfect team to tackle it. If any agricultural team would be sensitive to the needs or limitations of others, it’s our ADI Negev gardeners,” said Yosef Morano, an ADI rehabilitation patient turned gardener, who oversees all of the organic farm’s special projects.

“Strawberries are so difficult to rid of pests, because the mites that infest them are tiny and look exactly like the seeds on the berries themselves, so the ultra-Orthodox community tends to avoid them entirely,” Morano explained.

“Our challenge was to grow pristinely clean berries that would satisfy this important population, and we succeeded in just two months!”

To prepare for the project, the gardeners built two brand new greenhouses, secured them with special netting and built elevated growing surfaces. While no pesticides were used, the gardeners employed a swarm of bumblebees for enhanced pollination, higher yield and the improvement of overall fruit quality and flavor.

“We’ve been partnering with Chasalat for more than two years, growing an array of spices, including sage, rosemary, thyme and oregano, among others,” Morano added.

“The company was so impressed with our work that they enlisted us to grow their line of pest-free strawberries. With this newest success, we can only hope that this wonderful partnership will continue to blossom.”

ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran’s ‘Gardeners Without Borders’ program, which is heavily supported by Jewish National Fund-USA, provides dozens of individuals with disabilities who were deemed unemployable by others with a framework for inclusion, rehabilitation, socialization, skill-building, meaningful work and gainful employment. For many, it represents their very first paychecks. For all, it constitutes an opportunity to prove and empower themselves.

“While some were born with disabilities, others were touched by disability later in life, and these incredible individuals work together to grow dozens of different varieties of fruits and vegetables at our organic farm, keep our entire 40-acre rehabilitation village lush and green, and prove that disability doesn’t mean inability,” said Elie Klein, ADI’s North America Director of Advancement.

“This sensational strawberry harvest is a testament to their hard work and exceptional skill, but it also sends a different kind of message: fourteen months on, we’re not just surviving but thriving. By promoting acceptance and providing the tools for personal advancement, we are renewing hope and rebuilding the Negev one game changing project at a time.”

ADI has provided the individualized care needed to ensure the consistent growth and long-term mental health of Israel’s most vulnerable citizens since October 7, 2023. The organization is also working to heal dozens of war-wounded IDF soldiers and civilians from the country’s hardest hit communities at its Kaylie Rehabilitation Medical Center, the sole rehabilitation hospital in Israel’s southern district.