Nahalal lies in the northern part of Jezreel Valley, along the road running between Haifa and Nazareth Illit.

Nahalal’s name derives from the biblical name of the city in the Zebulun land area (Joshua, 15:19, 21:35) and was preserved by the Hebrew sages in the Jerusalem Talmud as “Mahaloul”. Its name is even perpetuated in the name of the adjacent Arab town of Ma’aloul.

The moshav is built on a low hill about 100 meters above sea level; and covers an area of about 3-½ sq. miles.

The soil of Nahalal is composed of heavy, black, and brown clay.

Average annual rainfall: ~ 530 millimeters.

Each year there are several nights of frost, where temperatures fall beneath 0°C.

Nahalal is renowned for its circular form, as seen from an overhead bird’s eye view. Nahalal was planned by the architect Richard Kauffman and built in a shape that meets security, practical, and planning requirements. A circular road surrounds Nahalal’s center, while situated at the road’s outer perimeter are agricultural farms spaced at a distance of about 20 meters apart, forming a sort of “rays of sunshine” figure.

There are 75 agricultural farms at Nahalal plus five additional units adjacent to the entrance road; these belong to the WIZO agricultural youth village named after Hanna Maisel Shohat.

Situated at the entrance to each agricultural unit lies the family’s residential patch of land, behind which are the farm’s buildings and agricultural areas.

Located at the internal perimeter of Nahalal are residential areas of non-agricultural inhabitants, many of whom are “public servants” (current or retired) of the settlement. Nahalal’s public institutions are located within the village’s central hub.

Nahalal has a variety of educational institutions: Kindergartens, a regional elementary school at the center of the village, a junior high school and a regional high school in the WIZO Agricultural Youth Village. Nahalal also has: A post office, hair salon, clinic, a shop, and a storehouse for technical items—all serving the needs of the settlement and its surroundings.

Other public facilities and buildings include: A club for veteran residents, a youth club (formerly a dairy), a synagogue, a swimming pool, a library, and archive. In addition there are agricultural factories in Nahalal, including a large agricultural feed factory and a food center, for the use of consumers living in Nahalal and the surrounding area.

Nahalal’s first settlers came from Eastern Europe during the second and third waves of aliya to Israel, between 1904 and 1914. After working for ten years or more in settlements, agricultural farms, cooperatives and groups, the settlers had acquired experience in agriculture and now sought to create a new structure of agricultural settlement. Seeing as they did not derive personal satisfaction from the cooperative lifestyles they encountered, they chose to establish Moshav Ha’ovdim (workers’ cooperative settlement), merging the principles of social justice and living by the toil of one’s hands—just as in a kibbutz, or as a family unit owning an independent farm and living on a moshava.

The people of Nahalal who went to the western valley first settled on a hill adjacent to the village of Ma’alul, situated on the western slopes of the Nazareth mountain range. The point determined as the future permanent settlement of Nahalal was desolate in terms of settlement. The springs and streams of the area, having no outlet for their waters, created swamps and puddles, which caused the area to suffer from the permanent incubation of the Anopheles mosquito, a carrier of malarial fever. The concern over living in the area led the settlers to live temporarily in a place called “Leveling Hill” from where they set out to subdue the land that was to be Nahalal. This work demanded exhausting physical work of draining the land and fertilizing the wilderness—and it was done entirely by Jewish workers and settlers.

Principles of the Moshav
Eliezer Yoffe, one of the founders of the moshav (cooperative settlement) composed and wrote out a plan that appeared in his pamphlet “The Foundation of Workers’ Moshavim”, in which he defined the conditions and rules for living in a Moshav Ha’Ovdim settlement and ensuring its existence over time. His principles included:

A. National land – In order to prevent commerce involving land and the splitting up of estates and farms, leasing rights to the land are extended to members solely on the condition they cultivate it. Leasing rights pass from generation to generation.

B. Self-labor – In order to prevent the creation of a class of farm owners living off the toil of others, all family members participate in working the farm.

C. Mixed agricultural farms – containing all agricultural branches in order to prevent seasonal dependence on one branch and ensure the continued existence of the farm via self-labor.

D. Mutual aid in order to prevent the possibility of individual failure due to illness, accident, disaster, natural disasters, or dependence on National Service and public assistance to the needy.

E. Responsibility and mutual guarantees in order to enable funding for developing members’ farms and public factories, and to help restore farms that have failed.

F. Cooperative purchases and sales in order to: prevent competition between members over market prices, to avoid the exploitation of farmers by external dealers and suppliers, and to allow members to direct most of their efforts to working their farms.

Organizational and Management Structure
Nahalal is a cooperative agricultural settlement that supports and activates agricultural factories, an agricultural feed factory, a food center, and cooperative agricultural service branches.
Since 1991, the arrangement for mutual guarantees and financial responsibility between members has been nullified. All members must obtain credit for their businesses on their own and upon their exclusive responsibility. Members are personally responsible for the financial status of their farms and for supporting their families.
Neither does the cooperative still handle the marketing of produce; farmers must market their produce on their own.
All members have voting rights at the cooperative settlement’s general assembly. Decisions reached at the general assembly determine how agricultural and financial matters are to be managed, subject to the cooperative’s code of regulations.
Each year members of the cooperative elect a Council consisting of 21 members, out of which seven are chosen to serve on a Management Committee that appoints the village’s secretary and staff. A Control Committee is also selected.
Since 1999, upon the request of members and a directive by the Minister of the Interior, a distinct Local Committee was established in Nahalal and acts as the Local Authority for the settlement. The Local Committee is responsible for all municipal matters concerning the welfare of residents and the quality of life in the settlement. There is extensive municipal activity in Nahalal, which serves as the central settlement of the region.
Central to Nahalal, as a cooperative and as a Local Council, are committees staffed by volunteer residents who work on social activities, public activities (education, culture, youth, contact with soldiers, sports, social welfare, health, religion, acts of kindness, security, planning, infrastructure, and the like), and agricultural financial activities (dairy farming, field crops, land & water, insurance, and so forth).

Population
Nahalal’s population has a population of 730 inhabitants:
• Farmers: ~350 residents.
• Non-farming permanent residents: ~ 165 residents.
• Temporary residents (including families and workers at the youth village): ~ 215 residents.
The agricultural cooperative is composed of approximately 290 members.

Employment and Livelihood
Nahalal’s entire farming area covers an area of about 24 ½ acres, most of which is under irrigation; about 4 acres are collectively cultivated. This is a diversified farming settlement that includes: A dairy cowshed, cattle for meat, sheep for producing milk and meat, turkeys for breeding and producing meat, poultry for producing meat and eggs, a fish farm, some pecan orchards, flowers for export, cotton, wheat, sorghum and clover for producing feed, and other seasonal crops.
In recent years the ability of agricultural to serve as the sole source of income for a household has decreased. Many farmers seek their livelihood through alternative or additional pursuits, in freelance professions or other initiatives.