Yoav Sarig

Did You Know?

• Sarig was named an ASABE Fellow in 2010.
• His pomegranate seed separation apparatus won the Namir Prize in 2006.
• The same apparatus received the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers' AE50 Award in 2007.

Biography

Sarig was born in Tel-Aviv. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Technion in 1962 and a master's degree from the same institution in 1972. He received his doctorate from Michigan State University in 1976, with a thesis titled Deformation analysis of foam-encapsulated apples under impact loading. At Israel's Volcani Centre, where he headed the Institute for Agricultural Engineering from 1985 to 1988, he developed apparatus including a mechanical pollinator for date palms, an apparatus for separating pomegranate seeds, a mechanical cracker for macadamia nuts, and a machine for harvesting agricultural produce from the ground suitable for pecan nuts and similar crops. Later, his focus shifted to non-invasive methods for evaluating agricultural produce, such as using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to assess avocado maturity and an artificial nose that employed the olfactory response of fresh produce as a consumer-oriented quality evaluation method. He also studied mechanization and automation as alternatives to manual labor in agriculture, publishing articles concluding that as long as cheap immigrant labor, some of it illegal, was available, farmers had little incentive to invest in labor-saving automation. In China, he proposed and oversaw the establishment of three major demonstration farms showcasing Israeli agricultural technology, along with several training centers supported by both countries' ministries of agriculture. He also instituted management courses in business, marketing, and business management. In recognition of his contributions, China Agricultural University awarded him the title Honorary Professor.