elcome to the Gilat Research Center. As the southern branch of the Agricultural Research Organization of Israel's Ministry of Agriculture, Gilat comprises research units that address the issues facing farmers in the Negev region:

• crop cultivation
• soil
• plant protection

Problems in these areas greatly affect the profitability of the crops grown in the Israel's Negev. Our research staff provides valuable agricultural services including a laboratory for the diagnosis of plant disease, a field services laboratory, nitrogen forecasting, and a national bank of genetic material for citrus orchards; a laboratory for the detection of poultry disease is also located on the premises. The Center is headed by Dr. Rami Horowitz.

Gilat is situated in Israel's northern Negev (31°20' N, 34°40' E, elevation 150 m above mean sea level) near Ofakim (see map). This district includes four municipalities -- Bene Shimon, Sha'ar HaNegev, Merchavim, and Azata -- where 60 agricultural settlements cultivate 800,000 dunam of, primarily, loess soil.

The Migda farm is an extension of Gilat dedicated to research into agro-sylvo-pastoral systems in arid zones. Gilat and Migda provide an active system of research, experiments, model sites, and agricultural services.

Molcho Center, which operates at Gilat, initiates and supports Negev research activities by granting scholarships to students of agricultural science and by helping to maintain a research library.