NEWS

• Ülker (a subsidiary of Yıldız Holding) holds major shares in crops. Recently, it decided to draw attention to its decades of cooperation with farmers by launching a new campaign: “My Nation’s Ülker Grows with Farmers.”

• Noting that Yıldız Holding and all of its food companies (including Ülker) support agriculture, Ali Ülker (Vice Chairman of Yıldız Holding) stated that last year, they bought 3 million tons of crops for TL 2.5 billion.

Mehmet Tütüncü (CEO of Ülker Biscuit and Chocolate – one of Yıldız Holding’s publicly traded companies), said that they purchased approximately TL 1 billion worth (1.5 million tons) of crops last year. He stated that they wanted to recognize all that [Turkish] farmers have done to support Ülker by launching the “My Nation’s Ülker Grows with Farmers” Campaign at sale points around the country.

He commented that the reason why Ülker’s products taste so good is because they only use high quality, local products – e.g. hazelnuts from Türkiye’s Black Sea and wheat from Central Anatolia.

“Farmers are our best business partners, and lie at the heart of everything we make. We’ve worked closely with them since day one. Their crops give our products their signature taste and win the hearts of consumers. We’re very much conscious of what they mean to us and treasure collaborations with them.

• We support our farmers by offering them much needed seed support, training, and information. We also pick their crops up directly from the field, and build more grain storage facilities (a Licensed Storage Activity sponsored by the Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock).

 • We cannot make most of our products without wheat, hazelnuts, or beets. We work closely with agricultural research institutes affiliated with the Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock to study wheat and oats.

• We use wheat in virtually all of our baked goods. For the past 10 or so years, we’ve been working with the Bahri Dağdaş International Institute of Agricultural Research to breed the ideal species of wheat for making biscuits. The fruit of our labor is “Ali Ağa” wheat. It has a high yield, and it is disease- and drought-resistant. The Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock’s Central Directorate of Seed Registration and Certification even recently decided to patent it. Now we’re working to spread the word around the country. Our wheat investment has enabled us to support over 500,000 families (many of whom are farmers), transport and shipping employees, discharge and storage workers, cooperatives, and associations.

• We’re supporting the Thrace Agricultural Research Institute’s Kahraman Oat project. Contracts with farmers enable us to meet annual needs (4,000 tons of oats) from them.

• Hazelnuts are a valuable crop in Türkiye and for us. In 2015, we collaborated with an international non-governmental organization to study the effects of the Giresun-Grade Plump hazelnut on plant and animal diversity – a project from which we learned many things. We made social and economic development for families who harvest hazelnuts our top priority. Hence, we launched the Sustainable Hazelnut Cultivation Project. Through that, we come up with ways for hazelnut farmers to cultivate Giresun hazelnuts in a sustainable manner without harming the environment. Giresun hazelnuts are very unique because of their quality. We set up a number of pilot gardens across [the Province of] Giresun and focused on fostering good agricultural practices and capacity building.”

YILDIZ HOLDING SUPPORTS AGRICULTURE WITH ALL ITS BRANDS

Yıldız Holding’s Vice Chairman Ali Ülker noted that Yıldız Holding supports agriculture through Ülker as well as through its many other subsidiaries, adding that to date, they have purchased close to 3 million tons of crops (worth TL 2.5 billion).

Ülker continued:

“Yıldız Holding grows together with farmers. Many of our subsidiaries touch the lives of farmers. SuperFresh – affiliated to Kerevitaş, Türkiye’s second largest publicly traded food company after Ülker – currently leads Türkiye’s frozen food market. We get our peas, beans, corn, spinach, and other produce directly from farmers – fresh. We now work with 600 farmers under contract. We train them in mass planting, feeding, irrigation and spraying twice a year. Our team of agricultural engineers are also always on standby around the clock to support them as well as advise us. We buy up their produce and then ship that to Şok (one of Türkiye’s largest supermarket chains) locations across the country within 24 hours so that they don’t lose their freshness.”

Underlining that they work and produce for Türkiye, Ülker also said:

“We win together with our nation’s farmers and we invest what we earn in Türkiye. In our factories, we transform their crops into the goods that you see on store shelves across the country. 55 of our 80 factories are based right here in Türkiye. We make everything from biscuits to chocolate, oil to frozen food, and even personal care products. We’re a big family with over 60,000 employees (including 45,000 in Turkey and 15,000 abroad). Our contribution to the Turkish economy is employment, production, and exports – hence success.”

Ülker reminded us that McVitie’s and Godiva – among other products – are made in Türkiye and then shipped all over the world. “We proudly show the world what Türkiye and Turkish manufacturers can do with the “Made in Türkiye” label.”