Organic agriculture market in Turkey: Principles and practices

Food is undoubtedly one of the most basic needs for human life and health. Food production is a comprehensive form of products in interaction with many factors such as soil, water, air, nature and all living things in nature. As a result, agricultural production gained importance and became a subject that is the focus of the whole world. After the Second World War, people experienced famine as a result of the insufficient arable land in the world despite the food needs of the increasing population, there has been a tendency to methods and techniques that increase the output and productivity in agricultural production. Due to these methods and techniques, inputs have started to contain chemical pesticides, artificial fertilizers, hormones and genetically modified organisms have begun to use in agriculture. In time, these methods and techniques which increase the amount of production and productivity found to be harmful to nature and human health and the interest in organic agriculture, which is a more sustainable and nature-friendly alternative production method, has increased. This study aims to explain the importance, principles and goals of organic agriculture to reflect its effects on nature, people and the economy, ensure that organic food production and examine the situation of the organic food market and analyze Turkey's place in the world market to reveal what needs to be done for the development of its place in this market. In this direction, literature review and case analysis methods were used in the study. The Aegean region was chosen to examine the production stages, control and certification processes of organic farming practices in Turkey, and the marketing status of the products obtained in these practices. One-to-one interviews were held with S.S. İnceğiz Tarımsal Kalkınma Kooperatifi in Denizli, Altın İncir in Aydın, Tombul Piliç in İzmir and Olive Farm in Muğla. As a result of the field research and the literature survey, organic agriculture production in Turkey is below the expected amounts seen because of the insufficient government support, farmers are not adequately informed and lack of incentives for organic farming. The reasons for the low demand for organic agriculture are that consumers are not being informed about organic agriculture, not developing market research for the domestic market and high organic food prices. Keywords: Organic Agriculture, Organic Food Production, Organic Food Market