An earlier generation of farm kids wearing sun hats and going down rows of plants, giving each one a sip of water, then starting again, was the method used to coax ag production out of the Negev. The plants were hilled up, and the water nourished the plant while slowly leaching out salts accumulated over ages. The success with that started early, and Nasser coveted the newly productive area so much he started at least two wars to grab it.
Late in the 20th c I read about an Israel engineer who also had an orchard. He built clips for a leaf on each tree; when the electric conductivity dropped due to water running low in the leaf cells, the system gave the tree a drink, making the trees self-watering. He decreased his water use and improved his yield at the same time.
It’s almost like Israel has been described as:
Exodus (Shemot)
Exodus 3:8
“I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey…”
Exodus 3:17
“I promise, then, to bring you up out of the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites… to a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Exodus 13:5
“When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites… which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall observe this rite in this month.”
Leviticus (Vayikra)
Leviticus 20:24
“But I have said to you: You shall possess their land, for I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I the LORD am your God who has set you apart from other peoples.”
Numbers (Bamidbar)
Numbers 13:27
“This is what they told him: ‘We came to the land to which you sent us; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.’”
Deuteronomy (Devarim)
Deuteronomy 6:3
“Hear, O Israel, and observe them faithfully, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.”
Deuteronomy 11:9
“…and that you may long endure upon the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to assign to them and to their heirs, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Deuteronomy 26:9
“He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Deuteronomy 26:15
“Look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us, as You swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.”