4321 EASTBRED
How a Turkish innovation helps central
European farmers confront climate change
As global warming threatens agricultural production, an innovation developed by a Turkish entrepreneur
together with Austrian and Croatian engineers could be the key to the future of European farming.
Ali Ozbugday comes from a long
line of entrepreneurs. The family
was part of the revolution which,
after decades of dependence
on imports in the agricultural
sector, turned Turkey into a big
seed exporter and a major cotton
producer. Ozbugday feels the
balance is shifting again - and
European crop production could
owe a lot to Turkey in the coming
years.
Ozbugday’s professional career
reflects the growing autonomy
and economic vigour of his home
country. After completing his
studies in the United States, he
started working in his family’s
farms. Now he is the President of
ProGen, a 100% Turkish-owned
and a rapidly-expanding SME.
Specialising in the development
of new crop varieties without
recourse to genetic modification,
it is supplying seeds to producers
worldwide.
ProGen played an important role in
the Eurostars EASTBRED research
project, a collaboration between
agronomists from Turkey, Austria
and Croatia. The project’s objective
was to introduce new breeds of
barley and wheat crops to the
fields of central and eastern Europe.
EASTBRED is not only an answer to
the producers’ demand for new,
stronger crop varieties, but is also a
gamble on the seed market’s future
evolution. ‘We have developed more
resistant crop lines with a higher
potential to adapt, notably to the
maintain a good level of production,’
Ozbugday explains. With weather
anomalies provoked by global
warming, it is not uncommon to
find similar atmospheric conditions
further north. A range of cereal
diseases and pests typical to the
south of Europe or Africa have also
spread to central Europe.
Biologists have observed that,
as temperatures increase, some
varieties of plants indigenous to
We have developed more resistant crop lines with a higher
potential to adapt to the conditions created by climate
change.
conditions created by
change,’ says Ozbugday.
climate
An answer to climate change
‘The weather in Turkey can be
extreme, with harsh winters and
hot, dry summers putting crops
under an unusual strain. In this
difficult environment, it is hard to
southern Europe have made their
way up to the northern part of the
continent. As they are adapted to
drier weather conditions as well
as to the plagues particular to the
hot Mediterranean climate, these
plants are progressively replacing
indigenous varieties. Similarly, the
EASTBRED project helps Turkish
crops to disseminate up north.
The Eurostars Programme is powered by EUREKA and the European Community
Doing business through technology
4321 EASTBRED
‘The best varieties of barley and
wheat, commonly grown in central
Europe have been crossed with
particularly
resistant
Turkish
species, by using conventional
breeding techniques,’ Ozbugday
explains. The process, he describes,
is particularly long and tedious
compared to the creation of
genetically-modified breeds, as it
can take from two to 10 years, much
more than GM-based techniques.
‘The breeding experiments started
during the project are not over,’ he
adds, ‘it is an ongoing process, and
every year our research centres will
bring us new products to provide
our customers.’
For ProGen, the EASTBRED project
has also been the occasion to reach
new markets, with an offer now
better adapted to the demand of
company’s turnover should ‘double
up in the next five years’ and it may
only take two to three years before
ProGen secures a dominant position
in its target markets. Taking part
in Eurostars, the first European
funding programme created for
small companies in the high-tech
sector, also had an influence on the
company’s investment in research.
ProGen now employs seven fulltime researchers as a direct result
of the EASTBRED project.
Other partners in the project will
also reinforce their positions on
the market. It is notably the case
of Saatzucht Donau, an Austrian
company, which provided vital
technical expertise to the project
and the indigenous European
cereals crossed with Turkish crops.
‘Saatzucht Donau has been an
based in the most Northern and
continental part of the country.
ProGen is now involved in a
second Eurostars project called
GENOWHEAT. The aim is to
reintroduce to Europe some longcultivated and particularly resistant
varieties of crop, growing only in
Turkey. The country’s exceptional
diversity of cultivated plants is
not new. Nine thousand years ago,
Turkey was at the heart of the
region from where agriculture, and
probably Indo-European languages,
spread to Europe and central Asia.
This region, known as ‘the Fertile
Crescent’, was where the crops used
in the EASTBRED and GENOWHEAT
projects were originally cultivated.
Today ProGen builds on Turkey’s
historical
and
geographic
Thanks to Eurostars, ProGen’s turnover should double
up in the next five years.
its European customers. But Europe
is not the final frontier to the
company’s expansion: ‘One of our
primary markets in the future will
be Russia,’ says Ozbugday.
A Turkish star for Europe
In Ozbudgay’s own words, after
the participation of ProGen in
the Eurostars Programme, the
important party in the EASTBRED
project and I think that we have
also been a good partner for
them, we had a strong synergy,’
says Ozbugday. Another Austrian
partner was the Vienna Institute of
Cereal processing which developed
new analysis methods to evaluate
the resilience of the new crops,
which were tested on-site in the
fields of PMT, a Croatian company,
Project participants:
Austria, Croatia, Turkey
Budget: 2.4 MEuro
Duration: 36 months
advantage to place itself at
the forefront of innovation in
agriculture.
Contact
ProGen SEED
[email protected]
Tel +326 285 67 00
skenderun Yolu 11.km. P.K. 10
31000 Antakya / Hatay
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