Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences

The Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences (ISWES) comprises of two departments: (i) Environmental Physics and Irrigation, and (ii) Soil Chemistry, Plant Nutrition and Microbiology that conduct diverse, interdisciplinary research, maintaining a balance between productive and sustainable agriculture. Basic and applied research activities fall into three main categories: (i) Soil Health: Developing agricultural management practices such as no/minimum tillage, organic and biological amendments, service crops, and precision nutrient application to enhance the soil’s capacity to support crop production, prevent erosion, protect water quality, and conserve biodiversity. (ii) Water resources: Developing tools for optimizing water resource management while simultaneously protecting Israel’s surface and subsurface water bodies, including development of safe and effective irrigation platforms for different water qualities. (iii) Food security: Optimizing soil and water resource utilization to ensure safe and sustainable production of agricultural commodities. ISWES embraces collaboration with local and global research institutions, universities, and agricultural stakeholders fostering innovation and dissemination of advanced knowledge, while prioritizing training of graduate and postdoctoral fellows to sustain a pipeline of scientists dedicated to agricultural and environmental research.