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Confronted with arid climates, shrinking water supplies, and rapidly growing populations, Gulf countries imported roughly 85 percent of their food in 2020, according to PwC research. This heavy dependence has made food insecurity one of the Middle East’s most pressing challenges and a potential destabilizing force.

Five years ago, the Abraham Accords planted seeds of change, enabling unprecedented partnerships that bring together Israeli innovation and Gulf capital. These collaborations hold the promise of a harvest that could transform the Middle East from a food-insecure region into a global leader in food technology, while renewing ties among the region’s Abrahamic peoples.

At the heart of this transformation stands David Rosenberg, an American serial entrepreneur and investor who has been doing business in the region for nearly two decades. Around 2011, the realization that agriculture consumes more than 70 percent of the world’s freshwater led Rosenberg to co-found AeroFarms, a pioneer in vertical farming that grows leafy greens using up to 95 percent less water and no pesticides.

Widely considered a cornerstone of the modern vertical farming industry, AeroFarms has emerged as a central player in the Middle East’s agricultural evolution, using the region as a key hub for advanced research and large-scale commercial expansion.In his current role as managing partner of TAU Capital in Abu Dhabi, Rosenberg applies years of experience working across the region to connect advanced technology ecosystems with the Gulf’s evolving strategic priorities.

When Food Becomes the Foundation of Stability

For Rosenberg, food security is not an abstract sustainability goal. At its core, he defines it simply as keeping shelves filled with food, a prerequisite for social and political stability. When that basic assurance breaks down, history shows what can follow. Rising wheat prices and empty shelves were widely seen as early catalysts of unrest during the Arab Spring.

The Middle East’s vulnerability lies not only in climate, but also in supply chains. Heavy reliance on imports leaves countries exposed to global disruptions such as geopolitical conflict or blocked shipping lanes. Local production, Rosenberg argues, is a form of strategic resilience. There is always extra security in growing food closer to home, he notes.

Yet the solution, in his view, is neither isolation nor self-sufficiency.It is collaboration. 

Israel, he points out, has spent decades establishing itself as a global leader in growing more food with less water through desalination, drip irrigation, seed genetics, precision agriculture, and long-term public policy. Gulf states, meanwhile, possess land, capital, and the scale needed to deploy these capabilities commercially.

The Abraham Accords turned this collaborative model from theory into reality. Rosenberg says that in the years since he has seen a surge of cooperation among governments, universities, and companies working across borders on joint greenhouses, water systems, and food production facilities. Much of this work, he notes, unfolds far from headlines, driven by engineers, farmers, and entrepreneurs focused less on politics than on practical problem solving.

For Rosenberg, these ventures create more than food. They create trust.

Business ties, he argues, often come before social ties. When people build companies together, solve shared problems, and rely on one another economically, relationships deepen organically. One plus one equals three, he says, describing how cooperation generates value beyond what any single country could achieve alone.In a region long defined by conflict, he sees shared abundance as a different kind of diplomacy, practical, local, and rooted in the most basic human need of all.

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