In our interview, Mr. Murat Tarakçıoğlu, Cargill Food Solutions META CEO and
Managing Director, answered our questions. Providing information about
Cargill’s sustainability approach and innovative products, Tarakçıoğlu explained
the 1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity Program.
Could you please briefly introduce yourself, your educational background, and your professional experience?
I was born in Istanbul in 1970. After graduating from Saint Benoit High School, I completed my education at Boğaziçi University’s Business Administration Department. Following my first job experience at Ernst & Young, I started working as an assistant in the Finance
Department at Cargill in 1996. Over the years, I have worked in various positions in finance, trade, and marketing. Since 2005, I have been serving as the Cargill Food Solutions META CEO and Managing Director.
Could you please provide information about Cargill’s history and its current structure? When did Cargill start its operations in Türkiye?
Cargill is an innovative food and bio-industrial company that has been working for over 158 years to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. We operate in more than 70 countries with over 160,000 employees, providing sustainable innovative products, services, and solutions to our customers in various fields, from food to textiles, construction to bio-industrial products, pharmaceuticals to personal care.
Our story in Türkiye began in the 1960s. In our journey as a food company, we expanded our product portfolio beyond food through our investments. We have increased our investments every year, renewed our belief in Türkiye and the success of our employees.
With our investments in the bio-industrial and animal feed sectors and our rich product portfolio, we continue on our path.
With more than 650 employees, we manage our operations in Türkiye, the Middle East, and Africa from our headquarters in Istanbul. In our factories in Bursa, Balıkesir, Kocaeli, and Sakarya, we produce plant-based raw materials for our customers in the food and bio-industrial sectors, used in a wide range of products from biscuits to soups, from pharmaceuticals to paper towels, and from clothing to shopping bags. In short, we touch every aspect of life. With our high use of local raw materials, we rank among the top international investor companies. With our everevolving and developing structure, we now offer our customers not only as a content supplier but also a fully integrated portfolio of food ingredients and solutions. We aim to be the main source of inspiration for our customers’ growth and innovative solutions.
Could you please provide information about your products, especially in the agriculture and food industries?
We have a wide product portfolio that meets the needs of our customers in the food industry with innovative and sustainable products in every aspect. We develop innovative food components to produce healthier versions of commonly consumed foods in daily life.
Our corn fiber, pea protein, vegan chocolate, reducedsugar chocolate, and high oleic sunflower oil are used in the production of healthier snacks. We offer our important plant-based oils to our customers under the Turyağ brand. With our brand Turyağ, which brings healthier, high-performance, and innovative products to the industrial and out-of-home consumption markets, we support the production of healthier foods. In the HoReCa (Hotel, Restaurant, Cafe) sector, we meet the changing needs and expectations with our new brand PROVERSE. PROVERSE, which brings professional kitchens together with high performance and quality, will expand its journey with products such as vegan meatball mix and ice cream mix in the near future.
Could you please provide information about your approach to sustainability and environmental issues, and the activities you carry out in these areas? What are the features of the 1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity Program, and what kind of activities do you carry out within this scope?
For Cargill, which has a global vision of valuing society, the environment, and nature wherever it operates and creating value for them, sustainability is at the core of all our business strategies. We see creating sustainable resources, considering efficiency in production and distribution, and supporting the communities where we live and work as the most basic requirements of healthy growth. Our teams are at the forefront of a more sustainable food system, and we aim to do the right thing at every step of the value chain.
We shape our sustainability approach by focusing on three main pillars: Climate, Land and Water, People. Globally, we have set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10% in all our operations by 2025 and by 30% per ton of product sold in our supply chain by 2030. Another key goal is empowering women in the workforce. As part of our global “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” strategy, we have committed to increasing the percentage of women executives in Cargill’s leadership teams to 50% by 2050.
The 1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity is one of our social responsibility programs in Türkiye, which is an extension of our commitment to reach 10 million farmers globally by 2030. Since 2019, we have been working to improve the well-being of farmers, increase the productivity of their products, support social and digital transformation in agriculture, and
contribute to the widespread adoption of sustainable practices in agriculture. In its fifth season, our program reached over 5,000 farmers in 18 provinces of Türkiye. We provide farmers with customized free training, consulting services, and access to digital farming tools. This year, we have also focused on regenerative agriculture. In this context, farmers can follow special irrigation, fertilization, and pesticide applications that reduce disease risk and prevent soil pollution, helping to protect water sources. Additionally, with the Pest Trap (Digital Insect Trap), they can identify and make pesticide decisions for threatening pests without going to the field.
1000 Farmers Endless Prosperity is the first and only agriculture and food program in Türkiye to conduct social impact research and measurement in the field of agriculture and food. The program has contributed to an increase in yields of up to 20% for participating
farmers over the past four years. Starting from 2021, we regularly conduct the “Farmers’ Transformation” research in collaboration with KONDA Research Company to assess the effects of the program. Using the internationally recognized Social Return on Investment (SROI) Guide by “Social Value International” to understand, convert, and report on the
program’s social impact, we found that every 1 TL invested had a social return of 2.53 TL in 2019, 2.78 TL in 2020, and 3.03 TL in 2021. In 2022, we created a social benefit of 3.23 TL for every 1 TL invested. The program’s success is also reflected in the 40 awards we have received nationally and internationally.
As a local extension of Cargill’s commitment to increase the percentage of women executives in leadership teams to 50% by 2050, we launched the Women Leaders of the Future Program in partnership with the Turkish Education Foundation (TEV) in 2021. With
this program, we not only provide scholarships to university students who qualify for scholarships from TEV but also support our students in their professional and personal journeys.
Could you please provide information about your innovation and R&D activities?
As Cargill, we conduct global research and development(R&D) to meet the increasing food demand while preserving our planet and natural resources. Beyond being a food company, we want to be the primary source of inspiration and growth for our customers in their innovative and sustainable productions. We focus on producing healthy, low-carbon footprint, delicious, convenient, and enjoyable food components. To achieve this, we follow trends in society and invest in research, innovation, formulation, and supply chain
capabilities.
In Türkiye, we also produce food components with an innovative perspective to meet the demands for conscious, healthy, and convenient food and beverages. With our INFUSE Application Center and pilot plant, which we launched last year at our Orhangazi Corn
Processing Plant, we provide technical support and product development services to food customers who want to develop innovative products, including plantbased solutions, especially in the dairy and dairy product sector. On the other hand, there is an increasing
demand for plant-based proteins, and we see that plantbased sources, such as our pea protein, which can be produced with less water, are increasingly preferred.
In our bio-industrial business segment, in line with our vision focused on sustainable products, we continue to work to expand our product portfolio, which offers bio-based, non-toxic, and renewable solutions for use in various sectors such as energy, paint, furniture, textiles, and packaging. The FR3® bio-based natural ester transformer oil, which is the result of Cargill’s strategy to develop bio-based solutions against old technology used in the energy sector, has been produced in our facility in Türkiye since 2018. FR3®, which has been used in millions of different power and voltage transformers worldwide for over 30 years and has proven to outperform mineral transformer oils, increases the capacity
of transformers while extending their lifespan. Moreover, it maximizes fire safety and reduces the possibility of transformer explosions to zero. Made from 98% renewable bio-based oils and having 98% less carbon footprint compared to petroleum-based oils, FR3®
dissolves in the soil in 28 days without harming living beings when it leaks.
Do you have investment plans in Türkiye for the coming periods, and if so, what are they?
We increase our technology investments and R&D activities every year with our belief in Türkiye’s production and growth potential. At the same time, by contributing to the Turkish economy, we create export opportunities to markets all around the world. We will continue to offer solutions to meet the needs of our customers with our global and regional supply chain, and we will continue to invest in sustainable products and production.
