60 Years of Product Innovation: Abed Masarwa’s Journey at Netafim

The Regen Story: Solving a Real Pain

One example that stays with me is our Regen™ solution in the U.S. Farmers were facing major labor shortages and wages had skyrocketed, but the problem wasn’t just money, there simply weren’t enough people willing to do the hard field work. Chuck Bates, Senior Director Products & Agronomy at Netafim USA, and I drove along the coast, asking farmers, “Where’s all the labor going? What’s taking the most time?” Over and over, they told us the same thing; deploying and retrieving drip irrigation lines every season is a massive challenge. Rolling, cleaning, fixing, storing, it ate up time and money.  

So we stayed at the plant over the weekend (this is what I call “Weekend Development”) with Sasha Davidov from our engineering team, and by Sunday, we were ready with a few pallets of a working solution. The customers were shocked. That’s the beauty of being agile, when you’ve got the right gut feeling, and you act fast, magic happens.

We went from zero to becoming the most dominant player on the coast. Why? Because we didn’t just bring a product, we solved a real pain.

From Local Manufacturer to Global Solution Provider

Netafim began as a company that manufactured everything locally and shipped it around the world. But as global agriculture changed, that model became unsustainable. Farmers today face intense pressure; declining crop margins, rising input costs, and an urgent need for faster return on investment. Often, they need solutions within weeks. Product availability, fast response times, and local relevance aren’t “nice to have”, they’re essential.

But proximity is only part of the story. Our real competition now comes from small, local manufacturers with lower costs, minimal infrastructure, and few obligations to quality or long-term performance. They don’t offer the comprehensive service, support, and reliability that we do. And they don’t have a brand to protect.

These questions have driven a fundamental shift, from a centralized exporter to a decentralized, agile, global provider. Today, Netafim is a global company in every sense of the word. We manufacture, assemble, and even develop precision irrigation solutions closer to the markets we serve. We’ve expanded our physical footprint without compromising the quality, performance, or design standards that define our brand.

Moving forward, our mission is to strike the right balance: delivering robust, high-performance solutions that foster sustainable agriculture while ensuring they are accessible, affordable, and adaptable to farmers in every region.

Looking Ahead: What Comes Next

We need robotics to step in where labor is disappearing. The next generation of farmers grew up with smartphones, not shovels. They expect agriculture to be just as seamless and automated as any modern tech-driven industry. We’re entering an era where machines will need to handle everything from deployment and maintenance to harvesting tasks. This shift isn’t optional, it’s essential, because the workforce simply isn’t there anymore. If we don’t reimagine how farms operate, we’ll be left behind.

The second major shift I see is food self-sufficiency. Geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions have made countries rethink their reliance on food imports. More nations want to grow basic crops at home, even if it's harder and less profitable. That means we have to rethink how we design, price, and deliver our solutions.

The Winning Mindset

Netafim has lasted 60 years because we never stopped running. We stay hungry. We keep creating waves. When one wave crests, we start building the next. One of the people who most influenced me put it best, “Resilience is not enough, you have to wake up hungry every single day.” In a market like ours, innovation isn’t a luxury or a bonus. It means leadership. It’s our only way to survive and lead. If we rest on our past achievements, we fall behind. That’s why we’re constantly thinking ahead, challenging ourselves, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

But real innovation takes time. A disruptive product might take ten years to develop. So when we begin, we ask not only what’s needed today, but how relevant we will be when we are ready, and sometimes the industry moves fast, and when you aren't ready, you miss the boat.

What’s the key to success in innovation? The people. Netafim is lucky, we’ve got leadership that really supports this mindset. I honestly can’t remember a time we brought a good product idea to Gaby Miodownik, President and CEO at Netafim, EVP at Orbia, even in the toughest days, and got rejected.

But even more important is the founding generation,  the people who built this company on innovation and grit. They had a unique mindset, what we sometimes call the “scratch.” You either have it or you don’t. It’s that relentless drive to build, to challenge, to imagine what’s possible even when no one’s asking for it.  Our strength today comes from continuing that tradition; selecting the right people who think beyond the obvious, who stay curious, and who are always hungry to innovate.

This is what product innovation looks like at Netafim - turning bold ideas into practical solutions that advance sustainable agriculture, one breakthrough at a time. And this is how we’ll keep leading, for the next 60 years and beyond.