In honor of Shavuot, the holiday of agriculture, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS) released data about the production and sale of milk and honey in Israel in 2023 on Sunday.
Israel has the highest milk yield per cow in the world at 12,265 kg. per cow per year (p.c/p.y), which was a 1.6% increase from the previous year.
Israel was far ahead of its closest competitors, with Denmark only producing 10,571 kg. p.c/p.y and Estonia following closely behind at 10,183 kg. p.c/p.y. Countries famous for their dairy, such as the Netherlands, lagged even further behind at 9,086 kg. p.c/p.y.
Israel also has the highest milk-producing cow in the world, according to the Israel Dairy School, which educates dairy farmers from around the world on innovative Israeli agro-tech and agricultural practices "designed to improve the efficiency and productivity of international dairy farms."
The record-breaking cow named Kharta from Sa’ad in the Negev produced 18,208 liters of milk, according to the Dairy School.
Despite all of the success in increasing efficiency, Israel actually had a slight decrease in total milk production in 2023 compared to the previous year, falling to 1,635 million liters, which is a 0.5% decrease.
Milk prices rose in 2023 by 9.5%, while the value of the milk to the producer increased by 4.7%, estimated to be 4.1 billion NIS worth about 11% of Israel's total agricultural output.
Cow's milk represents just over 95% of the total milk production in Israel, with sheep's and goat's milk making up the remaining 5%. Both sheep's and goat's milk experienced much steeper price increases than cow's milk, at increases of 15.7%, 6.4%, and 5.3%, respectively.
Honey
Honey production in Israel suffered a much worse year in 2023 than milk production; overall, honey production fell 22.2% to 3,500 tons. The ICBS attributes this to 2023 being less rainy than 2023.
The value of honey to producers also fell by 1.3% to an estimated 63.9 million NIS; despite this, the price of honey increased by 0.7% in 2023.
There are approximately 124,000 beehives in Israel, producing roughly 30 kg. of honey per hive, this was not sufficient to satisfy local demand leading to increased imports of honey in 2023, from 2,000 tons to 3,000 tons.