Agriculture & Environment

The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment: Feeding the World

About Agriculture & Environment: Feeding the World through Sustainable Agriculture

Harnessing the talents and resources of some 100 scientists to address the challenges of providing enough healthy food for the world’s growing population while preserving and sustaining our natural resources is at the heart of the new vision of the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment. Through interdisciplinary work at the Hebrew University’s agricultural campus in Rehovot, researchers develop and share knowledge with colleagues down the corridor and around the world.

HU student turns paper mill waste into ‘green’ material for industrial applications

Doctoral student Shaul Lapidot has formulated a procedure that turns paper mill waste into ecologically friendly, industrial foams which are highly porous, lightweight and can be further strengthened using raw crop waste.

For India, in Israel: Srivignesh Sundaresan

"Sixty percent of India's rural population is employed in agriculture. I wanted to do something more than return home to work the farm. I wanted to learn more, in order to add something new to agricultural research," says Smith Faculty doctoral student Srivignesh Sundaresan.

A speck of the future

Their openness to ideas from far beyond their own fields has led two scientists — one studying poplar trees and the other nanoscience — to develop the potential for minute computer components that self-assembly and provide unmatched memory capacity.

Collagen manufactured from transgenic tobacco plants has great commercial promise

A unique Hebrew University lab has succeeded in producing a replica of human collagen from tobacco plants which can replace the currently used form produced from farm animals and human cadavers.

Hebrew U. researchers developing ‘breakfast of champions’

An improved method for sustainable pest control using “super-sexed” but sterile male insects to copulate with female ones is being developed by Smith Faculty researchers hoping to offer another efficient and promising avenue for supplying produce to the market by eliminating pests without damage to the environment.