Who is Galit Zamler?

Today, we will be exploring the story of Ms. Galit Zamler, an entrepreneur who, along with hundreds of volunteers, is currently aiding local farmers in harvesting their crops. Galit is passionate about entrepreneurship, and she has created a curriculum to teach these skills to kids. This curriculum is being taught in dozens of schools all around the world in countries like Israel, the USA, and India. She is also the co-founder of Vickathon, an initiative that leads and organizes hackathons within Israel. In hackathons, students must work in teams to solve challenges creatively, develop business plans for their solutions, and pitch in front of a panel of judges. Through her work, Galit inspires the next generation of kids to be problem-solvers and leaders.

Yet, the problem she is currently trying to solve doesn’t have much relation to her career. Instead, it arises from her sense of duty as an Israeli citizen and her entrepreneurial mindset where she saw a problem and decided to do something about it.

What problem is Galit solving?

Following the recent conflict on October 7, many Thai guest workers have fled Israel, as some of them were either killed or kidnapped. Many of the Thais worked in the agriculture sector, so when they left, farmers were without workers to help them harvest their crops and maintain their farms. This would eventually lead to a food security crisis for the country as farmers would not be able to produce the same amount of crops. The World Food Programme has found that conflict is the number one driver of food insecurity, and it can lead to malnutrition or higher risks of chronic disease later in life. In a desperate attempt to save their farms, many farmers published their stories on Facebook and Instagram. Little did they know, these posts would attract hundreds of volunteers dedicated to helping support the Israeli agriculture sector.

How is she solving this problem?

At the very beginning of the volunteering operations, it was not very well organized, but still, many volunteers went to different farms around the country to do what they could. Galit felt that the farms near the Gaza Strip, one of the areas that was in conflict, needed the most help. She and her friend tried to go once a week and when there, they would do what the farmers told them to. They picked lemons, clementines, green onions, and peppers while also doing other tasks like preparing strawberry beds and trimming lemon trees. Now, after months of helping farmers, different organizations have started to arrange volunteering and spread awareness. One such organization is LeketIsrael, which used to receive and distribute crop donations from farmers, but now has shifted its mission to helping farmers maintain their fields.

What obstacles or issues did she have to overcome?

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the volunteers as many of them were not experienced with physical labor. Galit said this was due to her work in front of the computer and “many of the volunteers are the same as me. We are not used to this.” On top of this, many crops were low to the ground and required lots of bending or other hard movements. This meant that they had to take lots of breaks to regain their energy leading to them completing about 10% of what the Thai workers would have been able to. This wasn’t a major obstacle due to their large numbers, which made up for the individual decrease in productivity. The second major issue was that many of the farms are in the north of the country where there is currently conflict leaving farmers with no way to get to their fields. This is an issue that is still trying to be overcome but they currently cannot do much about it.

What has she accomplished?

Through the collective dedication of Galit and all the other volunteers, they kept the operation of the farms running and prevented a food crisis in Israel. They also got many volunteers coming from countries around the world to help them. In the end, Galit said that it “makes you feel the success with what you are doing.” She also shared the story of the first time she went to volunteer. She helped a farmer who wasn’t able to go to his farm for three weeks, so when he finally got there, he posted on social media to find people to help him. When Galit and other volunteers arrived, they found the farmer’s father, who told them that his son was very stressed and that he was the one who made the post because he wanted to help his son. After cleaning up the farm, the father called his son who was so happy and grateful that people would give up their time to come help him. To her, this story truly exemplifies why she is doing this and reminds her of the people she is helping.

What are her goals for the future?

Galit has many plans for the future, one of which is hosting a hackathon where students go to the farms and design solutions to make farm work more efficient. She believes this will help them develop their entrepreneurship skills and help farmers be more efficient. Furthermore, she believes that school curriculums should have students volunteer at farms once a week to help them understand where their food comes from and the work that goes into it. Along with integrating education and agriculture, Galit believes that technology can make the lives of farmers much easier. Things like recorded video clips explaining to the volunteers what they have to do, software to detect cucumbers and whether they are ripe or not, and autonomous robots to help transport the crop back and forth are some ideas that she has. Galit dreams of a tech-enhanced farming future, but for now, volunteering remains the hands-on link connecting citizens to the roots of agriculture.

How can others help or get involved?

While most people will not be able to help physically, you can visit the pages of organizations like LeketIsrael.

• https://www.leket.org/en/
• https://www.hashomer.org.il/ (This site is in Hebrew, but most browsers can translate it)

I also encourage you to find organizations that fight food insecurity within your own country and see how you can get involved. By coming together as a global community and doing our part, we can fight against one of the most pressing issues of our time.