Growing regenerative farming success with women farmers in Türkiye
Key Takeways
- Cargill’s regenerative agriculture program, 1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity, increases farmer welfare and productivity while scaling regenerative agriculture practices across soil health, water stewardship, biodiversity and carbon management.
- Farmer yield growth has increased by more than 20% on average since 2019, with up to 39% increase in farmer profitability in 2024.
- 1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity launched a Women Farmers Module in 2024, widening the community of farmers benefiting from data-driven tools, field-level expertise and market access opportunities.
On a gentle hillside in Edincik, Türkiye, near the Sea of Marmara, olive trees that have stood for generations are now part of a new kind of farming story. İpek Zivane, a female farmer and entrepreneur, tends nearly 4,500 olive trees rooted in her family’s long agricultural tradition.
After years in the corporate world, she returned to her family land with a clear purpose: to produce high-quality olive oil while protecting soil, water and biodiversity for future generations.
That purpose found a strong ally in Cargill’s regenerative agriculture program, 1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity, which began in 2019. With the launch of the program’s Women Farmers Module in 2024, İpek became part of a growing community of women farmers supported with data-driven tools, field-level expertise and market access opportunities. For her, regenerative agriculture in Türkiye is not an abstract concept; it’s a practical way to farm more consciously, reduce inputs and improve long-term resilience.
“For me, joining the program was not just about increasing yield,” İpek says. “It was about managing my land more consciously. Seeing how technology can support sustainable farming has changed the way I work. Now both the soil and the farmer benefit. ... Thanks to the 1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity program, we increased productivity in our olive groves by using digital agriculture technologies and implemented sustainable production practices."
Women farmers at the heart of regenerative transformation
The Women Farmers Module was designed to make women’s contributions to agricultural production more visible and impactful. The module supports female farmers by strengthening their digital capabilities through digital monitoring tools and continuous on-site and remote agronomic guidance. Through the module, olive producers like İpek were included in the program for the first time, alongside corn, sunflower and canola farmers.
Between 2019 and 2024, 167 women farmers participated in the 1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity program. With the launch of the Women Farmers Module in 2024, an additional 109 women farmers joined, bringing the total number of women farmers reached by the program to 500.
Cargill aims to triple the number of women farmers participating in the program each year. This will scale access to regenerative agriculture tools, knowledge and economic opportunities across Türkiye and expand participation beyond olive growers to include new women producers.
İpek’s olive groves now benefit from digital soil analysis, NDVI satellite monitoring and on-field technologies such as Soil Sensor stations for irrigation optimization, PestTrap systems for early pest detection, and Flowmeter devices to track water use in real time. Combined with regular visits from agricultural engineers and tailored training programs, these tools help women farmers transition from traditional methods to climate-resilient, data-driven farming.
Supporting farmers for long-term resilience
For Murat Tarakçıoğlu, vice president and managing director for Cargill Food, Middle East, Türkiye and Africa, supporting farmers is essential to building resilient food systems.
“1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity has become an important milestone in the digital transformation of agriculture in Türkiye,” he says. “With the Women Farmers Module, we are placing women at the center of this transformation. Empowering farmers with knowledge, technology and access is one of the most effective ways to strengthen sustainability across the food system.”
By combining local expertise with global sustainability goals, the program helps farmers adapt to climate risks while maintaining productivity and livelihoods.
Growing impact, one farmer at a time
From large-scale field crops to olive groves shaped by generations of family knowledge, regenerative farming in Türkiye is gaining momentum. Women farmers like İpek demonstrate how tradition and innovation can work together — using data, technology and regenerative practices to care for the land while building viable agricultural businesses.
As 1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity continues to expand, its ambition remains clear: to grow regenerative agriculture at scale, strengthen rural communities and support farmers, one field, one harvest and one farmer at a time.
What is the 1000 Farmers Endless Properity program?
1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity’s purpose is to increase farmer welfare and productivity while scaling regenerative agriculture practices across soil health, water stewardship, biodiversity and carbon management.
Since its inception, the program has expanded rapidly. Today, it reaches nearly 8,000 farmers across 27 provinces, covering more than 100,000 hectares of agricultural land. Participants receive free training, 24/7 consultancy support and access to digital farming tools — from satellite imagery to sensor-based field monitoring — that support informed decision-making.
At its core, the program focuses on practical regenerative practices such as optimized fertilization and irrigation management, integrated pest management, cover cropping, reduced tillage and the use of biofertilizers. These approaches help farmers protect natural resources while maintaining strong economic performance.
Regenerative agriculture
See how we’re helping farmers mitigate and adapt to climate change through regenerative agriculture.
