Desert Star

Gilad is a company owned by three growers which represents a group of 34 growers mainly in the southern desert of Israel. The company was founded to give solutions for growers who invest in their farms for high levels of quality control in their growing methods, post harvest and packing facilities. The existing big companies in Israel could not give them the additional additive value for their quality produce was needed in order to continue with initiative improvements.

As a relatively small company we know all the growers’ different growing fields, crops and we are aware of any small changes in the plants’ development throughout the growing and harvest season. We will identify changes in the weather that will develop into harvest peaks or lows, shortening of fruit shelf life or sizes and color anomalies.

This way we can support the growers and the customers in a more efficient way to minimize any possible losses and maximize the returns.

Growing area

We have three growing areas; all of them are in the desert southern part of Israel:

The main area is at Ein yahav in the center of the Arava valley – 27 growers with 300 acres, most of which are greenhouses.

The second area is at Sedom, which is located in the southern part of the Dead Sea – 4 growers with 20 acres, specializing in growing melons for Christmas.

The third area is Negev Heights, which is located in the southern part of the Negev desert. This is an isolated place that specializes in Organic growing – 10 growers with 50 acres.