free tomatoes won't solve the problem

The farmers of Israel are upset about the plans to open the industry to imports. They say this will hurt them. They might be right, but it also might bring prices down, improve the variety of fruit available year round, and be a boon to the Israeli consumer. 

Besides for the imports, the Finance Ministry came up with a plan of subsidies and supporting technologies and development to help the Israeli farmers. It was a complicated set of subsidies so I didnt really understand it, but at the end of the day I am not sure the Israeli farmer is actually going to be hurt, but in their mind they say imports are going to be allowed and that will hurt us as we won't be able to compete.

To that end the farmers are starting a series of protests to try to pressure the government to reverse its intentions.

They held one this evening:

At this evening's protest they were going to try to drum up public support by giving out free Israeli-grown fruits and vegetables. 

It is nice they are trying to drum up support and giving away some free stuff, but it would be difficult to imagine anyone changing their mind over a few free tomatoes compared to the drop in price expected to happen form opening up imports. According to the statistics published for this reform, over the past 10 years the prices of fruits and vegetables have risen something like 80%. The people will generally prefer to have cheaper prices than to get a few free tomatoes one night.

And I feel bad for the farmers. Sure, they work hard. Sure, we need security and some agricultural independence, just in case. But at what price? They have to be reasonable too. And maybe they are getting shafted by the supermarkets and it isn't their fault, as they claim. I don't know, but that is not the consumer's problem. 

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