Doğan Organic Products Visits London as a “Model Project”

Doğan Organic Products attended the European CSR Awards Best Practice Exchange Forum, held by Business in the Community (BITC), an organization established by the British Business World for the purpose of furthering corporate responsibility. BITC’s objective in holding the  Forum was to gather  detailed information on the successful projects recognized by the European Corporate Social Responsibility Awards program... Speaking on behalf of Doğan Organic Products, the Forum’s sole Turkish participant, Doğan Group of Companies Corporate Communications Director Rişe Özkan related the details of Doğan Organic Products’ success story to  a crowd of corporate social responsibility experts and business world representatives.

 

Ms. Özkan said the following:

 

 

The Forum brought together projects from different business sectors and countries in order to inspire and deliver practical insights. Among the attendees were professionals from companies such as 3M, IBM, KPMG, The Body Shop, Rolls-Royce, Hilton, Capital One, UBS, Visa, Samsung and Hitachi.

 

Established in 2002 with the objective of transforming Kelkit and its surrounding area into a center for organic dairy and livestock farming, Doğan Organic Products has since provided jobs for approximately 100 employees at its  Kelkit Organic Dairy Farming Operations, as well as 100 contract farmer families in the region. Of these 100 farmer families, 80 are raising crops while 20 are involved in livestock farming. As Turkey’s he largest organic milk producer, Doğan Organic Products produces close to 10,000 tons of milk annually from a total of 2,900 certified organic cows,  1,400 of which are under the care of Kelkit Organic Dairy Farming Operations, with the remaining  1,500  raised and maintained  by the contract farmers.

 

Prior to 2002, Kelkit’s younger population was migrating to large cities  due to truly challenging geographical conditions and outdated productionhabits. Through organic production commenced by  Kelkit Organic Dairy Farming Operations, and the eventual inclusion of area residents as contract farmers, the migration problem was solved, the area prospered, and the region’s residents were integrated into the national economy. Today,

 

organic livestock farming has spread from Kelkit into eastern Anatolia, and reliable, high-quality organic animal products are produced for Turkish consumers via now-fertile lands that will be passed on with pride to  future generations.