A case of social downgrading? Hazelnut farmers and seasonal migrant workers in Turkey’s hazelnut value chain

This article investigates the position of hazelnut cultivation in Turkey within the global hazelnut value chain. Conceptually, it seeks to bring together the insights of the scholarship on global agrifood value chains and studies on seasonal migrant agricultural labor. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork that included interviews with farmers, wholesalers, and seasonal migrant farm workers in three provinces along the Black Sea coast and an analysis of secondary literature, it argues that being part of a global value chain has not brought positive social outcomes in terms of income and working conditions, and that hazelnut farming itself is maintained largely thanks to the availability of seasonal migrant farm workers. Despite international development agencies’ expectations of social upgrading – higher wages and incomes – in agrifood value chains, the case of hazelnuts in Turkey points to social downgrading for both farmers and farm laborers.