Agriculture in Turkey

Orange groves overlooking a valley in southeastern Turkey

What is "European Union organic" versus "traditional Anatolian organic?"
It's not actually a botanical difference, or even an ethical question of production. The distinction, an important and highly lucrative one, is purely economics.

In Turkey, approximately 36 percent of the workforce is in agriculture and the majority (57 percent) of these farmers live below the poverty line.
The European Union is Turkey's largest trading partner, the destination for 59 percent of Turkish exports. Of all organic agriculture production in Turkey, more than 85 percent is exported to the EU, bringing in about $50 million dollars each year.
So where is the money going?
The truth is, much of it is lost before it reaches Turkish farmers.

The average farm in Turkey is family-run, less than 50 acres, and uses traditional methods of agriculture...meaning that it is organic by default. Expanded trade with the EU, and the exponentially-increasing demand from European consumers for organic produce, has revealed the potential for profits. Official organic labelling has spread across rural Turkey with farmers paying a premium for the certification and inspection processes.

Their return, though, averages just slightly better than neighbors who do use pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. The high price that organic produce sells for in the market is absorbed primarily by a long supply chain far from the farmers. The oragnization New Farm writes that "The majority of the increase is in retail markups and not in the [growers' wages]; the retail markups flow almost entirely to European-based exporters and supermarket chains."

Turkey has the potential to benefit enormously from economic globalization; in the form of easier access to foreign markets and an ever-increasing consumer demand for its valued produce. The current structure, however, does not allow the benefits to flow where they are needed the most. Turkey's farmers, the agricultual base of the society, deserve better.

...