Pistachio growers encounter three main challenges when it comes to pollination: a lack of synchronization in the flowering time between male and female trees, a low rate of pollination and a relatively long sexual maturation of young male trees that produce a small amount of pollen. In order to ensure fertilization, a sufficient amount of pollen is required from the blossoms of male trees that are carried by the wind, at the right time, to flowers on female trees.
The process depends on the flowers of the male and female trees blooming at the same time, an event that is affected by the number of cold hours the trees receive in winter. A lack of cold hours in winter increases the chance that the male and female blooms will not be synchronized. Furthermore, phenomena of extreme changes in the weather during the flowering season, such as heavy heat or alternatively late rains, can damage the quality of the pollination. Failure to produce a sufficient amount of pollen by male trees in the first years of young pistachio plantations can result in a smaller yield than the optimal yield that can be obtained in these plantations.
Eidit’s precision pollination service (PPaS – Precision Pollination as a Service) solution, based on the company’s 2Be® model pollination machine that disperses high-quality pure pollen, has aroused great interest in the agricultural industry thanks to its ability to increase yields and reduce risks. Idit has been successfully pollinating pistachio trees since 2021. During 2023, which was a record year for pistachio crops in the United States, Idit’s precise pollination services resulted in an average increase of 19% in the pistachio crop in California.
“The rapid expansion of our pistachio pollination areas in California reflects Eidit’s growing momentum as a leading company in precision agriculture,” said Elam Ran, CEO of Eidit. “This achievement is part of our ongoing commitment to revolutionize agricultural practices and ensure sustainable food growth. We are proud to see that our technology has a profound effect on crops and strengthens the resilience of the agriculture industry.”
Idit Technologies Precision Agriculture, established in 2016 and located in Basmat Tivon and Paso Robles, California, provides precision pollination services to pistachio and almond growers in California. Idit’s main customers are the largest pistachio and almond growers in the world. The company has raised over 15 million dollars since its inception, and employs 15 people.
Among the investors in Idit: six kibbutzim and a cooperative settlement – the Yavneh Group, Kibbutz Malkia, Kibbutz Lohmi Hagaot, Kibbutz Ilon, Kibbutz Gesher HaZiv, Kibbutz Ramat David, Moshav Yonatan, Keren Nebatim, and private investors. The company’s pollination services are based on a unique technology developed by the company that includes the establishment of a pollen bank that is maintained for over five years and an autonomous pollinator that disperses only pure pollen, charged with an electrostatic charge, in controlled quantities and with great precision.