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Farming insider: Adem Biçici, Turkey

About Biçici Farm

The Biçici family farm in Çumra, Turkey, is now being worked by the third generation of the family. Together with his father Ali and his son Fatih, farmer Adem Biçici focuses on sugar beet production. With his grandson, the fourth generation is ready to follow in the farming footsteps.

Farm facts

Family-run farm where three generations work together.

Location: Çumra, Konya Province, Turkey

Crops cultivated: Sugar beet

Special features: In addition to being a farmer, Adem Biçici is also a parliamentary member of the local government in his home town of Çumra.

In our family, the passion for farming is passed
down from generation to generation.

Adem Biçici, Çumra

Question time

Adem, here we are in your house in Çumra, drinking Turkish tea with three generations of the Biçici family before us. It’s a very harmonious picture. How did it all come about?

Adem: As a child, I was in awe of my father’s work. I imitated him and loved the job of farming. Since I and my son Fatih both liked it so much, we took over the work from my father.
Fatih: I always find it astonishing when we look at developments in agriculture. We can do in a single day what took my grandfather ten days.
Ali: Of course, farming back then and farming today are as different as day and night.

Do any examples come to mind of what constitutes the biggest difference between the past and the present?

Ali: Our family started working here back in 1962. I was a child at the time, just eight years old, and gained my first impressions of agriculture. There was no sugar beet here back then. We set about planting and cultivating it, but at that time we were doing it from the back of a horse.
Fatih: With the help of today’s technology, we have of course made huge progress in that area.
Adem: And we shouldn’t forget the advances in seed products, either, which are a result of knowledge, skill and technology at the highest level. We started growing KWS varieties in 2006. Now we are able to test the company’s new varieties here in field trials and then select the seed that best suits us and our soil.

It’s not only KWS that provides knowledge and skills; you as farmers, too, have acquired competence over decades that you pass on to your descendants.

Adem: That’s right. In our family, the passion for farming is passed down from generation to generation. When I was a child, my father was my rock. I was raised by him, observed his actions and skills, and I learned from him. As part of the succession, Fatih now also works with me and my father, and we have a consistent state of solidarity and togetherness.
Ali: When Adem was born, he meant the world to us. When he later started helping out with the work, he developed a clear picture of the agricultural business and a strong profile as a farmer. “No, dad, let’s do it this way, not that way,” he would sometimes say, and I then agreed. This helped us make good profits.
Fatih: I was also in awe of my father’s work. Now, we’ve been working together for 17 years, and I have gone through all the steps we’ve taken on the farm with him. I feel well prepared to continue the work of my father and grandfather.

And now you, Fatih, also have a son who follows you on the farm, full of curiosity.

Yes, and I can well imagine that I will pass on our father’s experiences to him.

Adem, are there moments when you see yourself in your grandson?

Yes, I can actually. When I go out into the fields with our grandson, he’s full of curiosity and often asks: “Grandpa, what do we need to do today?”, or “That’s my dad’s job. Can I join in?” Then I answer that he can of course join in and that all these things will be left to him later by his father and he will carry them on.

He would be the fourth generation of the Biçici family…

…, to join the business. As a farmer, our grandson would lead a life that benefits both agriculture and our future.

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