Young people's ideas were rewarded at the 'Transform Stubble, Keep Soil Alive' Idea Marathon

The event aimed to foster environmentally friendly ideas, fostered by the vision of young people, that will inspire hope for the future of agriculture. Selda Susal Saatçi, Anadolu Efes Group Corporate Communications and Relations Director, said, “Agriculture has been one of Anadolu Efes's core focuses since its founding. We never limit our agricultural work solely to our farmers. As Anadolu Efes, we will continue to work with young people in agriculture through various programs. Young people's renewed interest in agriculture is extremely valuable to us.”

The "Recycle Stubble, Keep Soil Alive" Circular Economy Idea Marathon, organized by Anadolu Efes in collaboration with Anadolu Meraları, took place. Young people from across Türkiye came together for the two-day event to develop sustainable solutions to the environmental problems stemming from stubble in agriculture. Based on the jury's evaluation, the first-place team received a prize of 100,000 TL, second-place 75,000 TL, and third-place 50,000 TL. The event, driven by the vision of young people, contributed to the emergence of environmentally friendly ideas that will inspire hope for the future of agriculture.

Koray Anar, Technical Director of Anadolu Efes Turkey, said, “While Anadolu Efes is considered a beverage company, it is actually a very large agricultural company. To date, we have developed seven of our own hop varieties and 17 barley seed varieties. We carry out these development efforts entirely with our in-house agricultural engineers. Together with approximately nine thousand farmer families, we cultivate an area of 300,000 decares, the size of approximately 30,000 football fields. All of this is driven by significant effort and hard work. Our agricultural operations constitute a significant portion of our supply, and we obtain all our raw materials from the soil. However, agricultural activities are becoming increasingly challenging due to the impact of the global climate crisis. Rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall are severely impacting agriculture not only in Türkiye but globally. Therefore, we have embarked on a long-term journey with Anadolu Meraları and are taking our agricultural policies one step further. We are no longer just working to extract yield from the soil, but also to repair it while achieving this yield.”

SAATÇİ: YOUTH'S REORIENTATION ON AGRICULTURE IS EXTREMELY VALUABLE TO US

Anadolu Efes Group Corporate Communications and Relations Director Selda Susal Saatçi said, “We never limit our agricultural work solely to our farmers. We adopt a much more holistic approach in this area. The ‘Recycle Stubble, Keep the Soil Alive’ project was one of the projects we implemented with this holistic perspective. Although stubble burning is prohibited in our country, we still need to raise awareness and develop alternative solutions. Therefore, we decided to organize this idea marathon with university students to think and discuss what alternative solutions could be developed against stubble burning. Stubble burning is a practice that disrupts the climate balance and causes serious damage to soil fertility and subsoil biodiversity. Furthermore, according to various reports, it is stated that 5 to 10 percent of forest fires are caused by stubble burning. Hundreds of university students from all over Türkiye, from Erzincan to Hatay, from Urfa to Yalova, applied to the program. Over two days, they devotedly "They worked late into the night, generating ideas, and then reconvened early in the morning. The projects were very valuable, and three of them were awarded by the jury. Going forward, Anadolu Efes will continue to work with young people in agriculture through various programs. Young people's renewed interest in agriculture is extremely valuable to us," he said.

KIREÇ: WE ARE CONTINUING OUR WORK ACTIVELY IN THE REGIONS BY GOING TO THE FIELD

Yasemin Kireç, CEO of Anadolu Meraları, said, “We have been implementing regenerative agriculture practices for over 10 years, and we are also trying to explain that regenerative agriculture is not just about soil practices. Through regenerative agriculture, we position farmers as active stakeholders and business partners in agriculture, aiming to return this to them in the form of reputation, economic gain, and ecological improvement. The project we are carrying out with Anadolu Efes is quite comprehensive in this sense and encompasses all the elements we have mentioned. In this period, when the climate crisis is becoming an increasingly greater threat and many crises are occurring simultaneously, we have started our work with the soil. Because when we increase the soil's water retention capacity, carbon content, and organic matter, we create a significant impact. In this project we are carrying out with Anadolu Efes, we aim to restore soil in trial fields with farmers and have begun implementing it. We are also organizing training and conducting capacity-building activities. We are actively working in the fields and continuing our work in the regions. Our main goal in this project is not only to increase productivity; it is to repair the soil and implement a climate-resilient production model.” used.

"IT WAS BOTH GLAD AND ENCOURAGING THAT THEY CAREFULLY CHOSEN US TO PRODUCE A SOLUTION TO SUCH AN IMPORTANT PROBLEM."

Özge Karaçay, one of the contestants who recently graduated from the Bioengineering Department, said, “We actually had 48 hours. Stubble is a common problem not only in Türkiye but throughout the world. Our first day was entirely spent training; we measured and learned in detail the effects of stubble burning on the soil and ecosystem. Then, we asked, ‘What can we do about this?’” We sought an answer to the question, "While we all have many ideas in our daily lives, we often don't know who will benefit from them, how they will benefit them, or what problems they will solve. So, after 48 hours, we developed a solution for regenerating soil without burning stubble. Our project was based on reintroducing biological systems to the soil. We designed a project where existing bacteria break down stubble and recycle it, thereby improving soil quality and productivity. Thanks to Anadolu Meraları and Anadolu Efes' excellent management of the process and their guidance, we achieved significant gains. It was both gratifying and encouraging that they carefully selected us to address such a significant problem and develop a solution. I hope we can participate in similar projects again in the future and develop new solutions to similar problems."

'COMING HERE WAS TRULY BOTH A PLEASURE AND INSPIRING'

Koray Güneydere, a senior student in Food Engineering and one of the contestants, said, “Coming here was truly both a joy and an inspiration. During this two-day period, we met with people we had never met before and developed a project on stubble; how we could recycle stubble without burning it and how we could increase the amount of organic matter in the soil. The work was intense at times, but equally fun. Meeting new people and chatting with them was also very inspiring. This project development process will contribute to our future work as a valuable experience. Our project focused on finding solutions to the different types of stubble in arid and humid soils using two different approaches. In arid regions, we aimed to develop a mutualist approach by finding common ground with livestock farmers, and in humid regions, we aimed to reintegrate stubble into the soil by encouraging bacterial decomposition. We brought all these ideas together under a common application. Events like these are extremely valuable for broadening the horizons of university students. Few companies in our country do this, and Anadolu Efes is one of them. We would like to thank Anadolu Efes and Anadolu Meraları for providing us with this opportunity.” Thank you,” he said.

DHA

Reporter: News Center