ABSTRACT
Introduction: Agricultural Biodiversity in Turkey In discussions of environmental protection in general and natural resource conservation in particular, it is common to emphasize the negative impact of farmers’ agricultural practices on the environment, especially as causing resource degradation. This generalization quite often turns a blind eye to a very important contribution that small farmers, in particular, make in centers of origin and diversity: the conservation of agricultural biodiversity. Crop genetic diversity, as represented by traditional varieties of crops cultivated by farmers for generations, is crucial for long-term global food security, as it provides the raw material necessary for future crop adaptations to changing pests, pathogens, and environmental conditions. Diversity of crop genetic resources is concentrated in locations where crops were originally domesticated or evolved, and these locations are known as Vavilov Centers, after the Russian botanist who pioneered the study of crop origins (Brush, 2003).
