31/08/2026
The “Future Leading Farmers Training and Certificate Program,” implemented in collaboration with Sabancı University and Türkiye İş Bankası, has been completed. The final day of the five-day program was held on Friday, August 21st, at İş Kuleleri. Seventeen young aspiring farmers, students from various universities and departments across Türkiye and children of farming families, presented the projects they developed throughout the program.
The first four days of the program, organized in collaboration with Sabancı University and Türkiye İş Bankası to support young farmers in adapting to changing production conditions and contributing to the development of new generation competencies in agriculture, were held on Sabancı University's Tuzla Campus. Over the five days, participants attended training sessions and workshops on various topics such as the future of agriculture, entrepreneurship, new technologies, value-added production, circular economy, financial literacy, cooperatives, digital marketing, and supply chain.
The Final Day of the Program Was Held at İş Kuleleri
The opening and presentation of the final day's program, held at İş Kuleleri on Friday, August 21st, was hosted by Betül Devran, Agricultural Banking Specialist at Türkiye İş Bankası.
Umut Yiğit, Marketing Manager of Türkiye İş Bankası Agricultural Banking, also gave a speech as part of the program. Before the student presentations, Birol Uluşan, Food Category Manager at Metro Cash & Carry, met with the participants.
Creative Projects from Young Farmer Candidates
Throughout the five-day program, young farmer candidates worked on a "Business Model Canvas," combining the knowledge they gained in the training sessions with their experiences from farming families into their own project ideas. Participants shared their developed projects through presentations on the final day of the program.
The project presentations covered diverse and creative themes, ranging from traditional flavors that promote vegetable consumption to feeds that repurpose agricultural waste; from local herbs to a zero-waste approach, from soilless farming to new technologies in beekeeping. “Flavor from Field to Table, Future from Waste to Soil”, “CycleFeed”, “Journeying Towards the Future by Returning to Our Roots”, “Herbal Jar”, “One Pear Zero Waste”, “Value from Layer to Layer, Future Without Soil”, “Swarm Notification System” and “Bee Detectives” were some of the projects developed by the participants.
The Five-Day Program Concluded with the Presentation of Participation Certificates
Following the completion of the student presentations, Sabancı University Vice President Prof. Dr. Cem Güneri, Sabancı Business School Dean Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Toker, and Sabancı Business School member Prof. Dr. Zafer Yenal, who led the program, and Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences faculty member Prof. Dr. Levent Öztürk each delivered a thank you speech.
The Future Leading Farmers Training and Certification Program, which combined the academic expertise of Sabancı University with the experience of Türkiye İş Bankası in the fields of agriculture and finance, concluded with the presentation of participation certificates to 17 young farmer candidates.
Sharing their evaluations of the program, the participants individually expressed their satisfaction with the experience they gained over the five days. The program ended with a group photo of the participants and those who contributed to the program.
