TURKISH AGRI.NEWS

The objectives of summer cover crops are mainly to cover the soil quickly, produce sufficient biomass to feed the soil and avoid the escape of nitrates to the groundwater. For a succesful sorghum cover, several techniques are possible: – direct sowing, very soon after harvest to take advantage of soil moisture, – sowing after stubble cultivation, with a grain drill, – sowing on the fly before harvesting the main crop; however, the successful implementation of sorghum with this technique is very uncertain and often requires increasing sowing rates. Whereas in the first two cases, the recommended sowing rates are 10 to 12 kg per hectare. The good development of the cover will obviously depend on the quality of the sowing, the soil moisture and the rains to come. The development of sorghum requires little water, however its development is still conditioned by rainfall. If there is no rain, the development will be slowed down or stopped and will resume with the first rain...

True cost of cheap food is health and climate crises, says commission... Radical change needed to make UK food and farming system sustainable within 10 years... The commission said agriculture produced more than 10% of the UK’s climate-heating gases and was the biggest destroyer of wildlife. The true cost of cheap, unhealthy food is a spiralling public health crisis and environmental destruction, according to a high-level commission. It said the UK’s food and farming system must be radically transformed and become sustainable within 10 years. The commission’s report , which was welcomed by the environment secretary, Michael Gove, concluded that farmers must be enabled to shift from intensive farming to more organic and wildlife friendly production, raising livestock on grass and growing more nuts and pulses. It also said a National Nature Service should be created to give opportunities for young people to work in the countryside and, for example, tackle the climate crisis by...

Evolution Meats is showing that it can be done: making 100 percent vegetable doner kebabs that meat eaters love. The young company offers doner on skewers or sliced and recently added satays and sausages to their vegan range. The products are available in kebab shops, the hospitality industry and catering wholesalers in the Netherlands, England, Spain, Romania, Sweden and Germany and, from next year, in supermarkets. "We only introduce our products to the market if meat eaters are enthusiastic about them," says Commercial Director Mark Laponder. FROM VEAL TO SOY When Laponder was still working at a veal slaughterhouse, trucks full of veal went to Germany to be made into doner kebabs. After leaving the meat manufacturer, he was asked by a former colleague to consider what kind of new product he would make in an empty local factory. Laponder’s thoughts turned to kebabs. But, this time, to a vegetable version. Via a well-known soy supplier he acquired some textured soy to expe...

African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina reminded students of the important role they have to play in the continent's economic development, as he was conferred with an honorary doctorate in his homeland. The Doctorate of Science was awarded by the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta, Nigeria, in honour of Adesina's work in agriculture and food security across the continent. Lauding the choice of Adesina as the institution’s 2020 awardee, the Chancellor, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi-Otu, described him as a global household name whose exploits in promoting value chain addition in agricultural produce have remained unparalleled. In his acceptance speech, Adesina commended the Nigerian government’s efforts to promote agriculture and agribusiness in Nigeria. "Agriculture is the most important profession and business in the world," Adesina said. Adesina pledged to continue the work of transforming Nigeria’s agriculture sector Unlocking agricultural op...

Turkey 's chicken meat production was 2.1 million tons in 2019, according to the country's statistical authority said on Feb. 12. The figure posted a 0.8 percent year-on-year fall in 2019, the Turkish Statistical Insitute (TÜİK) said in a statement. The country produced 59,640 tons of turkey meat last year, slipping 14.2 percent from previous year. In 2019, Turkey's chicken and turkey meat production totaled 2.2 million tons, down from 2.85 million tons in 2018. The number of slaughtered chicken also went down 1.7 percent to 1.2 billion during the same period. Last year's poultry production data also revealed that hen egg production increased by 1.3 percent, hitting nearly 20 billion units over the same period. Export figures... Turkey's egg exports totaled $295 million last month, while exports of meat from poultry animals reached $571.4 million. The country earned $866.4 million from its poultry exports -- egg and meat -- in 2019.

Turkey collected 9.56 million tons of cow's milk in 2019, the country’s statistical authority revealed on Feb. 12. The 2019 figure slipped 4.7 percent compared to the previous year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said in a statement. The country produced 1.5 million tons of drinking milk last year, indicating a 7.3 percent annual drop. Cheese production from cow’s milk also fell 6 percent year-on-year to some 679,000 tons. "Cheese production from sheep, goat, buffalo and mixed milk was 28,100 tons, dropped 15.9 percent when compared to the previous year," it added. In 2019, Turkey also produced 1.2 million tons of yogurt, over 720,000 tons of "ayran," a traditional salty drink made of yogurt and water, some 106,700 tons of milk powder, nearly 74,000 tons of butter, and 40,000 tons of cream. 2019 figures for dairy exports... According to the National Milk Council data, Turkey exported dairy products worth of $356.8 million in 2019, up...

Turkey generated nearly $12.5 billion from international wheat trade over the last 17 years, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said Wednesday. While Turkey imported 63.7 million tons of wheat worth $17.5 billion between 2002 and 2019, the country exported 75.7 million tons of wheat and wheat products, like flour, pasta and biscuits, worth $29.9 billion, Pakdemirli said in a statement. This means, he said, that Ankara generated an income of nearly $12.5 billion from wheat trade over 17 years. "Turkey is self-sufficient in wheat, producing 20 million tons and consuming of 18.5 million tons annually," he added. Surplus wheat is exported by Turkey, which is the world's top flour, semolina and cracked wheat exporter and second-biggest pasta exporter. Pakdemirli added that Turkey supports its farmers in boosting agricultural output.

Turkey 's red meat production reached 1.2 million tons in 2019, the Turkish Statistical Institute ( TÜİK ) announced on Feb. 11. The country's output increased by 7.4 percent in 2019, from 1.12 million tons the previous year, TÜİK said. Production consisted of 1.07 million tons of cattle, 109,382 tons of sheep, 16,536 tons of goat and 73 tons of buffalo meat, according to the official report. Turkey produced 291,565 tons of red meat in the last quarter of 2019, up 9.5 percent versus the same quarter in 2018, it showed. Another TÜİK report released last week indicated that Turkey's animal production increased by 4.7 percent to reach 66.6 million -- mostly bovine and ovine animals. The country also produced 348.8 million poultry animals -- chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese -- last year.

Adopting the circular economy approach on food loss and waste... 28 Jan 2020... Moscow, Russia - “Preventing food waste, promoting circular economy” was the focus of a special session, co-organized by FAO and Messe Düsseldorf Moscow at the upakovka-2020 fair, one of the major trade shows in Russia for processing and packaging machines industry. Increasing availability and affordability of different materials and products have simplified our lives and contributed to the rise in living standards and the quality of life in the developed countries. However, our culture of consumption has resulted in excessive resource extraction and growing pressures on natural capital and climate. We need to make sure that we can continue to grow our economy in a sustainable way and improve the living standards. This will require steps for changing the way we produce, transform, consume and distribute food by accelerating the transition to a sustainable food system based on circular economy princi...

Having completed the necessary procedures, a Turkish firm is set to introduce the fish döner kebab to Europe after obtaining required approvals for the new specialty's export to EU countries. The firm, "Tek Balık Döner," started as a small restaurant in Istanbul, is in the final stages of mass production of its fish döner kebab in İzmir after four years of research and development (R&D). Döner, also known as döner kebab, is one of the most internationally recognized Turkish foods in the world. Döner is a type of kebab, made of meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie. Seasoned meat stacked in the shape of an inverted cone is turned slowly on the rotisserie, next to a vertical cooking unit. The outer layer is sliced into thin shavings as it cooks. After buying a factory in the Torbalı district of the western province of İzmir, the company started to produce its main specialties fish döner kebab and fish burger. It is now eyeing to enter the European markets after h...

Press release... Aegean exporters want to continue customs duty free trading with UK... After Brexit England - Turkey starts talks... After Britain's decision to leave the European Union 47 years later, the 11-month transition period is on the agenda of the world. The calendar works, there are three alternatives... Aegean Exporters Union Coordinator Chairman Jak Eskinazi said that they expect zero customs duty and is included in the zero quota free trade agreement or of that side among the options the realization of the Customs Union as well as in Turkey to reach an agreement that will give birth to the additional customs duty on Turkish exporters. English committee to come on 27th of February... Noting that Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan shared the information that a delegation of the UK will be coming to Turkey on February 27, Esinazi said, "Britain is the second largest export market with 10 billion 748 million dollars of exports to Turkey. A free trade agreem...

Chairman of Turkey Pasta Industrialists Association Abdülkadir Külahçıoğlu said that the industry had a successful season last year. Külahçıoğlu, noting that pasta exports from Turkey to 153 countries, said, "We are in a position competitive in terms of quality. At the same time durum wheat grown in our country, world-class and very good quality. We evaluated the advantages of our industry and have become almost sells pasta to all countries." Külahçıoğlu, referring to the export figures, expressed, "Our pasta exports increased by 5.5 percent in terms of quantity compared to the previous year and reached 1 million 272 thousand 928 tons. We aim to export at least 1 million 300 thousand tons by repeating the achievements we have achieved in the previous periods in 2020." "We anticipate that there will be a good harvest in wheat" Emphasizing the importance of the raw material in sales success, Külahçıoğlu continued as follows: "We anticipate t...