Türkiye İş Bankası and Sabancı University complete first phase of farmer leadership program

The first phase of the ‘Future Leader Farmers Program’ has concluded, a collaborative initiative between Türkiye İş Bankası and Sabancı University designed to empower the next generation of agricultural producers.

The program hosted 17 agriculture faculty students from 14 different cities in Turkey. These participants come from families actively involved in diverse agricultural activities, including wheat, tea, hazelnut, fruit, greenhouse farming, livestock, and beekeeping.

Training held at the Sabancı University campus covered interdisciplinary topics such as sustainability in food systems, financial literacy, agricultural financing, cooperatives, branding, digital applications, circular economy, and supply chain management. Students worked on projects related to their existing production activities and presented these to bank and university officials at the Türkiye İş Bankası headquarters.

According to Umut Yiğit, Marketing Manager for Agricultural Banking at İş Bankası, the program aims to support current production while investing in the producers of tomorrow by combining academic knowledge with practical field experience.