In 2025, our University organized training programmes, seminars, field-based activities, and cooperation meetings that enabled local farmers and food producers to come together with University experts, public institutions, producer organizations, cooperatives, and private-sector representatives to exchange knowledge and experience. The University also contributed to these activities as an institutional partner.
One of the most comprehensive initiatives in this context was the Women Farmers Training Camp, implemented under the “Women’s Hand in Agriculture Project,” to which our University is an institutional party. The inter-institutional cooperation protocol signed on 15 January 2025 explicitly defines the responsibilities of our University as facilitating the exchange of knowledge and ideas among partner institutions, contributing to the development of training programmes for women farmers, and ensuring that women farmers in the region receive training from University experts in relevant fields.
Evidence: https://www.ktu.edu.tr/dosyalar/yonetim_PF57X.pdf; https://www.ttso.org.tr/news/trabzon-da-tarimda-kadin-eli-projesi-nin-egitimleri-basladi-kadin-ciftciler-katma-degerli-urunlerle-tarima-guc-katacak-9654
Under the protocol, the Women Farmers Training Camp, which began on 12 February 2025, provided local women farmers with training on topics including fertilization, dairy cattle breeding and animal health, cheese production based on food hygiene principles, greenhouse cultivation, aronia cultivation, financial planning, digital marketing, and the commercialization of agricultural products. Activities continued throughout the year through training sessions and field-based practices held on different dates, and farmers who successfully completed the training programmes were awarded certificates. In this way, local producers were given the opportunity to establish direct connections with experts from the University, public institutions, professional organizations, and other stakeholders and to exchange knowledge and experience.
In the fields of fisheries and aquaculture, the Trabzon session of the 7th Türkiye Aquaculture Seminars was hosted by our University on 3 November 2025. The event brought together KTU academics with representatives from the Trabzon Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, the Fisheries Research Institute, SUR-KOOP, the Eastern Black Sea Development Agency (DOKA), and the private sector. Topics including water efficiency, fish vaccination practices, current research, cooperative activities, funding opportunities, technological innovation, and digitalization were discussed. The event therefore facilitated the transfer of scientific knowledge to stakeholders in the fisheries and aquaculture sector and supported new connections among academia, public authorities, cooperatives, and private-sector representatives
Throughout 2025, our University also held meetings aimed at direct knowledge transfer with local fisheries and aquaculture producers. On 29 January 2025, a meeting was held at the KTU Technology Transfer Office (KTU TTO) with POLIFISH Marine and Aquaculture Products, a company operating in the Arsin Organized Industrial Zone. During the meeting, mutual exchange of information took place regarding potential projects that could be developed in response to the company’s needs. On 14 August 2025, an on-site visit was made to the company, during which opportunities for joint R&D activities were assessed. On 22 December 2025, the company was matched with the ProFit Research Team at KTU, initiating a joint R&D process aimed at transferring academic knowledge to industry in line with the company’s needs and strategic objectives
In conclusion, in 2025, our University not only provided information to local farmers and food producers but also institutionally supported mutual knowledge and experience transfer through training programmes, seminars, field-based activities, and cooperation events that brought together farmers, aquaculture producers, academics, public institutions, cooperatives, and private-sector representatives.
