Technical Narrative: This U.S.-Turkey collaborative research project involving a cultural anthropologist from University of California at Davis and an agricultural economist from Ege University in Boronova, Turkey will provide a comprehensive study of the biological diversity of wheat in Turkey. Project funding will enable Dr. Emin Isikli of Ege University to participate in a survey of wheat farmers in Turkey and then spend six months in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Brush at UC Davis analyzing and interpreting the survey data. This collaborative research project will study how farmers use different types of wheat, relate the variation in use to socioeconomic and environmental variation, and establish conservation procedures to maintain the diversity that exists. This project is important because understanding why farmers maintain diverse crop types will aid in designing policies to encourage diversity, thereby, conserving the genetic substance of diverse plants for the future. This project in biological diversity fulfills the program objective of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling leading experts in the United States and Turkey to combine complementary talents and pool research resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence.
