Over the years few and fewer rabbis have been willing to publicly declare that they agreed with "Hetter Mechira," when the farmland is "sold," like chametz on Pesach to a non-Jew.
Arabs and food importers make lots of money from the fact that many Torah-observant Jews won't eat the produce of the "sold" fields. This year there will be more "Otzar Beit Din" produce.
But now some of the rabbis are speaking up in favor of Hetter Mechira. One of the rabbis is Rabbi Aviner of Beit El.
In response to those who ask, "Our agriculture is not really that important anyway. What would be so terrible if Jewish agriculture would take a year off?", Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim in Jerusalem's Old City, writes:
To whom is our agriculture not that important - to the consumer, or to the farmer whose staff of support you would like to break? And it's not only an issue for this coming year, but in general: If he stops for a full year, others from outside Israel will take his place in the world market. We sell Biblically-forbidden chametz before Pesach in order to save a few boxes of food; we can certainly do so for the Shemittah year. For we are not forcing anyone to use the heter, but just those who wish to. And of course, no one can sell the land himself, but must do so only via the Chief Rabbinate...
The fact that we can import food does not make our agriculture not important. A country must never allow itself to be dependent on others for food, because then it can be liquidated from without. Even the liberal-capitalistic US supports its agriculture in various ways... And regarding the Torah's command to be 'heroic' in observing the Shemittah, this applies to the farmer, not to the consumer who buys foreign produce [and therefore there is no 'heroism' involved in not buying heter produce].
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