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By Victoria Hansen
hansenv@findlay.edu
The University of Findlay took its first steps into agriculture on Aug. 28 by forming a partnership with the Ohio-Israel Ag and CleanTech Initiative (OIACI), a non-profit that matches American agriculture companies and farmers with Israeli companies and technology.
“It’s a two-way street,” said Alain de Wolff, director of OIACI. “One is we look at products that could be of interest to the Israeli society, and we export them to Israel.”
OIACI has exported red Angus cow embryos and Ohio soybeans to Israel to jump-start Israeli farms. In the other direction, OIACI exports Israeli research and products to the U.S.
“The university is interested in working more in R&D and innovation, and in those sectors, I would say Israel is number one in the world by far,” De Wolff said.
While UF has programs in animal science; environment, health, safety, and sustainability; and biology, it does not have a dedicated agriculture major or any agricultural programs. According to Nathan Tice, director for strategic partnerships and workforce development, UF is currently interested in controlled agriculture, which would leverage UF’s greenhouse and faculty research on hydroponics, a way of growing plants without soil.
“Nothing is official yet, but one of the things the university is looking at is offering an ag degree,” Tice said. “If we’re going to offer something in ag, wouldn’t this partnership be really complementary?”
Tice said that plans for a full agriculture program are still going through faculty governance, but impact from the partnership should be seen on campus by the end of the academic year.
“We’re going to look for students who are interested in animal science, chemistry, even business, and see what they want to do,” Tice said. “Could we grow our own produce and use it on campus? There’s a lot of technology that could do that, and it’s being utilized in schools all around the world.”
The new partnership has drawn controversy due to its ties to Israel. While OIACI is not affiliated with the Israeli government, some students have raised concerns, both in person and online, about UF’s partnership with OIACI.
“I don’t know much about the organization, but I think that partnering with a group that is associated with Israel, who is known for committing genocide in Palestine, isn’t a good look for the university,” said Julia Novotney, an animal science-pre vet emphasis major.
The controversy stems from Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip, which have been declared by the United Nations to be a genocide, and the International Criminal Court putting out an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other inhumane acts.
The post announcing the partnership turned off comments after the response was overwhelmingly negative, with students and alumni expressing negative opinions. De Wolff says that there are no ties between OIACI and Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“Without expressing any political views, the most important thing is agriculture, water, and clean tech, which has nothing to do with politics, but has everything to do with the well-being of the inhabitants of this planet,” De Wolff said. “Most of the farmers in Israel have a large percentage of Palestinian and Arab workers that work for them. So the farmers and the people involved with ag are the people that are the most pro-partnerships between the Palestinians and Israelis.”
Novotney says that even though OIACI is not affiliated with the Israeli government, she still does not think that the optics are good for UF.
“Even if the organization doesn’t support the government itself, they’re still sending money to some degree,” Novotney said.
De Wolff says the initiatives put together by OIACI benefit everyone regardless of national identity. De Wolff also stressed that the technologies created by OIACI are in no way related to Israeli defense or cybersecurity.
