Cargill increases farmer yields by up to 26 percent with 1,000 Farmers Endless Prosperity program
Program expanded its scope in second year and reached 1,175 corn and sunflower farmers across 12 provinces
ISTANBUL (Feb. 4, 2021) – Cargill is continuing to support farmers in Turkey with the expansion of its 1,000 Farmers Endless Prosperity program to over 1,175 corn and sunflower farmers. As a part of the program, farmers have received training, access to digital agricultural tools and consultancy services tailored to their fields from cultivation to harvest and increased yields by up to 26 percent.
The 1,000 Farmers Endless Prosperity program launched in 2019 to support Turkish farmers in sustainable agricultural practices to increase their productivity, earnings and initiate social and digital transformation in agriculture. The program has expanded to include not only corn farmers but sunflower farmers as well, across 12 provinces, impacting the equivalent to 70.000 football fields. The program is also the only program in the food and ag industry to have a social return on investment (SROI) calculation. The 1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity generated 2.78TRY social return for each 1 TRY investment in 2020 which is an increase from TRY2.53 to TRY2.78 year-on-year.
At a virtual press conference earlier today, Murat Tarakçıoğlu, Cargill Foods Middle East, Turkey and Africa Managing Director, announced that the farmers who participated in the program increased their yields up to 26 percent versus the original 15 percent yield increase the program targeted.
“This program is a great example of how Cargill is working with farmers toimprove their livelihoods. Over the past two years, we have touched lives of more than 2,200 farmers in total. In our third year, we are planning to further expand the scope of our program by also including the rapeseed farmers,” said Tarakçıoğlu. “We also launched the Zero Waste Management on the Field project. In this project we worked with İstanbul Technical University, Prof. Dr. Filiz Karaosmanoglu and PAGEV to find a solution for farmer’s waste in the lifecycle from seed to crop.”
Further steps on the program’s digitalization also expanded by combining the know-how and experiences of the farmers with science. Farmers benefited from digital agricultural tools such as digital soil analysis, meteorology & irrigation and weather station app, and field health monitoring from satellites. Farmer participants who followed the field-specific correct irrigation, fertilization, and spraying program reduced the risk of disease and prevented soil pollution while also saving critical resources such as water. In addition to these savings having a positive sustainability impact, they also saved costs for the farmers.
“Before cultivating to plant corn on my 200-hectare farm this year, agricultural engineers visited and conducted digital soil analyses. They then sent me an SMS showing how much of which nutrients my soil needed. I realized that my fertilization practices had been wrong in the previous years. I saved 22 percent of fertilizer product by using the correct amount fertilizer,” said Umut Ayberk Akbay, 1,000 Farmers Endless Prosperity program participant from İlkkurşun, İzmir. “Thanks to the meteorology & irrigation and weather station app, I followed the development of the corn on my mobile without needing to go to the field. Additionally, the agricultural engineers from Cargill’s 1,000 Farmers Endless Prosperity program kept an eye on my field as well and warned me of a red spider mite infestation. I used pesticides accordingly. The yield I got per hectare increased to 7,450 kilograms from 8,0000 with the help of this program.”
The 1,000 Farmers Endless Prosperity program published its first Progress Report in order to share its sustainability performance and impact more comprehensively. This report provides nonfinancial data to demonstrate and assess the progress and the long-term value of the program. The report features the views of various stakeholder institutions and organizations, particularly the farmers participating in the program. It is accessible at: 1000ciftci1000bereket.com.
“One way Cargill invests in the resilience of agriculture communities is through programs like 1,000 Farmers Endless Prosperity, providing farmers with the right tools and training to adopt the best agriculture practices and maximize their crop yields to support their family, community and environment,” said Tarakçıoğlu. “Alongside these farmers we are working to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way.”
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