Seed politics in Turkey: the awakening of a landrace wheat and its prospects

Abstract

This article analyses the current state of seed politics in Turkey focusing on the recent appropriation and commercialization of a wheat landrace, Karakılçık buğdayı (black-awn wheat) in Seferihisar, a small coastal town in the Aegean. It lays bare the long-drawn-out, often arduous but politically innovative processes that brought together various stakeholders, including the local municipality, a seed preservation centre, producer cooperatives, and urban-based alternative food networks. This paper argues that institutional mechanisms with strong grassroots support have the potential to weave together small-producer initiatives and disparate consumer interests and imbue them with the power to transform national agriculture and food politics.