“Reading about and watching professional swimmers won’t make you a swimmer; only by getting into the water with a professional instructor by your side do you stand a real chance of becoming one.”
Q: What do these seemingly unrelated topics have in common: school, military service, farming in the Kibbutz, academic research, entrepreneurship, and business?
A: Each represents a station in my life; in most, I excelled.
Personal disclosure: I am not above average in terms of innate intelligence. This is not a gesture of humility but the plain truth. For example, throughout elementary school, I required extra lessons in writing to address my many spelling errors. My grades hovered around average and sometimes even dipped lower—like when one teacher returned my test with a note that read, “This test isn’t worth the paper it was written on”.
How, then, does someone with average academic success come to excel in such a diverse array of fields? The answer lies not in innate intelligence but in something just as powerful: a commitment to surround myself with experts, working together as a team, each better than me in their respective fields.
The Power of Expert Support
Whether in school, the military, or the Kibbutz orchards, I benefited from regular, continuous guidance from teachers, instructors, and commanders who were experts in their fields and knew far more than I did. This principle—that genuine, rapid progress requires ongoing support—has been key to my own accomplishments. My improvement over time was not a solo journey but the product of continuous engagement with those from whom I could learn and who helped me reach my potential.
As the African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”. "Together" is the word that holds the secret to a better future for each of us. My long-term, strategic entrepreneur mindset is to reach for the stars, and I know you can’t do that alone.
When I returned to the Kibbutz and agriculture after my military service, I kept this approach, ensuring I was surrounded by and had direct, continuous access to top-tier experts. All consultations were on-site, practical, and immediate—a significant distinction in a world inclined toward remote solutions and fleeting interactions. This hands-on and unmediated interaction allowed me to progress quickly without detours.
By the way, don’t mistake “rapid progress” for “no failures,” for I had my share of failures, some impressively huge, but with the right professional help, I got past them quickly. Progress and failures go together. If you want to do big things, create a legacy, or leave a mark, yet you’re afraid of failure, perhaps it’s time to reconsider your path.
Capacity Building vs. Continuous Growth
The insight that significant changes require ongoing professional support became the foundation of Biofeed, a company I founded dedicated to developing and producing zero-spray fruit fly control solutions.
Growing up as a farmer, it was clear that “the perfect solution” to a grand challenge, like fruit flies, combines state-of-the-art technology with expert guidance. Hence, Biofeed offered not just technology but a complete support package with regular, in-field-tested instructions delivered through in-field meetings, emails, videos, and personal follow-ups.
Biofeed’s approach emphasized making a change—transforming from a not-so-effective spray-based pesticide control regime to high-quality fruit fly management based on a zero-spray package (technology and protocol)—hand in hand with experts, knowing you’re never alone. This approach proved successful: the professional results were outstanding, and word-of-mouth drove more farmers to join Biofeed’s program each year.
When I began working in developing countries, I encountered the phrase “capacity building,” which implies providing a temporary "charge" of knowledge, after which local farmers or entrepreneurs can supposedly thrive independently. While well-intentioned, this notion is deeply flawed. In a world where conditions, standards, and challenges shift rapidly, success cannot rely on limited knowledge alone—especially when given in a one-time dose.
To excel, a person, organization, or nation needs continuous input, mentorship, and refinement from skilled advisors throughout every link in the value and supply chain.
Dream Valley’s Comprehensive Agricultural Package
Agriculture isn’t just about farming—it’s a complex system with interconnected components. The Agricultural Package includes technologies and service input providers, R&D, banking, regulation, government, packing houses, logistics, sales, marketing, branding, quality control, and more.
Just as I received invaluable support throughout my professional journey, Dream Valley is here to support your fresh produce export initiatives with a wide range of tailored solutions designed to meet your unique needs, goals, and requirements. Our involvement can range from minor support—such as assisting with premium market access in the final stages of your export efforts—to more substantial engagements, such as importing the Freedome technology and establishing a Fruit Fly Certified Trade Zone protocol (FFTZ), reorganizing the export value chain and management, strategic planning, or even establishing new farms dedicated to export production.
This approach lets you focus on where your strengths and added value lie, doing what you do best, while Dream Valley's experts drive your business forward faster and more effectively. After all, time is a finite resource, and no one can create more of it—but Dream Valley can help you shorten the time it takes to achieve your strategic goals.
Learning from Global Success Stories
When Japan sought to upgrade its industry after World War II, it did not attempt it alone. The government invited American quality-control experts like W. Edwards Deming to introduce concepts like Total Quality Management (TQM), transforming the Japanese industry into a global benchmark for quality. South Korea, facing a similar industrialization challenge, entered long-term partnerships with foreign companies, absorbing their knowledge and continuously innovating beyond it. Similarly, agricultural powerhouses like Israel, Peru, Chile, and Mexico drew upon international expertise to develop competitive, export-driven sectors.
Dream Valley applies these well-learned and tested practical lessons to agriculture.
Unlike turnkey projects or short-term, fragmented interventions, Dream Valley programs offer a long-term, ongoing, holistic approach. We combine a complete set of field-proven tools under one roof, including agronomy, technology, management, logistics, branding, and marketing—targeting every aspect of the value chain, from farm to shelf.
Dream Valley’s vision is not merely to transfer skills but to foster deep, transformative change that integrates with and elevates local agro-industries. Above all, Dream Valley brings a fresh new attitude that’s much needed in developing countries.
The ultimate goal is clear: a prosperous, self-sustaining agricultural sector capable of producing premium-quality goods for premium, high-value global markets. This journey is not a sprint but more like a marathon. Achieving a prosperous, self-sustaining agricultural sector demands strategic, long-term dedication and patience, with each step bringing us closer to a thriving economy and improved livelihoods for farmers.
A Vision for Lasting Change
I thought of writing this column after years of receiving messages from farmers, entrepreneurs, and policymakers who thanked me for my writings and expressed confidence that these ideas could improve their agriculture sectors.
However, too often, such expressions were followed by statements from those inspired to act immediately without additional knowledge and outside support—including one person who, based on a single column, prepared to initiate a Kibbutz-like community. This impulsive desire to act often overlooks a fundamental truth: reading about a path to prosperity and walking it are two very different endeavors.
My columns aim to spark a mindset shift, challenge conventional approaches in agriculture, and change how readers view things, including long-term collaboration and support with foreign expertise.
However, once you decide to "walk the talk," you need a different level of support—one that goes all the way along with you, just as others have assisted me on my journey. Crossing this chasm alone is risky and strongly discouraged.
If you have made a decision and are ready to take the ideas in my columns from concept to reality, Dream Valley is here to facilitate that journey so that you are never alone in this once-in-a-lifetime endeavor. Dream Valley offers not only technical tools but a lasting professional partnership. We will walk hand in hand with you, guiding expert-driven growth at every step.
Those working with Dream Valley often express surprise when we arrive in their country, visit fields, and meet farmers, exporters, the plant protection office, decision-makers, and others throughout the value and supply chain. They are surprised because the existing standard support programs rarely include this intimate, hands-on, and long-term interaction level.
Agricultural advancement isn’t about small, incremental changes but embedding a resilient system that stands the test of time. Dream Valley provides that foundation—ensuring that every crop, every market transaction, and every farmer’s day in the field brings us one step closer to lasting prosperity.
Takeaway Messages
» Prosperity demands continuous, hands-on guidance, not one-time fixes.
» Strategic growth requires a full transformation of the agricultural package.
» Global expertise drives premium, self-sustaining agriculture.
Here are ways you can work with me to help your rural communities step forward to shift from poverty into ongoing prosperity:
* Nova Kibbutz and consultancy on rural communities' models.
* Local & National programs related to agro-produce export models - Dream Valley global vertical value and supply chain business model and concept connects (a) input suppliers with farmers in developing economies and (b) those farmers with consumers in premium markets.
* Crop protection: Biofeed, an eco-friendly zero-spray control technology and protocol.
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"Mental and Economic Freedom Are Interconnected."
See you soon,
Nimrod
Dr. Nimrod Israely is the CEO and Founder of Dream Valley and Biofeed companies and the Chairman and Co-founder of the IBMA conference. +972-54-2523425 (WhatsApp), or email nisraely@biofeed.co.il
P.S.
If you missed it, here is a link to last week's blog, “Does Freedom Mean Economic Prosperity?".
P.P.S.
Dream Valley is a field-proven disruptive business model based on the successful Israeli Model.
*This article addresses general phenomena. The mention of a country/continent is used for illustration purposes only.
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