BARD Business Development Manager, Sarai Kemp, participated in Sea the Future 2026: The 2nd Global Summit on Blue Food Security, held in Eilat (January 13-15), which convened researchers, industry representatives, and policymakers working at the intersection of aquaculture, food systems, and climate change. The conference focused on blue food security in a changing climate, with attention to innovation, system resilience, and practical collaboration across sectors.
The program addressed several key themes, including improving food production under extreme environmental conditions, the application of Deep Blue Tech, such as AI, big data, and genomic tools, and the development of sustainable food systems that balance productivity with environmental responsibility and biodiversity preservation. These discussions highlighted the growing role of applied research and technology in addressing challenges facing marine and aquatic food production.
The conference aligns closely with the mission of BARD (the Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund), which supports collaborative, mission-oriented agricultural research conducted by American and Israeli scientists. Throughout its 45-year history, BARD has supported approximately 90 aquaculture projects totaling $27 million across a wide range of disciplines.
In the past three years, driven by Israeli Government Decision 1442, which allocated supplemental funding to strengthen support for aquaculture and desert farming, BARD has funded a total of $9.8 million to US-Israel research. The majority of this research focused on four core areas: fish health and disease diagnostics, reproductive enhancement, recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), and the development of novel species.
During the summit, as part of its ongoing commitment to global food security, BARD announced the launch of a unique pilot program: the BARD Food Security Technology Accelerator. This initiative is designed to mobilize industry-academia collaboration, accelerating the transition of innovation and technology from the proof-of-concept stage to commercial implementation. The accelerator will focus on critical food security sectors, including animal health and sustainable aquaculture, providing a structured framework to advance applied research with practical benefits for the farmers and citizens of both, Israel and the United States.
