Pınar Ünsal Atıcı, a successful businesswoman who graduated from METU Mechanical Engineering department, left her corporate life aside and started farming, thanks to blueberries!

Atıcı, the third largest farmer in blueberry cultivation, made the first harvest of her blueberries this year, which she grew in 30,000 pots on 66 decares of land she bought in Alaşehir. The result was 50 tonnes of product, of which half were exported.

She had planted the blueberry saplings, which she bought from the Netherlands, in pots in April 2022 and planted them. She received her first product from the saplings in May 2023.

While Atıcı exported half of the 50 tons of product abroad, she marketed the other half to large chain markets in the domestic market. Stating that her target is mostly export, Atıcı said, “I went to America for a job, I ate there for the first time and I decided to grow this product with high nutritional value in my country.”

Photo: Milliyet

Atıcı, who graduated from METU in 2004, worked in private companies for many years. But she decided after a business trip to America and eating blueberries for the first time to grow them in her country.

She said: “It is a fruit that is beneficial for the development of our children, prevents cardiovascular stiffness, and regulates blood sugar, as it has both high antioxidant value and nutritional properties. It is a super food and one we should all consume in abundance.

“But it’s cultivation is low in Turkey. I wanted to take a lead in this. So I was the first to produce in Alaşehir. It was a first for Alaşehir in soilless agriculture. In addition to crops such as grapes and olives grown in soil, we have also added blueberries grown in pots in soilless agriculture to Alaşehir’s portfolio.

“Before planting, we first reclaimed the soil and then covered 60 decares with black covers. The purpose of this is to completely cut off the connection with the soil, because we are growing in pots.

“We used this cover to eliminate weeds and similar problems that may come from the soil. We do soilless farming, the pots contain peat mixture instead of soil. It contains certain proportions of coconut shell, cocopeat and peat. This mixture provides an acidic environment that blueberries love.

Photo: Milliyet

“We completely covered the area covered by 30,000 flower pots with a tulle system. This tulle both protects from hail and provides the dim environment that blueberries love, thanks to its gray color. We have a fully automatic irrigation system. The fertilizer and water mixture is delivered to each pot through rings.”

Stating that they harvested the first blueberries this year, she said: “We exported half of our products to countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. We marketed the other half in national chain markets in the domestic market. The feedback was very positive.

“Customers who said they had never tasted blueberries of this size and quality in the domestic market contacted us and shared their feedback. This made us very happy.”