A.R.L

DOĞU TRAKYA

During February 2024 Robins and Udy photographed in Eastern Thrace, Turkey, a European edgeland situated between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara and connected by the Bosporus Strait, forming one of the continental boundaries between Europe and Asia.

They worked closely with Ammar Kiliç an academic from the Sociology Department of Namik Kemel University in Tekirdağ. Ammar provided introductions to many individuals within the small communities scattered through the Süleymanpaşa district, an important area of extensive and varied agricultural production and export.

As is the case in most of the regions the ARL project has visited, there is the increasing domination over agricultural production and rural economies by international agribusiness. It was pointed out that even though a farm might be relatively small in scale, its agricultural production is fundamentally controlled by what is, in essence, an agropoly.  Nonetheless, there were examples of more progressive ventures, including a farmer working with specialists to explore new strains of extreme weather-resistant cereal crops in recognition of the effects of climate change. And a woman who has returned to her family’s land and is attempting to develop an organic and regenerative approach to farming.

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