Contracting Tobacco Growing in Turkey

Tobacco is a very important product in Turkish agriculture and economy. As a result of a change in the privatization policies, the support of the state in tobacco (production) is abrogated. With the introduction of the new law (No: 4733) the marketing system of tobacco has totally changed and has been replaced with the auction system and contract production. In this study the tobacco production in the year 2002 is scrutinized in order to evaluate the effect of the contract production system on tobacco production by means of a field research in Manisa. The auction system will be launched in 2003, that is why it is not included in this study. According to the research findings the majority of the producers are not satisfied with the contract production system as the contractions are being prepared one-sided and producers do not have the right to haggle. The problems that occured in the application of this new law are suggested to be eliminated by adapting the auction system, akin to the one in the USA, which enables producers to partake in the marketing of the product

Iranian Herbalists, But Not Cooks, Are Better at Naming Odors Than Laypeople

Odor naming is enhanced in communities where communication about odors is a central part of daily life (e.g., wine experts, flavorists, and some hunter-gatherer groups). In this study, we investigated how expert knowledge and daily experience affect the ability to name odors in a group of experts that has not previously been investigated in this context—Iranian herbalists; also called attars—as well as cooks and laypeople. We assessed naming accuracy and consistency for 16 herb and spice odors, collected judgments of odor perception, and evaluated participants' odor meta-awareness. Participants' responses were overall more consistent and accurate for more frequent and familiar odors. Moreover, attars were more accurate than both cooks and laypeople at naming odors, although cooks did not perform significantly better than laypeople. Attars' perceptual ratings of odors and their overall odor meta-awareness suggest they are also more attuned to odors than the other two groups. To conclude, Iranian attars—but not cooks—are better odor namers than laypeople. They also have greater meta-awareness and differential perceptual responses to odors. These findings further highlight the critical role that expertise and type of experience have on olfactory functions