Organic farming in the EU and Turkey

Abstract

Especially after World War II, both in developed and developing countries, agriculture became highly mechanized and specialized as well as heavily dependent on agrochemicals. Such intensification of farming has produced higher yields and greater wealth but has also created some problems affecting the environment, food safety and farm-worker safety. Today, different farming systems are subject to discussion and research as an alternative to this current agriculture to create the conditions for sustainable agriculture and rural development. As one efficient way of sustainable agriculture, organic farming is a production system which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators and livestock feed additives. It was discussed that organic farming is more costly than the conventional one, mainly because of labor input is higher and yields are lower. During the 1980s, organic farming developed in most European countries, and also outside Europe, particularly in the United States. On the sale and marketing side, present market share of organic products is about 0.5% of the total market in agricultural products for the Union as a whole, although the situation varies considerably from one country to another. In Turkey, organic farming is relatively new compared to EU. However, the number of producers involved in organic production activity has been increasing rapidly since mid 1980s mainly by the relationships of some multinational companies with Turkish producers for organic products through contract farming.