Miller Magazine Issue: 138 June 2021

68 COVER STORY MILLER / june 2021 The corona pandemic has reminded us how valuable the health sector, education, and most importantly ag- riculture. In the 21st century, we have witnessed that masks, health supplies even in countries with strong economies are insufficient and even health supplies that go to other countries for support purposes are confis- cated. The pandemic slowed down the economy of all sectors, stopped some while regressing the others. We entered a global quarantine. History seems to be divided into 'pre-corona' and 'post-corona'. We saw that all of our analyzes, year-round planning, goals, and expectations lost their meaning. At the same time, we lost our ability to make long-term predictions and act strategically. During the stagnation or even regression of the countries and sectors, their primary goal has been to meet the basic food needs of their populations (flour, pasta, wheat, etc.). Therefore, one of the most important sectors has been the agricultural sector. Turkey has taken substantial mea- sures during the pandemic process and continues to do so. It has brought with it the problem of access to food products or other products for the supply of basic necessities, particularly in foreign-dependent countries. Thus, the deterioration in the supply-demand balance of products led to an increase in prices in the short term. Such price increase and other adversities brought the significance of agricultural production to the fore. Increasing unemployment, growth problems, high in- flation problems, interest increases, fluctuating exchange rates, falling export figures, declining tourism sector, and many other problems due to the pandemic show us that nothing will ever be the same anymore. What is import- ant at this point is to assess the damage in the crisis and predict what kind of an economy awaits us afterwards because the economy is in life. Indeed, it is life itself. After the pandemic is over, I guess that the production in China will shift to other countries, especially Indone- sia, Malaysia, and Turkey. In this case, we should take advantage of this opportunity, invest in new sectors and increase our production capacity so that we can provide more added value to our country. For example, in its latest report, the IMF increased its global growth forecast for this year from 5.5 percent to Although climate change is effective on grain areas in different parts of the world, ac- cording to the latest report of the International Grain Council, it is estimated that there will be no problems in world wheat production. It is predicted that wheat production will increase from 774 million tonnes up to 790 million tonnes. The drought experienced in Turkey this year will adversely affect the wheat harvest. It will be seen more clearly during the season how the lack of precipitation in Brazil and the very dry and cold weath- er in the USA will affect the production. Changing climates and wheat Ayten Çandar Işık Çandaroğulları Derya Flour and Feed Industry Board Member