Alper AKIN, Hasan TAŞOVA

Gübretaş R&D Center, Atalar Mh. Hayat Sk. No: 30 41740 Körfez, Kocaeli

Corresponding author: (Corresponding author): A. Akın, e-mail: (e-mail): aakin@gubretas.com.tr

Author(s) e-mail (Author e-mail):  htasova@gubretas.com.tr

SELF

This research was conducted to determine plant nutrient contents in the agricultural soils of the Central Anatolia Region and to create and map current soil databases using geographical information systems. Soil samples were taken from a depth of 0-30 cm and the coordinates of the sampling points were recorded. The structure, pH, total salt, lime, organic matter, and present micro and macro elements were analyzed in 2672 soil samples taken. According to the analysis results of these samples, plant nutrients were classified and evaluated in terms of deficiency, sufficiency or excess. Then, a database of the study area was created using GIS techniques and soil fertility maps were produced. According to the results of the research, 75.9% of the soil of the Central Anatolia Region consists of clay loam and loamy soils. 89.2% of the region's soil is slightly alkaline and 99.4% is non-saline soil. In terms of organic matter content, 85.5% of the region's soils are in the low or very low class. 56.1% of the region's soil is very or very calcareous. In terms of available phosphorus content, 75.4% of the region's soils are in the medium, low and very low class. In terms of useful potassium content, 94.4% of the region's soils are in the excess class. 99.2% of the exchangeable calcium amounts and 93.4% of the exchangeable magnesium amounts of the Central Anatolia Region soils are at sufficient, excess and very excessive levels. The useful iron, zinc and manganese contents of the region's soils are 44.8%, 75.3% and 92.3%, respectively, in the low and very low class. In terms of useful copper content, 98.8% of the region's soil is sufficient.

1. Introduction

Plants need a balanced diet for healthy development and protection from diseases. In particular, one-sided use of fertilizer causes nutritional disorders in plants and also prevents the plant from uptake of other plant-friendly nutrients in the soil. Therefore, fertilization must be done in the appropriate amount, time and method. In this sense, the basic condition for increasing the income obtained from unit area is; The aim is to increase productivity by correctly applying new productivity-enhancing technologies and agricultural practices, as well as reducing energy requirements and labor force.

In parallel with the rapid population growth in our country, our need for agricultural products is also increasing. On the other hand, there is no increase in our soil and land assets, which are production environments, and the amount of existing agricultural lands is decreasing due to non-purpose uses (TUIK 2018). The rapid increase in population forces people to search for new resources, use existing resources more economically and turn to new technologies. One of the primary efforts to meet the nutritional needs of the increasing population is to obtain more and better quality products per unit area.

In terms of sustainable agricultural production, it is important to periodically determine soil properties and detect their responses to changes in soil management. Mapping the spatial distributions of various parameters affecting soil fertility within the scope of GIS reveals important information for the current and future uses of soils.

The first soil data still used today are the maps created by the (Repealed) TOPRAKSU General Directorate between 1966 and 1971, using soil surveys covering the entire country and 1/25 000 scale topographic maps. From now on, 1/100 000 scale Soil Resource Inventory Map and Report was published for each of the 67 provinces from 1/25 000 scale maps. Between 1982 and 1984, this study was revised again with the "Turkey Soil Potential Studies and Non-Agricultural Land Use Planning" project and published as "Provincial Land Asset" with a scale of 1/100 000. With the "Turkish Soil Fertility Inventory Project", which was carried out to prepare the fertility inventories of Turkey's soils, some physical and chemical properties of the country's soils, especially the upper soil layer, were determined and mapped (TOVEP 1991). After these studies, which are basic resources and used by many institutions and organizations, some studies carried out by various institutions in our country, especially in recent years, constitute an important database in terms of national soil resources.

Before making national plans, taking an inventory of the country's resources and determining the potential of the available resources and using them in accordance with these potentials are among the priority issues. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the fertility status of the Central Anatolia Region soils and to map the spatial variability of some soil fertility parameters.

Material and Method

2.1.Material

The research was carried out in large soil groups and agricultural areas in the provinces of Aksaray, Ankara, Çankırı, Eskişehir, Karaman, Kayseri, Kırıkkale, Kırşehir, Konya, Nevşehir, Niğde, Sivas and Yozgat. The surface area of the Central Anatolia Region is 151 000 km2 and it has a total agricultural area of 7 781 000 hectares. Brown soils constitute the majority of the region's soil, where annual precipitation is 300-400 mm and the average temperature for many years is 10-12 ˚C. In addition, limeless brown soils, regosol and alluvial soils are also observed (TOVEP 1983, 1984, 1985). Grain, sugar beet, potatoes, sunflower and corn are mainly cultivated in the region.

2.2. Method

 This research; It was carried out in three main stages, including field, laboratory and mapping studies. In office work and land surveys to take soil samples; 1/25 000 scale topographic and soil maps of the provinces and 1/100 000 scale TOVEP project and Land Asset maps were used. To determine soil sampling points, digital 1/25 000 scale soil maps and land use information were queried using ArcGIS software and the agricultural areas layer was obtained. Soil samples were taken from agricultural lands at 4-5 km intervals, from 2 672 different points, in accordance with general rules, according to Jackson (1958), from a depth of 0-30 cm, with a stainless steel shovel, and were stored in cloth bags for analysis. The location coordinates and altitude above sea level of the places where soil samples were taken were determined by GPS. The locations of the soil samples taken are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Locations of soil samples taken from the Central Anatolia Region.

2.2.1. Soil fertility analysis methods

Soil samples brought to the laboratory were laid on clean paper, stones and plant particles were removed, and left to dry in air. The dried soils were pounded and passed through a 2 mm plastic sieve (Kacar 2009). In the sieved soil samples; According to Richards (1954), the structure analysis was found by adding pure water to the soil until it was saturated. Soil reaction was measured in the prepared saturation sludge with a glass electrode pH meter (Richards 1954). Measured pH values were classified according to Ülgen and Yurtsever (1995). Total salt contents of the soils were determined by measuring the electrical conductivity in water-saturated soil with a conductivity device (Richards 1954), and were expressed as a percentage. CaCO3 contents of soil samples were determined by processing in a Scheibler calcimeter according to Çağlar (1949) and expressed as a percentage. Organic matter contents of soils were determined by the modified Walkley-Black method and expressed as a percentage (Jackson 1958). Available phosphorus contents of soil samples were determined by 0.5 M NaHCO3 extraction (Olsen et al. 1954). Plant-available potassium, calcium and magnesium contents of soil samples were determined by measuring them with ICP in 1 N Ammonium Acetate extraction (Richards 1954). The plant-useful microelement (Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn) contents of the research soils were determined according to Lindsay and Norvell (1978), after being extracted with DTPA + TEA, and the amounts of Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn in the resulting filters were read on the ICP. has been appointed.

2.2.2.Statistical analysis, creation of database and creation of distribution maps

In the third phase of the project; The data obtained from the soil analysis results were evaluated, analyzed, database created and mapped within the scope of Geographic Information Systems. Macro element soil analysis results in soil samples were classified according to the Soil Fertilizer and Water Resources Research Institute data criteria, and micro element soil analysis results were classified according to Lindsay and Norvell (1978), and the deficiency, sufficiency or excess levels of nutrients were determined and distribution according to limit values. The ratios were calculated and interpreted. In determining the distribution states of soil properties, the root mean square error (RMSE) method was used to compare IDW and Kriging interpolation methods, to question the relationship between measured values and predicted values, and to choose the most appropriate method. Since the lowest RMSE value was obtained with the IDW technique, the distributions were determined with this technique. In this context, analysis results of different soil properties were evaluated and mapped (Yomralıoğlu 2000).

3. Results

Descriptive statistics of the analysis results of soil samples taken from agricultural areas of the Central Anatolia Region are given in Table 1. When the skewness coefficients given in Table 1 were examined, it was determined that chemical properties except Ca showed positive distributions far from normal distribution, while body, lime, organic matter, K2O and Mg showed acceptable (±2) skewness coefficients. Positive skewness coefficients explain that the chemical soil properties examined have extreme values above the average (Özyazıcı et al. 2015). The existence of these extreme values in many soil properties is also supported by the high coefficients of variation. Coefficient of variation, which is considered an important indicator in explaining changes in soil properties, is classified as <15% low, 15-35% medium and >35 high (Mulla and Mc Bratney 2000). In terms of variability, it was determined that pH was low, body and calcium were medium, and all other soil properties were highly variable. Distribution maps of the Central Anatolia Region soils according to their structure, pH, organic matter, salt and lime contents are given in Figure 2. In terms of structure, clay loam soils cover the largest area proportionally (52.8%). This is followed by loamy soils (23.1%), clay soils (22.1%), heavy clay soils (1.6%) and sandy soils (0.4%). In terms of soil pH, the largest area is covered by slightly alkaline soils (89.2%). This is followed by neutral soils (8%), slightly acid soils (1.4%), strongly alkaline soils (1.1%) and moderately acid soils (0.3%). In terms of organic matter content, 21.3% of the region's soils have very low organic matter, 64.2% have low organic matter, 11.5% are medium, 2.3% are good and 0.7% are very good. 99.36% of the region's soil is unsalted, 0.52% is slightly saline, 0.04% is medium saline and 0.07% is very saline. In terms of lime content, 25.4% of the region's soils are very high, 30.7% are high, 28.2% are medium, 15.1% are low and 0.6% are very little.

Distribution maps of the Central Anatolia Region soils according to their useful macro elements content are given in Figure 3. 21.5% of the region's soil contains very little, 35.7% low, 18.2% medium, 8.9% high and 15.7% very high levels of usable phosphorus. In terms of useful potassium, 0.5% of the Central Anatolia Region's soil is low, 1.6% is medium, 3.5% is sufficient and 94.4% is high. The soil of the Central Anatolia Region contains 0.8% insufficient, 4.4% in sufficient, 92.5% in excess and 2.3% in excess. In terms of useful magnesium, 0.2% of the region's soil is too low, 6.4% is too little or too little, 45.6% is sufficient, 45.9% is too much and 1.9% is too much.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the analysis results of soil samples taken from agricultural areas of the Central Anatolia Region.

The distribution map of the Central Anatolia Region soils according to their useful microelement content is given in Figure 4. 44.8% of the region's soil contains low, 32.2% moderate and 23% good iron content. In terms of useful zinc content, 21.1% of the region's soil is too little, 54.2% is too little, 21.9% is sufficient, 2.1% is too much and 0.7% is too much. 29.4% of the region's soil contains very little manganese, 62.9% contains low manganese, 7.3% contains sufficient manganese and 0.4% contains excess manganese. 1.2% of the region's soil contains insufficient copper, while 98.8% contains sufficient copper.

4. Discussion and Conclusion

In terms of structure, the majority of the soil of the Central Anatolia Region (75.9%) consists of loamy and clay loam soils, which are considered ideal for agriculture and suitable for potential productivity. In the 23.7% clayey and heavy clay soils in the region, capturing and therefore processing the tempera poses a problem. The best method to solve this problem is to increase the amount of organic matter in the soil and break the plow base with deep plowing tools. It will be useful to take into account the structure of the soil in irrigation projects, tool and equipment applications and purchases (Eyüpoğlu 1999).

In terms of soil reaction, the largest part of the Central Anatolia Region's soils (89.2%) consists of slightly alkaline soils. The first technical measure to be taken to increase the productivity of alkaline soils is to reduce the high soil pH, which greatly reduces the productivity, by applying micronized powder sulfur and well-qualified barnyard manures together, and to bring the soil pH to the optimum pH range where plant nutrients can be absorbed.

The majority of the soil of the Central Anatolia Region (85.5%) consists of soils with low or very low organic matter content. The total rate of good and high organic matter soils, which are considered ideal for agriculture, is only 3% in the region. As can be understood from these data, the organic matter content of the vast majority of the Central Anatolia Region's soil is at a level that prevents the highest efficiency from agricultural production. For this reason, the organic matter level of the region's soils needs to be increased. In order to improve the soil organic matter level, special attention should be paid to the widespread use of organic fertilizers and green manuring, as well as paying attention to the plant types, plowing techniques and planting techniques to be used in crop rotations.

A large part of the Central Anatolia Region's soil (99.36%) is salt-free, and this is a desirable situation in agricultural soils. Salinity is an important factor that hinders crop production, and preventing salinity is a more economical method than reclamation. For this purpose, irrigation projects should be implemented together with drainage projects.

In terms of lime content, most of the soils of the Central Anatolia Region (56.1%) contain excess or very high levels of lime. High lime is also an important factor limiting agricultural production. Many researchers have stated that high lime content of soils makes it difficult to absorb microelements, especially phosphorus and zinc (Udo et al. 1970; Mengel and Kirkby 1982; Kacar et al. 1998). It is important to choose appropriate rootstocks and plant varieties to be grown in areas containing a lot of lime in the region.

Figure 2. Structure, pH, organic matter, salt and lime distribution maps of the Central Anatolia Region soils.

The available phosphorus content of most of the Central Anatolia Region's soil (75.4%) is medium, low and very low. Phosphorus fertilization is needed in these areas. In addition, in calcareous and high pH region soils, phosphorus fixation must be taken into consideration and care must be taken to apply phosphorus fertilizers on time and to the band. Soil analyzes are of great importance in order to fully and properly apply phosphorus, one of the absolutely necessary plant nutrients.

A large part of the soil of the Central Anatolia Region (94.4%) is high in terms of useful potassium content, and is at sufficient, excess and very high levels in terms of useful calcium (99.2%) and useful magnesium (93.4%). The reason for this is the lack of washing due to the low rainfall in the region, as well as the hot and dry climate conditions in the region. Additionally, in terms of the balance of plant nutrients, an ideal agricultural soil is expected to have Ca/Mg= 6, Ca/K= 12, Mg/K= 2 (Jokinen 1981). 11.6% of the Ca/Mg ratios, 14.3% of the Ca/K ratios and 37% of the Mg/K ratios of the region's soils comply with these ratios. The reason for the disruption of the balance between nutrients here is one-sided and unbalanced fertilization that is not based on soil analysis.

Approximately half of the soil of the Central Anatolia Region (44.8%) contains deficient levels of useful iron. In addition to the application of iron-containing fertilizers in areas where iron deficiency is observed, foliar application of iron-containing fertilizers is also important in areas where chlorosis is observed, as plants cannot benefit from iron due to excess calcium and inadequate aeration of soil conditions.

In terms of useful zinc content, most of the region's soils (75.3%) are deficient. For this reason, importance should be given to zinc and zinc-added fertilization in areas where deficiency is observed.

Deficiency in useful manganese content is observed in most of the Central Anatolia Region's soil (92.3%). In regions with low or very low manganese levels in soil analysis reports, manganese-containing fertilizers should be applied.

In terms of useful copper content, the region's soils are at a sufficient level (98.8%). The available copper content of the Central Anatolia Region soils is above 0.2 mg kg–1 (Follett 1969), which is considered the critical value, and there is no copper deficiency.

Determining the examined soil properties and nutrient element statuses constitutes an important resource in determining fertilizer production plans and fertilizer consumption policies. Determining the levels of excess, sufficiency and deficiency in terms of plant nutrients is also of great importance in terms of sustainable agricultural policies. Geographic information systems techniques used enable the results obtained to be collected regularly and systematically in a database, to be reinterpreted with new data to be added, and to convert point data into areal data with thematic maps created.

Figure 3. Distribution maps of useful macro elements in the soils of the Central Anatolia Region.

Figure 4. Useful microelements distribution maps of Central Anatolia Region soils.

References

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Araştırma Makalesi/Research Article

MEDITERRANEAN AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

(2019) 32(Özel Sayı): 1-6

DOI: www.dergipark.gov.tr/mediterranean

Prof. Dr. İlhan Karaçal

The environmentalist winds that have been blowing all over the world in recent years have increased sensitivity on chemical fertilizers. The fact that those who put forward ideas on this issue are from outside agriculture, and the public opinion is formed by those who have no idea about the characteristics of agriculture, agricultural production inputs and characteristics, is reaching a level that threatens the future of plant and animal production. Misconceptions and conceptual confusion about chemical fertilizers continue. We think that society needs to be enlightened about plant nutrition in the light of scientific facts. Concepts such as ecological agriculture and organic agriculture lead some people to believe that the world can be fed with the products obtained through these methods. However, in order to feed the world population, which will reach 8 billion in 2030, current food production must be increased by 60 percent. Especially the fact that 2/3 of this population will live in cities, that is, they are pure consumers, and the countries that have the chance to increase production are developing countries such as Turkey, brings the issue to a much more important dimension for us. For this reason, it would be useful to evaluate the issue with a realistic approach and interpretation for the future of Turkish agriculture.

EFFECT OF FERTILIZERS ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Chemical fertilizers are compounds that contain nutrients necessary for plants. While these can be obtained naturally, they are also produced by chemical means. The purpose of fertilization is to return plant nutrients to the soil, which are removed by various means every year from the soil, which is a stopping place and a source of nutrients for plants. Thus, the necessary conditions for adequate plant development and high-yield and quality products are provided in the soil by fertilization. It is known that as a result of the effect of fertilization on the conditions necessary for plant development, quality elements such as vitamins, protein, amino acids and mineral substances, which reveal the nutritional value defined as product quality or biological value, are positively affected.

The negative effects of fertilization on the environment are listed as follows.

1. With the increase in the use of nitrogen fertilizers, leaching from the soil also increases and as a result, the nitrate concentration in water increases.
2. Increase in phosphate content in stagnant and streams, especially as phosphorus fertilizers mix with water as a result of the transportation of surface soil.
3. As a result of excessive use of fertilizer, some substances accumulate in plants and adverse effects occur on those who eat them.
4. The greenhouse effect occurs when gases such as nitrogen oxides and ammonia are added to the atmosphere as a result of gasification by applying nitrogenous fertilizers to the soil.

Despite these negative effects of fertilizers, the increase in their use creates a dilemma for people. While half a century ago, 17 million tons of fertilizer were used in the world, today this amount has increased 8 times. Fertilizer use in Europe, which was 45 kg/ha in the 1950s, has reached 250 kg/ha today. In parallel with this, for example, in France, wheat yield, which was 1.8 tons/ha in the same period, exceeded 7 tons/ha. FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) reports the annual share of fertilization in global crop production as 43 percent and suggests that this share may increase to 84 percent due to the impoverishment that will occur in soil resources. On the other hand, although organic agriculture, which uses natural resources instead of artificial fertilizers, is suggested as an alternative production method, there are no organic resources in the world that can meet today's production potential. In fact, since plant production is necessary for organic inputs, insufficient plant production will also lead to a decrease in organic resources.

So what is the solution? Despite the necessity of using chemical fertilizers to produce crops at a level that will adequately feed humanity, is there a way to eliminate the pressure and negative impact of applied fertilizers on the environment? Studies on this subject show that increasing the efficiency of fertilizer use may be the solution that will save the future.

 FERTILIZER USE EFFECTIVENESS

The effects of fertilizers applied to the soil are determined by many conditions. The utilization rate of fertilizer resulting from soil, manure, plants, climate and agricultural techniques can only reach 50-60 percent even under the most favorable conditions. In other words, nearly half of the applied fertilizers are either retained in the soil or washed into water or gasified and added to the atmosphere. If plants can increase their utilization of fertilizer, the amount of fertilizer that remains in the soil and can cause negative effects on the environment can be saved. In other words, if almost all of the nutrients in the given fertilizer can be absorbed by the plant, losses from the fertilizer can be reduced. This will naturally result in less fertilizer use. Studies and practices to increase the effectiveness of fertilizers can be grouped under the following headings:

A – BIOTECHNOLOGY

Studies in this field have particularly focused on two aspects. These are breeding studies aimed at developing microorganisms capable of biological nitrogen fixation, as in the roots of legume plants, and increasing the nutrient absorption rates of plant roots. Studies conducted in this field show that increasing biological nitrogen fixation alone is not a way to solve the problem, but a certain amount of reduction can be achieved, especially in the use of nitrogenous fertilizers. A little more time is needed to work on increasing the exploitative power through plant breeding in in vitro cultures.

B – HUMIN SUBSTANCES

Products that occur naturally in the soil and occur when soil organic matter changes as a result of reactions called "Humification" or "Huminization" are generally called Humin substances. The positive effects of these substances on soils are listed as follows.

1. Creating organic structure with plant nutrients,
2. Increases plant nutrient uptake, especially phosphorus, nitrogen and sulfur,
3. Increasing soil microbiological activity,
4. Increases the solubility of minerals and releases plant nutrients,
5. Improves soil structure,
6. Storage effect by binding nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and zinc,
7. By improving soil water retention capacity, it enables plants to benefit from available water in the most efficient way,
8. Humic acid is a cell stimulant and facilitates the cell's uptake of plant nutrients. In this way, the nutrient uptake of the roots can be increased by up to 30 percent.
9. Removing toxins from the soil,
10. Reduces the need for nitrogen fertilizer with a nitrogen content of up to 5 percent

Humin substances' ability to break down nitrogenous and phosphorus fertilizers, thus increasing the rate at which plants can benefit from them, is a feature that should be emphasized in terms of our subject. However, it should be taken into consideration that this feature also increases losses from fertilizer under leaching conditions.

C – MAKING FERTILIZERS ACTIVE SLOWLY

Applying slowly soluble fertilizers is seen as the most promising way as a method that will increase the effectiveness of fertilizers, thus minimizing losses and reducing the negative effects that may arise on the environment. Two methods are used to make fertilizers slow-acting;

1. Coating or treating fertilizers with a substance that will delay dissolution,
2. Fertilizers are produced in the form of very large granules (super granules) the size of hazelnuts or walnuts and applied to the soil.

Developing methods to slow down the decomposition of fertilizers has not only reduced the pressure caused by fertilizers on the environment, but also paved the way for reducing large economic losses. Another economic benefit of this method is that the fertilizers are divided and the additional fertilization costs made at various periods of the plant's development period are saved.

Covering fertilizers or treating them with certain chemicals and applying them to the soil has drawbacks from an environmental point of view. This is a concern that the coating material and additional chemicals will accumulate in the soil and take environmental pollution to another level. There is indeed a risk of foreign substances such as plastic coating material or wax accumulating in the soil. The same applies to chemicals that suppress soil microorganisms. In addition to the risk of their contamination to both plants and water, it is also necessary to consider the risk of soil microbiological properties changing or disappearing altogether. The last thing to mention here is that converting fertilizers into slow-acting ones has a cost and, accordingly, these products are more expensive.

D – FERTIGATION

Fertigation, which means applying chemical fertilizers to the soil by adding them to irrigation water, is an important method in increasing the efficiency of fertilizer use. Turkey's disadvantage in terms of fertigation, where great progress has been made in parallel with the developments in irrigation equipment in recent years, is the limited practice of irrigated agriculture. As irrigable areas expand, it is necessary to focus on research on this subject and, accordingly, fertigation practices, especially in the GAP region. In terms of the environment, another advantage of fertigation, which results in less but effective use of fertilizers, thus reducing the risk of pollution, is reducing the cost of fertilizer and fertilization and preventing economic losses.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to avoid misunderstandings about fertilizers and fertilization, experts on the subject should consider it their duty to enlighten everyone. Today, campaigns carried out by environmental organizations, most of which are not based on scientific data, have tended to portray fertilizers as the biggest environmental pollutants. The environment is of course important, it must be consciously protected for the future of humanity. It is a fact that excessive and incorrect use of fertilizer causes negativities in soil, plants, water and air. Conscious use of fertilizers should be encouraged and ensured, without ignoring the fact that every external intervention in nature will have side effects. It should not be forgotten that; The way to increase the oxygen in the air we breathe is through more plant production and more green production. This positive contribution of fertilizers to the environment through product increase in plant production should never be ignored.

Organic agriculture, which is implemented by eliminating artificial agricultural inputs, can never be an alternative to intensive agriculture. For the future of humanity, we must increase productivity in agriculture in order to prevent future generations from facing hunger. This task falls especially to countries with high productivity potential, such as Türkiye. In this context, we know that we need to use more fertilizer. However, provided that it is used efficiently and effectively.

NOTE: The original of this article was written by Prof. Dr. This is the paper presented by İlhan Karaçal at the 3rd National Fertilizer Congress of Turkey held in Tokat in 2004. With the permission of Mr. Karaçal, we are publishing some sections in shortened form.

Doç. Dr. Burhan KARA

Suleyman Demirel University

Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Field Crops-Isparta

Due to fossil fuels, industry, transportation, land use change, solid waste management, faulty agricultural practices, decrease in pasture and forest areas, other greenhouse gases (methane-CH4, nitrogen oxide-N2O and flora carbons-CFC5, etc.) increases the surface temperatures, and this increase in temperatures is called global warming (Öztürk, 2002; Türkeş, 2003).

Since the second half of the 20th century, it has been shown in scientific circles that the world's climate has been changing gradually, that this change has increased the average temperature on land and sea surfaces, that the average rainfall has decreased in some regions, while it has increased in others, that glaciers are melting and sea level is rising (IPCC, 2007). Due to global warming, meteorological data in some parts of the world have begun to differ from their averages over many years, and the change continues. This difference; In general, the number of hot days will increase, the number of cold days will decrease, heavy rains and storms will be more frequent in many parts of the world due to increasing humidity, long and hot summers will bring severe droughts, winter months will be warmer, snowfall will decrease, It is predicted that desertification and climate-related disasters will become stronger and more frequent (IPCC, 2001).

According to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007), the average surface temperature increased by 0.74 °C in the period 1906-2005. In the period 1901-2005, significant increases in precipitation were determined in the eastern regions of America, the north of Europe, and the north and inner parts of Asia, while significant decreases were determined in the Mediterranean basin, central and southern Africa, and some parts of southern Asia. In the last fifty years, widespread changes have been experienced in extreme temperatures, and an increase in the frequency of heavy precipitation events has been detected, consistent with the increase and warming observed in atmospheric water vapor (Demir et al., 2008).

According to the results of various mathematical climate models, it shows that the changes that have begun in the climate will continue in the future. Industrialization, increasing use of fossil fuels, decrease in pasture and forest areas, opening of agricultural areas for development, etc. It is inevitable that climate changes will occur if activities that trigger global warming and increase the release of CO2 and various harmful gases continue. According to the 2001 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it was stated that temperatures will increase between 1.4 and 5.8 0C in the next hundred years as a result of greenhouse gases (CO, CH, CFCs, N and O) released into the atmosphere. According to the scenarios put forward in the same report, it has been reported that there will be an average increase of 1 0C to 3.5 0C in global temperature by 2100.

Due to its different topographic structure, Turkey is among the countries that will be most affected by climate change due to global warming (Öztürk, 2002). In our country, Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, a large part of Southeastern Anatolia, and the inner parts of the Mediterranean and Aegean regions are semi-arid regions in terms of the amount of annual precipitation they receive. It is estimated that snowfall will decrease as the average temperature increases in the Central Anatolia and Eastern Anatolia regions, and a greater water shortage will occur in these regions. As a result of the decrease in snowfall, even if spring precipitation falls at the average level for many years, the water content of the soil will not reach a sufficient level and the plants will suffer from drought stress. It is predicted that Central Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia will become more arid and desertified in the future as a result of the water problem and the increase in the amount of salt in the soil (Türkeş, 1998; Öztürk, 2002).

Agricultural production largely depends on natural ecological conditions; Every year, it is frequently negatively affected by one or more of the environmental factors such as drought, heavy rains, hail, frost, barrenness, salinity, pests, diseases and fire. The changing climate structure and disruption of natural balance due to global warming further increase the severity of these risks. Especially drought; It is the most dangerous and biggest disaster of agricultural production (Öztürk, 2002). When usable agricultural areas in the world are classified according to the stress factors affecting them, drought has the largest share with 26% (Kalefetoğlu and Ekmekçi, 2005). In our country, the amount of water used per capita is 575 m3.

Compared to the world average, our country is among the countries with limited water resources, contrary to popular belief (Türkeş, 1999). Due to the different geographical conditions of our country, climate change will cause drought, decreased productivity in plants, early awakening, shortening of vegetation period, change in planting time, change in vegetation, chances of winter planting of summer plants and the risks they carry, decrease in water resources, short-term heavy rains, decrease in snowfall. It is predicted by many researchers that risks such as danger of frost, increased water demand of plants, floods, salinity, barrenness, erosion, evaporation, decrease in the amount of usable water in the soil and in the storage of water resources will significantly reduce agricultural production, although their effects vary by region (Türkeş, 1998). ; Türkeş, 1999; Öztürk, 2002; Kara et al., 2014). In the warm winter seasons, almonds, apricots, plums, cherries, etc. Due to the possibility of early flowering in some plants, such as, this will cause these plants to be damaged by the last frosts in some years. In addition, plants that need vernalization for a long time and require lower temperatures may not be able to meet this need. Seed and fruit set of these plants will be negatively affected. Therefore, a decrease in efficiency and a decrease in quality may occur.

In parallel with the rapidly increasing world population, the need for food is also increasing rapidly. Meeting the food needs of global warming and the resulting drought will be the biggest problem of the new century. In addition, the rapid decrease in arable agricultural areas will further increase agricultural production and therefore the demand for food. The United Nations has reported that the world population will reach 11.3 billion in 2050 and the amount of available food must increase by 70 percent to feed the growing population (DaMatta et al., 2009; UN 2009). Similarly, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI) report, much more food resources will be needed to feed the rapidly growing world population than today. According to the reports of the World Food Organization, it has been reported that today more than 1 billion of the world's population is on the hunger line and this figure is increasing. A study has also revealed that world agricultural production may decrease by 1.5% every year for various reasons until 2030 (FAO, 2003; Munir et al., 2010). Accordingly, there are difficulties in obtaining food and food prices are rising rapidly.

According to World Bank data, world nominal food price index; While it was approximately 100 on average between 1990-2005, it reached approximately 150 between 2006-2010. According to 2011 data, the world food price index exceeded 200 (Erbaş and Arslan, 2012; FAO 2011). In order to meet the decreasing productivity and increasing food needs due to global warming, the consumption of synthetic foods, excessively fertilized and pesticide-treated, low-quality products stored in adverse conditions and even expired will increase, especially by people with low income levels. Likewise, difficulties will be encountered in the supply of animal feed as well as in the supply of plant foods. Therefore, there will be difficulties in obtaining animal foods and this will lead to food safety, nutrition and health problems.

Grains (wheat, paddy, corn), edible legumes and oil crops, etc., which are the basic food nutrients of developing countries that have suffered the most from drought and frost damage due to global warming. All plants grown depending on natural rainfall such as will be negatively affected, and productivity and quality will decrease significantly. Wheat, which is the main food ingredient in our country, is grown 75% depending on natural rainfall (without irrigation). Similarly, the cultivation of edible legumes (chickpeas, lentils) and oil crops such as sunflower and safflower largely depends on natural rainfall. The average annual production of wheat, which meets more than 50% of the daily calorie needs in our country, varies between 19.0 and 22.0 million tons, depending on the years. During a partial drought between 2006 and 2008, production dropped to 17.7 million tons. Even this small decrease has led to hesitations among the public in terms of food needs. In addition, the decrease in agricultural areas by opening up lands for development that are at least as dangerous as global warming (according to TUIK data, the wheat cultivation area, which varied between 9.2 and 9.6 million hectares between 1970 and 2005, started to decrease after 2005 and decreased to 7.77 million hectares in 2013) in the future. It will create problems in meeting food needs. As green plants performing photosynthesis will decrease, the carbon dioxide rate will increase. In addition, the new residential areas opened on agricultural areas provide shelter, nutrition, heating, transportation, road construction, etc., which are necessary for life. It causes the lower layer of the atmosphere to warm up due to emissions of coal and petroleum products due to activities such as. For this reason, especially in large residential areas where living activities take place, snowfall is less during the winter months and precipitation generally falls in the form of rain. The falling snow melts early.

In Turkey, an average of 225 kg of wheat is consumed per person per year (Süzer, 2013). The population of Türkiye was counted as 75 627 384 in 2012. 17.01 million tons of wheat are needed every year (75 627 384 x 225 kg/year = 17.01 million tons/year). In our country, 20 kg of seeds per decare are sown on a wheat cultivation area of approximately 8 million ha every year (8 million ha x 20 kg/da = 1.6 million tons/year). 1.6 million tons of seeds are required. It is reported that losses during harvest, threshing, storage and transportation are 3% each year (Süzer, 2013). This means 0.6 million tons of wheat loss every year. As a result, every year, 17.01 million tons of consumption + 1.6 million tons of seed + 0.6 million tons of harvest, threshing losses = 19.21 million tons of wheat are needed. In our country, 22.05 million tons of wheat were produced in 2013, breaking a record in the country's history. However, it is highly likely that wheat production will decrease due to drought and decrease in planting areas. Considering the rapidly increasing population rate as well as the millions of tourists coming to our country every year, it is thought that there will be difficulties in meeting the wheat need in the future.

In conclusion; Global warming has begun to pose a threat to living life, especially drought. Various mathematical climate models show that the changes in climate will continue into the future. Although this has many negative effects, the most important result will be the decrease in plant and animal foods and difficulties in supplying healthy food. In particular, the decrease in fresh water resources will cause a significant decrease in productivity and quality in agricultural production. Increasing world population and decreasing agricultural areas, resulting in a decrease in agricultural production and failure to meet food needs, lead to food and water wars, large waves of migration and the concern that a humanitarian disaster will occur in the future.

Precautions that can be taken against global warming and food needs

1- Considering the fact that agricultural areas are decreasing and water resources are increasingly depleted, food supply will be one of the most important problems in the future. The only way to do this is to increase unit area efficiency. For this purpose, in addition to quality seeds, it is necessary to prevent waste in cultural practices such as irrigation, fertilization, spraying and tillage, to benefit from agricultural technologies and to use arable lands efficiently.

2- As mentioned above, efforts to prevent the reduction of agricultural lands, which are at least as dangerous as global warming in terms of food supply in the future, and especially to prevent their opening to development, and to control this situation by law, should be started urgently. According to TÜİK data, while the total arable area in Turkey was 27-28 million hectares in the 2000s, it decreased to 24.1 million hectares in 2013.

3- Harmful gas emissions should be reduced by producing alternative energy sources, reducing fossil fuels that trigger global warming, protecting forests and pastures, and increasing controls in industrial areas.

4- Nature and natural resources should be used economically.

5- Humanity should think not only about itself, but also about others and the future. The biggest cause of global warming (90%) is humans.

6- The idea that the world is not an inheritance from our ancestors, but the trust of the next generation (Anonymous) should be adopted and every individual should do his part.

7- Water is life. Water should be used economically at every stage of life. Especially in agricultural irrigation, wild irrigation should be abandoned and drip irrigation and other economical irrigation methods and methods should be used. Wastewater should be purified and used in areas other than nutrition and agriculture (industry, car wash, etc.).

References

DaMatta, F.M, Grandis, A, Arenque, B.C. Buckeridge, M.S., 2009. Impacts of climate changes on crop physiology and food quality. Food Res. International, 43:1814-1823.

Demir, İ., Kılıç, G., Coşkun, M., 2008. Bölgesel iklim modeli ile Türkiye için iklim öngörüleri. HadAMP3 SRES A2 Senaryosu, IV. Atmosfer Bilimleri Sempozyumu, Bildiriler Kitabı, 365-373.

Erbaş, M., Arslan, S., 2012. Açlığın önlenmesi ve gıda güvencesinin sağlanması. Gıda Mühendisliği Dergisi, Sayı: 36, s:50-59.

FAO, 2003. World Agriculture: An food and agricultural organization perspective. Available: http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y4252E/y4252e00.htm.

FAO, 2011. World Food Situation: FAO Food Price Index. Available: http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/wfs-home/foodpricesindex/en/.

IPCC, 2001. Birleşmiş Milletler Hükûmetler Arası İklim Değişikliği Paneli İklim Değişikliği Özel İhtisas Komisyonu Raporu. 

IPCC, 2007. Climate Change. The Physical Science Basis Summary for Policymakers Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate,Paris,France.

Kalefetoğlu, T., Ekmekçi, Y., 2005. The effect of drought on plants and tolerance mechanisms. G. U. J. of Sci., 18(4): 723-740.

Kara, B., Karadoğan, T., Kara, N., 2014. İklim değişikliği ve tarımda iklimsel riskler. Harman Time Dergisi,  Nisan 2014, Yıl: 2, Sayı: 14, S: 80-90.

Munir, A., Hanjra, M.A., Qureshi, M.E., 2010. Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change. Food Policy, 35: 365-377.

Öztürk, K., 2002. Küresel iklim değişikliği ve Türkiye’ye olası etkileri. G.Ü. Gazi Eğitim Fak. Der., 22(1): 47-65.

Süzer, S. 2013. Buğday Tarımı Erişim: 23.12.2013.

Türkeş, M., 1998. İklimsel değişebilirlik açısından Türkiye’de çölleşmeye eğilimli alanlar. DMİ/İTÜ II. Hidrometeoroloji Sempozyumu Bildiri Kitabı, 45-57, Devlet Meteoroloji İşleri Genel Müdürlüğü, Ankara.

Türkeş, M., 1999. Vulnerability ofTurkeyto desertification with respect to precipitation and aridity conditions. Turk. J. of Eng. and Environ. Sci., 23:363-380.

Türkeş, M., 2003. Sera gazı salınımlarının azaltılması için sürdürülebilir teknolojik ve davranışsal seçenekler. V. Ulusal Çevre Mühendisliği Kongresi, Çevre Mühendisleri Odası, Ankara.

UN, 2009. World population prospects: The 2008 revision. Available:

Prof. Dr. Fikret AKINERDEM

Selçuk University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Field Crops, KONYA

Fats, which are essential nutrients, are among the main nutrients that must be included in the food chain. Since they are located in the structures of cells, tissues and organs in the human body, they are substances that must be taken in order to sustain life and to perform various functions of the body in a healthy way.

While the main plants that source vegetable oils in the world are soybean, palm, olive, corn, cottonseed, rapeseed, sunflower and safflower, it can be said that in our country there are sunflower, olive, cottonseed, poppy and the recently developed rapeseed and safflower plants.

While per capita consumption of vegetable oil is 15 kg in the world, it is 20 kg in our country. Our vegetable oil industry sector has a production capacity of 5 million tons of oilseed processing, 1.5 million tons of refining, and 1 million tons of margarine, and has a share of 6% in the food industry with a monetary volume of 4 billion dollars.

In our country, there is a total consumption of 1.7 million tons of vegetable oil, including approximately 950 thousand tons of liquid, 550 thousand tons of margarine, and around 200 thousand tons of feed, dye and soap industry needs. The 1.1 million tons of the country's needs, other than domestic production, are met by oilseed or crude oil imports.

In recent years, oilseeds have been produced on an area of 1 million hectares in Turkey and around 2 million tons of oilseeds are produced annually. In 2008, 900 thousand tons of sunflower seeds, 35 thousand tons of soybeans, 1.2 million tons of cottonseed and 80 thousand tons of rapeseed (canola) were produced. When the cultivation areas are examined, it is seen that the cultivation areas of cotton are 400 thousand hectares and sunflower is 500 thousand hectares. Soybean cultivation areas are well below these figures. Rapeseed production has also become widespread in recent years, especially in the Thrace region, and the cultivation areas have reached up to 25 thousand hectares.

The production of oilseed plants in the world has doubled in the last 10 years. Unfortunately, the change and transformation that agriculture has undergone in the world has not been fully realized, while oilseed production in our country was 1,950,000 tons in 1997, it was 2 million tons in 2007. The rate of increase in 20 years has been only 3%. Türkiye is a net importer country in the vegetable oil industry. 70% of the country's needs are imported as oilseeds or crude oil. Oilseed production decreased from 2.5 million tons to 1.8 million tons. 73% of domestic consumption is met by sunflower, 11% by rapeseed, 3.3% by cotton, 9.6% by corn and 2.4% by soybean.

The ever-increasing imports of oil, oilseeds and pulp between 1997 and 2007 clearly demonstrate this. While our country's annual import of oilseeds and their derivatives was 681 million dollars in 1997, the foreign exchange we paid for imports in 2009 increased by 400 percent and reached 2.8 billion dollars. If we do not take precautions and increase oilseed production, it is estimated that imports will exceed 5 billion dollars in 10 years.

Another danger is that since the high-capacity crushing facilities established in the oilseed producing countries right next to us will destroy our country's oilseed imports, our established facilities may become idle. If we do not increase our oilseed production, it will be inevitable for us to become an importer of refinery oil in the near future.

On the other hand, new meanings are given to agriculture and the agricultural sector is reinterpreted as a serious source of power. Countries that see this fact are trying to use their agricultural potential to the maximum extent, turning to domestic resources, especially renewable (bio-fuel) energy. In this direction, basic products have come into the field of interest of the industry and therefore the energy sector with the discovery of their properties not only as foodstuffs but also as fuel. The groups that come to the fore most for this are oil and starch-sugar plants.

Our country, which has a large amount of oil crop production potential, cannot use it and forces a "strategic" and "high economic value" sector, which forms the basis of human nutrition, to be externally dependent. For this reason, Turkey has to transform its ecological advantage into economic interests by catching the developments and changes in agriculture. For this reason, there is work to be done to increase the production of oilseed plants.

All agricultural products should be gathered under the roof of a single ministry, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs should cease to be the ministry of grain. Agriculture in Turkey should not be indexed to sales cooperative unions. In fact, the issue of agricultural organization and structuring is among the most controversial issues in our country. Until now, we have always organized producers or industrialists, and political powers have used or tried to use these organizations as their own backyard. Essentially, what needs to be done is to organize production for the overall benefit of our country, industrialists and farmers, rather than the producer. As in the developed countries of the world, the solution to the issue is to bring together the network of raw material producers-operators-marketers, which are the main elements of the sector, towards a common goal in a free competition environment.

In order to increase production, support for oilseeds should be increased and continued. Oilseeds should be put into production in the harvested hazelnut areas and beet planting areas; In addition to sunflower, the production of new plants such as rapeseed (canola) and safflower should be encouraged with high support premiums in regions and basins suitable for production (by reconsidering agricultural basins). What is meant by high subsidies is that domestic production is cheaper than imported production, regardless of its cost.

Planting of oilseed plants, which contribute twice as much to the national economy as wheat in irrigated areas, should be encouraged, thus increasing the multiplier effect of agriculture in the economy with its feed and other contributions. The main thing here is to provide a purchase guarantee for the goods produced by farmers who are satisfied with the supports, through a contract model. In this way, both the producer's goods and the industrialist's raw materials will be guaranteed.

Instead of being an organization that only engages in lobbying activities, the Oil Manufacturers Association should play an active role in domestic production through legal regulations by entering into organic cooperation with feed and other oil-based sectors. Every oil industrialist should contact the producers in his region and conduct training activities and demonstrations regarding the production techniques of these plants.

Efficient and high-quality seeds should be provided to producers. Crushing and storage facilities should be expanded to appropriate regions. Producers should be taught the production techniques of new promising plants such as safflower and rapeseed. For this, oil and feed industrialists, the Ministry of Agriculture and universities should cooperate.

On a plant basis;

Safflower is an important plant that originates from Anatolia and is especially promising for dry areas. In order for this plant to develop, new varieties that are productive and have high oil content and oil quality must be bred. Thus, the oil industrialist will have the right to choose safflower plant and its oil.

Rapeseed (canola) is a plant that can be produced mostly in irrigated areas. For this reason, particular emphasis should be placed on obtaining local varieties with high adaptability. The only disadvantage of this plant is the lack of technical production knowledge.

As a result, sunflower, rapeseed and safflower are the oil crops that will be of primary importance in filling the oil deficit in our country; In the second degree, it may be cottonseed, poppy, corn, hazelnut and soy. All production policies and oil industry approaches should be based on providing technical and financial support for the production of these plants.

Prof. Dr. Bayram SADE

Our country has demonstrated a significant will to join the European Union and has proven its sincerity in this claim, especially in recent years, with intensive legal regulations and legislative studies. In this context, it is accepted by all relevant parties that the most intense discussions in the negotiations with the European Union will be about agriculture. However, various people, institutions and groups, whether related or unrelated to agriculture, knowledgeable or uninformed, comment on these issues. As a scientist, I wanted to discuss our agricultural structure, village life and social situation from this aspect.

While in the European Union, agriculture is dominated by a structure dominated by unions, cooperatives or organizations and the private sector, in our country, a public-dominated structure is dominant in agricultural services, organizations and even production. Although there have been recent efforts to increase the efficiency of non-public sectors in agriculture, it is clear that there is a long way to go in this regard. To give a few examples, producer training and agricultural extension services are mostly provided by the public. The public, through TMO, is still an important buyer and market determinant for many products. TİGEM still controls 90% of seed production and sales, especially of cool climate grains. Almost all of the R&D work carried out for the development of varieties in self-pollinated plant species (e.g. cool climate grains) is carried out by the public sector. This list can be increased. The following can be done regarding the issues in this list.

–  Introducing a special consultancy system in producer training and agricultural extension services. In addition, the technical infrastructure of producer organizations (Agricultural Chambers, Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, Beet Growers Cooperatives, etc.) should be strengthened and their dynamic structures should be taken advantage of.

–  Giving T.M.O. a regulatory and supervisory function of the markets. Producer organization should be encouraged, producer associations should be established on a product basis and legal regulations should be made to ensure that they take part in the evaluation and marketing of the product. "Product Exchange" and "Futures Exchange" should be placed on a legal basis, and should be implemented as a pilot in Stock Exchanges with strong infrastructure and then expanded.

– TİGEM's establishment of sales dealerships has made significant contributions to the dissemination of certified seeds. However, the Public Research Institutions' directing their activities towards old varieties rather than disseminating the new varieties developed has resulted in many of the developed varieties being jar varieties. Since TİGEM also does not pay a royalty fee to the public research institutions to which it produces and sells, it has not made a significant contribution to R&D studies. The breeder's rights law has been enacted, and it would be the best approach for TİGEM to adapt itself to these new conditions and be structured with the logic of the private sector, enter into tenders like other Private Sectors and take its place in the seed production and trade of new varieties. Success here depends on the Ministry of Agriculture's will to quickly tender all varieties to Public Agricultural Research Institutions, avoiding exceptions. Subsequently, Public Research Institutions should be encouraged to engage in joint R&D studies with the Private Sector on variety development and ultimately to initiate their own R&D programs by strengthening the infrastructure of the Private Sector.

–  In countries with developed agriculture, the differences between the development level, social status and infrastructure between Village and City are imperceptibly small. In our country, this difference is at the level of a cliff. While there are no significant differences between the cities in countries such as Hungary, which has just entered the European Union, and the cities in our country, obvious differences between the villages of the two countries in terms of the above-mentioned criteria attract attention. The villages in our country look abandoned in terms of development, infrastructure and social life. In the cities of our country, municipalities carry out infrastructure services, environments required by social life and zoning services in a controlled manner, and in return, they use various resources from the budget, especially the contribution per population. In this respect, the villages are abandoned and all investments, especially development, are made randomly and at the initiative of individuals. It is not possible to talk about infrastructure and social investments in villages that are not municipalities. The interlocutor on this issue is not clear, and there is no budget. There is no regulation on this issue in the "Agricultural Law" Draft, which is under preparation, and for the future of agriculture, this issue should be included among the legal regulations and provide budget opportunities.

–  There are significant problems in production. One of the most important inputs in production is fertilizer. Our country has its own serious problems in this regard, which can be expressed as follows; It is very common to use fertilizer without soil and plant analysis, and we are the most dispersed country in Europe in this regard. It is still a very common practice to plant by mixing seeds and fertilizer. Fertilizer types are selected without taking into account factors such as climate, soil structure and plant type. Fertilization without taking into account trace element deficiency; time, overtime; insufficient fertilizer use from place to place; Not choosing fertilization methods suitable for soil, plant and fertilizer characteristics; Problems such as not producing fertilizers suitable for the soil characteristics of the regions and plant requirements can be listed one after another. Things to do to solve these problems can be listed as follows;

–  Necessary steps, especially education and legal measures, should be taken to popularize fertilization based on soil analysis. In this regard, not only the Ministry of Agriculture and its affiliated organizations, but also the Chambers of Agriculture, Commodity Exchanges and Producer Organizations should be ensured to take part by creating their infrastructure. The establishment of private soil and plant analysis laboratories should be encouraged. Organizations operating in the fertilizer sector should also provide service in this regard. Gübretaş's efforts to provide free soil analysis and fertilization recommendations are appreciated. Until fertilization programs based on soil analysis become widespread, emphasis should be placed on "compound fertilizer production on a regional and product basis".

–  In the agricultural sector, our producers are almost non-existent in the habit of keeping records and accounting regarding their production activities. It is quite thought-provoking that our producers do not even have an annual plan or balance sheet. As a result, our producer sometimes realizes that he constantly makes losses only after years when he consumes his equity capital. Since there are no production records, a healthy communication cannot be established with technical staff, and it becomes difficult for technical services to be reflected in production. It can be understood from the records of the past years that when and how the inputs will be procured in the most appropriate way and when and how the products will be offered to the market at the best price, our Manufacturers are deprived of this as well.

Producer training is extremely important to solve this problem, and this should be carried out with the active participation of Universities and Producer Organizations, as well as the relevant institutions of the Ministry of Agriculture. Additionally, our producers need to be shown examples of success in this regard. It is of great importance to organize and support "European Village Tours" in order to contribute to producer education and to show the high level of development and social levels of the village environment.

Prof. Dr. Fahri YAVUZ

Atatürk University Faculty of Agriculture Department of Agricultural Economics, ERZURUM

Traditionally, when agricultural education is mentioned, agricultural techniques always come to mind. So how is pruning done? What should be taken into consideration when fertilizing? How should dairy cows be cared for and fed? We try to learn the answers to questions such as. However, there is a very important aspect of agricultural activity that we always neglect. This is the economic aspect of agricultural activity. Nowadays, being conscious in this field is very important for a profitable agricultural activity. For example, it is essential for a profitable and sustainable agriculture to be able to sell what you produce or produce what you can sell, that is, to produce according to the demands of the market, to sell the products produced at affordable prices and to provide its inputs at affordable prices, and to make the most of the agricultural supports provided by the government.

What and how should we produce to sell?

The expression "Produce what you can sell, not what you can produce" beautifully expresses the mistake of our attitude towards marketing our agricultural products. If you are producing to sell, you must produce by taking into account the demands of the market. Here, the quality of the goods you produce is as important as what you produce. If we produce grains, fruits, vegetables, meat and milk at the quality desired by the market, selling these products will not be a major problem for us. For example, it is known that there are many milk factories, dairies and meat processing entrepreneurs in the market who want to buy quality products but cannot find them. As long as we produce quality meat and milk, find these buyers and make connections with them. This is also true for the marketing of herbal products.

Is farming just about producing?

Traditionally, we farmers do not think about marketing and selling the products they produce and we know farming only as producing agricultural products. However, looking for a market for what we produce; Selling our wheat, vegetables, fruit, milk and livestock should be part of our farming. In other words, as farmers and owners of our own goods, we must act with the mentality of tradesmen or merchants. We need to think about how I can establish market connections for my products, how I can guarantee the sale of my products in a forward-looking and contractual manner, and how I can sell them at a value price, and we need to make an effort and get results.

Marketing requires working together

Marketing agricultural products requires collective action, especially in countries where small family businesses are common, as in Turkey. In other words, we farmers in the village can come together or act together to ensure that our products are sold more easily and at a fair price. For example; If a farmer in any of our villages tried to sell the daily 25 kg of milk he produced, he would not be able to allocate the necessary time for this task every day and would not be able to negotiate to sell it at a fair price. But if 40 farmers, each producing 25 kg of milk, act together, we can sell the 1000 kg of milk we collect in a milk cooling tank to a dairy farm or factory at a good price with lower marketing costs and high bargaining power.

Collaborate and organize

The proverb "What's wrong with one hand, two hands have a voice" and the tradition of imece, which was practiced in our villages in the past and is gradually disappearing, show that we, as a society, have experience of cooperation. But we have lost this quality in recent years. Just as in the past, people in our villages accomplished some big and difficult tasks by working together, today it is possible to get organized and obtain the fertilizers, medicines and feed we use, especially tools and equipment, more easily and cheaply. We have to act together, that is, organize and work by establishing cooperatives, in order to follow new technologies and put them into production, to benefit from support policies by closely following them, and to market the products we produce at affordable prices.

Cooperatives

The negativities experienced in the past regarding cooperatives have caused us to form negative judgments about this institution. However, in developed countries such as the European Union countries and the United States, cooperatives have an advanced level of organization, even though the farms in these countries are much larger than ours, and in these countries, cooperatives are involved in the marketing of agricultural products and the supply of needs such as medicines, fertilizers and tools and equipment at affordable prices. They successfully carry out important tasks in the interests of their members. For example, more than three-quarters of the milk produced is marketed through cooperatives. Let us emphasize again that the majority of the Turkish agricultural sector consists of small family businesses, which further increases the importance of cooperatives.

It is a cooperative non-governmental organization

We, farmers, should form non-governmental organizations in the form of cooperatives or unions so that we can prepare projects for European Union grant programs and benefit more from the support programs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. In order for our region, our village and ourselves to benefit from these financial resources, it is necessary to apply as a union or cooperative. For example; Let's say we want to grow corn for silage and popularize silage making. For this, it is necessary to purchase certified seeds, obtain silage mowers and build silage silos. In order to turn such activities into projects and put them into practice, it is necessary to act on behalf of a cooperative or union that is considered a "non-governmental organization". Moreover, in today's modern world, the weight and importance of non-governmental organizations is increasing. We, the farmers, need to make the most of these new opportunities.

We must carry out agricultural activities with low production costs

Producing high-cost agricultural products is an important problem for Turkish agriculture and especially animal husbandry. There are three important reasons for this. The first is that, since we are small businesses, we do not use fixed inputs such as stables, tools-equipment, machinery and labor at full capacity. The second is that we make agricultural inputs and especially feeds, which constitute approximately 60-70% of the costs in animal husbandry, expensive. Thirdly, the productivity per acre and per animal is low.

In order to overcome these negativities, we need to expand our agricultural enterprises, increase the number of animals from 3-4 heads to 15 or more animals, provide the feed we use cheaply and have high-productivity animals. The best way to obtain feed cheaply is to produce both roughage and mixed feed ourselves. It is possible to make mixed feed by crushing grains such as barley and corn that we grow on our own land. Increasing meat and milk yield per animal by working with cultured breeds and hybrid animals instead of low-yielding local breeds is the shortest way to reduce unit costs. If we don't do these, we will continue to produce high-cost meat and milk. As a result, we have to complain that “market prices are far below our costs”. We should also not forget that production costs in the world are half of our costs. Since the import of live animals and animal products is not currently allowed, the prices in our country are far above world market prices. However, it will not be possible to continue this situation when we enter the European Union, even during the entry process. This shows that meat and milk prices will decrease in the future. We, as farmers, should be aware of this situation and start taking the necessary precautions now. Crop production also shows a similar situation, although not as much as in animal production.

Agricultural Supports

The support budget of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in recent years has increased compared to previous years and will continue in the coming years. Our farmers should benefit from these supports to the maximum extent. These supports will help you make farming more financially comfortable and profitable. It is very important to keep track of what supports are available for your activities in order to benefit from these supports in a timely manner. If you think you have the conditions to benefit from these supports provided by the government, you should contact the provincial or district directorates of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and find out what you need to do. Filling out the necessary forms in line with the information provided, bringing the requested documents and following them will be enough to receive this support. Since these supports are generally given to agricultural activities that are planned to be developed, your benefit from these supports will also lead to the realization of the agricultural policy objectives of the governments.

Last word

The world is becoming smaller and smaller, turning into a big village, and as a result, competition is increasing. In order to survive in this competitive environment, we definitely need to be a conscious farmer and carry out scientific production. We must be aware of the developments in the world, follow the markets in Turkey closely, produce low-cost and quality products, establish the necessary market connections for our products, be able to benefit from existing support and opportunities, be organized to act together with the farmers in our region, and as a result of all these, we must be able to compete and We must achieve sustainable farming. All this shows that more mental effort and effort is required. You know, one of our proverbs says, "What will my feet suffer if I'm a fool?" Actually, there is no need to say anything additional about this statement, but let's state this as the last sentence: "A conscious agriculture will increase our income, improve our working conditions and raise our standard of living."

Prof. Dr. Ruhsar YANMAZ

Ankara University Faculty of Agriculture Department of Horticulture, ANKARA

The concept of food safety began to be mentioned since the 1990s. Chemical fertilizers, which were previously offered as a solution to the world hunger problem, increased the productivity and quality of plants. But as the beneficial dose was exceeded, plants became susceptible to diseases and pests. While trying to obtain healthy plants, chemical pesticide applications have increased. While plants have developed resistance mechanisms against insects and diseases, diseases and pests have also gained resistance against pharmaceutical active ingredients. Diseases and pests emerged victorious from this war. As a result, new diseases and pest races began to appear. Intensive production systems under the name of increasing efficiency and quality have begun to harm the environment and its inhabitants, plants, animals and humans.

A rapid production method was required to meet the food needs of people whose lives were accelerating in parallel with technological developments in the world. For this reason, people who are fed with diet programs that will provide energy have become susceptible to diseases as a result of a sedentary life. Nutrition and eating habits lie at the root of many diseases encountered today. Food raw materials used in nutrition and health-threatening additives in processed foods fuel heart, cancer, nerve, digestive and respiratory diseases. In this case, it is necessary to control every food that comes from production to our table.

Nowadays, there are many control systems to reach safe food. One of these, HACP, is based on the inspection of dangerous critical control points, mostly in food businesses. The other is Good Agricultural Practices, which are environmentally friendly and aim to protect both producers and consumers by highlighting consumer and producer health.

This controlled production system, which many of us know as EUROGAP (European Good Agricultural Practices), started primarily in fruits and vegetables, but is now increasingly finding application in field and ornamental plants and livestock. In 1999, Fruit and Vegetable Retailers in Europe came together in Germany and developed a set of standards to deliver healthier products to consumers, and then the European Union began to require a certificate that the products it would import had passed this control system.

The system we call Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) or Correct Agricultural Practices wants to shape agricultural production in line with 3 main goals.

1. Making the agricultural production system socially livable
2. Ensuring that agricultural production is economically profitable and efficient
3. To ensure that agricultural production is carried out considering the health and welfare of the environment, people, animals and plants.

In the ITU production system, in addition to the criteria established by ITU, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Integrated Crop Management (ICM) techniques are also applied together. Apart from this, it also uses the International Quality Management System (ISO 9001), Environmental Management System (ISO 14001) and Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSAS 18001) standards, as product quality, the environment in which the product is grown and The welfare of the living creatures in the environment is prioritized.

The basis of Good Agricultural Practices is the determination of control points at different stages of production. What needs to be done for this purpose is divided into 3 main categories. These are things that must be done (1st degree), things that are beneficial to do (2nd degree) and recommendation criteria. Checkpoints in our country have also been determined, taking into account international standards and mostly the practices in EU countries (www.tarim.gov.tr). Table 1 shows the control points in plant production carried out with GAP. As can be understood from examining the table, the use of plant protection pesticides, which pose the greatest risk to health, is taken under control by GAP.

Which segments can benefit from Good Agricultural Practices?

Good Agricultural Practices is a system where agricultural products are inspected and certified from the place where they are produced until they reach the consumer. Therefore, controlling the product at every stage benefits the producer, marketer and consumer.

We can summarize these benefits as follows:

1.      Food reliability: A product that has received an ITU certificate is inspected at more than 13-14 points until it reaches the consumer's table from the field. Inspections are more intense, especially during chemical pesticide use and post-harvest stages. Therefore, the consumer feels safe when he consumes a GAP certified product. He feels peace of mind that the product he consumes is produced without harming the environment and considering the health and welfare of every living creature during production. For this reason, he does not care about the high price he pays for the product.

2.      Sales guarantee: ITU certified products are sought-after products in foreign markets. Manufacturers, wholesalers and exporters who have this type of certificate can market their products more easily than non-certified products.

3.      Protecting soil fertility: Producers who produce according to Good Agricultural Practices protect their soil from erosion. He increases the fertility of the soil with the methods he has applied over the years.

4.   Increasing production quality: The main goal of good agricultural practices is to increase plant yield and quality as well as health value by emphasizing resistant varieties and cultural measures. The use of chemical substances to control plant growth is free. However, the amount given is aimed at completing what the plant wants and what is missing in the soil. Thus, the quality and health value of the plant increases over time.4. Reduction in pesticide and fertilizer consumption: Since cultural measures, integrated control and biological control are highlighted in good agricultural practices, especially in the fight against diseases and pests, the amount of pesticides used will decrease as the biological balance will be re-established in gardens and fields over the years. There is a decrease in pesticides and fertilizers as production inputs. This contributes to the country's economy both in terms of producers and foreign-dependent drugs.

6.      Improvement in production technology: GAP has an impact on the modernization of a business. Training of producers and employees is essential for implementation. Modern technology is used to carry out control operations. With soil, water, fertilization, agricultural struggle, harvest and post-harvest improvement measures, businesses become clean, hygienic and modern.

7.      Occupational safety: Benefits from ITU, HACCP and International quality standards. The system highlights occupational safety in the workplace. Thus, the life safety, health and rights of employees both in businesses and in the field are prioritized, which improves workers' sense of belonging to the workplace.

How can the manufacturer switch to GAP?

There is no obligation for manufacturers to switch to GAP application. However, for businesses exporting abroad, it is mandatory if the importing country wants it. Although it is not mandatory, the quality of production can be increased by raising the awareness of the producer.

A manufacturer who wants to switch to GAP must accept 3 things.

1.      Traceability: One of the most important goals of GAP is to ensure traceability of businesses. For this reason, manufacturers who will implement the application must be monitored, that is, open their business to the supervisory company and fulfill the requirements.

2.      Record keeping: GAP is a registered production system. In fact, it is a useful practice to record every stage of production. It is also essential for traceability. However, due to the fact that our country's producers do not have the habit of keeping records, there may be problems in switching to the registered system. However, there are easy-to-implement registration systems prepared for producers who switch to ITU.

3.      Accepting to be audited: Manufacturers who will carry out GAP must have an agreement with a control and certification organization. After the agreement, the operation is inspected at certain times during the year. The manufacturer must accept that he is obliged to make the necessary arrangements in line with the warnings of the control and certification company.

In our country, the number of companies providing domestic and international control and certification is 23. Table 2 gives the names of the control and certification companies in our country and the provinces where they are located. Companies doing certification work in our country are required to obtain a document stating that they have been audited by TÜRKAK (Turkish Accreditation Agency), our national accreditation institution.

Table 2. ITU control and Certification Bodies in our country (www.tarim.gov.tr).

ITU certification is obtained for each product and annually. It must be taken again every year. However, as a certain order will be established over the years in institutions that switch to the system, audit fees and the number of audits will gradually decrease. Producers can obtain certificates individually or as a group through the producer associations or cooperatives of which they are members. Group certifications are more economical.

Supports to ITU

In order to spread good agricultural practices in our country, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock has been providing ITU-specific support since 2008. ITU is given separately to open and greenhouse areas for vegetables and fruits. Table 3 shows the amount of support given and the amount of supported areas between 2008 and 2013. According to the table, it is noteworthy that the amount of support has increased especially since 2012. As a result, the amount of land transferred to GAP in Our country has increased.

Good agricultural practices in Turkey

Good agricultural practices in Turkey have started to be included in statistics since 2007. While production was carried out with GAP in 18 provinces in 2007, the number of provinces increased to 56 in 2013. However, according to 2013 values in our country, production with GAP is around 1 6000 000 tons per 100 000 decare area. This amount has a very small share in the crop production values in our country. Production with ITU is mostly done in tomatoes, mandarins, oranges, lemons and apples (100-300 thousand t), while these types are onions, pistachios, peppers, lettuce, corn, paddy, pomegranates, olives, cotton and grapes, 20- 40 thousand t. (www.tarim.gov.tr). Although production seems limited according to these figures, ITU has been adopted by manufacturers. For this reason, it is thought that production will increase in the coming years and businesses will gradually modernize.

Table 4. ITU producer, production area and production amount

References

Anonymous 2014a. GAP Criteria in Crop Production. www.tarim.gov.tr .

Anonymous 2014b. GAP supports. www.tarim.gov.tr

Anonymous 2014c. Checkpoints for GAP. www.tarim.gov

Ankara University Faculty of Agriculture Department of Agricultural Economics

INTRODUCTION: THE BASIC PROBLEM

Agricultural products pass through a multi-ring marketing chain from field to table, from garden to table, from greenhouse to table, from barn to sheepfold and to table. Regardless of the number of rings, the farmer must produce. Our small and medium-sized farmers continue their production, whether for income, livelihood, habit, or at a loss. Our small and medium-sized farmers are among the most important actors in the sustainability of production, saying that capital and labor are on us.

Farmers produce more than they produce, but they are generally not the winners. They are the first link in marketing and sales, and they cannot get their share of the price in the last link. The basic assumption here is that our farmers produce at high costs and cannot be organized in marketing. There is some truth to this, of course. But how much and how can farmers earn in an environment where production costs, that is, input prices, rise steadily (!) and product prices lag behind? Feed is expensive and much higher than the increase in live animal prices, diesel fuel and fertilizer are expensive and much higher than the increase in plant product prices. For these reasons, farmers cannot earn. There are decreases in production due to climate changes (frost, hail, drought, etc.), but the prices received by farmers are still low and they cannot earn what they expect. For this reason, production discontinuities begin. Well, if the farmer cannot earn, who does? Those who are in the rings of the marketing chain other than the farmer, namely; markets, wholesalers, intermediaries, speculators, those who easily enter and exit wholesale markets... What should the farmer do: they must join their forces, make their decisions together, take their actions and steps together. Local governments, non-governmental organizations, universities and professional chambers can and should play a facilitating role here.

One of the important solutions for sustainability of production in agriculture and preventing population separation from agriculture is "marketing-product evaluation-product diversification". If steps towards this are taken on the basis of farmer organization and infrastructure is created, agricultural added value can increase and farmer families can continue their existence. Consolidation, agricultural infrastructure, irrigation, etc. It is possible for investments to deliver the expected output if the farmer can also evaluate their products. If the farmer cannot earn, production will not continue regardless of the investment and technology.

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS AND FARMER'S RESOLUTION

The majority of agricultural products are low-elastic products and are among the basic necessities required for the continuation of an individual's life. For this reason, the increase in the prices of agricultural products immediately resonates with the public. Because the individual has to buy and consume agricultural products for the continuity of his life. This appears as a phenomenon that always keeps the prices of agricultural products on the agenda. The increase in agricultural products from time to time always creates anxiety. Price mobility affects low and low-income people the most in terms of consumer, and small and medium-sized farmers in terms of production. Because these groups are never the winners. But there is a fact here that intermediaries are generally held responsible for the increase in prices, but sometimes farmers are also among those responsible. But which couples and at what level?

Increasing input costs in agriculture have always been above product prices. In the increase in agricultural product prices, the increase in input prices is always ignored, especially at the consumer level, and raises the question of why the products are so expensive? The real question to ask here is; It is the parity between product prices and input prices. It is stated by every segment of society that; In agriculture, in the last 7-8 years, the cost of diesel fuel has increased by 3.5-4 times, seeds, fertilizer and feed by 3-4 times, and electricity by 2-2.5 times. On the other hand, although agricultural product prices have changed, they have increased 1-2 times. This applies to both plant and animal products. The result is that the farmer sells his product cheaply and cannot make a profit. In final consumption, a small portion of the price paid by consumers for agricultural products reaches the farmer. The most important reason for this is; This is due to the increasing emergence of international businesses as large businesses try to dominate agriculture instead of small and medium-sized farmers. One of the important reasons here is the problem caused by the farmers, which is disorganization and disorganization. Some studies have shown that; For herbal products, only 25-30% of the price paid by the end consumer reaches the farmers. Here, the links, that is, the actors in the marketing chain, have a significant impact.

If we give an example of price fluctuations on a product; In some years, prices of tomatoes are very low due to excess production, and in some years, prices are high as a result of insufficient production. Insufficient processing potential and lack of marketing conditions are also effective in price fluctuations from time to time, as well as climatic conditions. Another important issue here is how the farmer evaluates his product. Agriculture-based industry in Turkey is not yet at the desired level. Therefore, processing and storage of products with processing facilities are important. It is also necessary to draw attention to the fact that farmers' production complies with all food and quality standards so that they do not suffer losses. In our country, farmers may give up production of damaged products (single-year) for the next year, and since there is an excessive increase in prices in the following year due to low production, in this case, negative consequences arise for the consumer . When factors resulting from climate changes are added to this, the fluctuation in prices increases even more. The creation of marketing conditions and their development in favor of the producer will produce positive results for both farmers and consumers. Here we can draw attention to a subject that is always said; Some products collected from the garden for 50-60 cents per kilo go up to almost 4-5 lira per kilo in the cities. This difference does not go into the farmer's pocket. We can even state this; Some products are left on-site because input costs and collection and transportation costs are high. The following question comes to the fore here: whose fault is this? The answer is not the farmer, because he is usually the loser. It is necessary to carefully examine and question the links in the marketing channel. As we mentioned above, the marketing margin varies depending on the products, with the manufacturer's cost varying between 25-30%, the wholesale margin 25-35% and the retail margin 35-50%. Only one quarter of the price paid by the consumer goes to the farmer.

It is obvious that cooperatives and unions are not effective in marketing in our country. While in the European Union, cooperatives and unions play a role of up to 100% in marketing in some sectors, in our country, although it varies depending on the product and from year to year, the share of Agricultural Sales Cooperatives in marketing is 45 -50% in cotton, 2-4% in olive oil, and approximately 30% in figs. It turns out that cooperatives and unions have no function in fresh fruits, vegetables and animal products.

THE BASIS OF FARMER'S FAILURE TO EARN: DISorganization and Messiness

Marketing of agricultural products includes all stages from the farmer to the consumer. Therefore, we can define the marketing of agricultural products as a process that starts with the decision to produce the products, includes processing and delivery to the end consumer. The main function of marketing is to ensure that consumers can obtain the agricultural products they demand, at the desired place, at the desired time, at the desired quality and at the desired price. Here, one of the basic functions should be for the farmer to receive the reward of his labor. To achieve this, conscious and organized farmers and a good marketing infrastructure are important. The reason is that the resources in agriculture are limited, it is dependent on natural conditions that carry risks at all times, deficiencies in the marketing infrastructure and price fluctuations resulting from the fact that supply and demand do not always coincide make it necessary for farmers to organized Without organization, farmers will have difficulty making money regardless of the conditions and environment. Organization is the most decisive factor here. The absence of farmer organizations, especially cooperatives, in the marketing chain, their inadequacy, their weak representation power, and their inability to form pressure groups directly affect the farmer's earnings.

It turns out that the marketing structure in Turkey, especially for small and medium-sized farmers, is not organized in a way that takes farmer effectiveness into account. It is important for the farmer to be active and effective in order to introduce effective marketing channels from production to table and to find the real value of local-traditional agricultural products in favor of the farmer. When this is achieved, the negative effects of price formation that will occur against farmers in the marketing structure and market systematics can be minimized.

Agricultural marketing activities and price formation are important in our country due to the small size of some of the farmers, and this requires giving result-oriented attention to the issue. Farmers' market, marketing, evaluation of traditional foods, branding, geographical indications, creating added value, organization, etc. Their knowledge on these subjects is limited, and capacity development on these subjects is important. In Turkey, focusing on organization appears as an important strategy in order to overcome the lack of knowledge of farmers on the mentioned issues and the small size of farmers' businesses, to reduce production costs and to become strong in marketing.

Climate changes, decrease in production, decrease in efficiency, price increases etc. If we make a general assessment of why farmers in our country earn less despite many factors and why the price increases are not reflected on them, the following findings emerge;

Effective organization of farmers is weak.

Farmer organizations are not effective in marketing.

Initiatives to increase the added value of products are insufficient.

Studies addressing the potential and market of local products and traditional food are insufficient.

The main problem areas regarding the evaluation of agricultural products are increasing input costs, marketing and lack of organization. Strategies to solve these problems are insufficient and far from achieving results.

Effective and ineffective cooperative formation remains a problem far from solving the problems of farmers.

Scattered and different organizational approaches create a chaotic environment rather than farmers solving' problems.

The Public Market Law and the Metropolitan Law, an approach aimed at small and medium-sized farmers, are far from providing a solution and seem to make things even more difficult.

Since the farmer is constantly in debt for input, he cannot store, hold or utilize his product at different times. The lack of effective farmer organizations is an important factor here.

POINT REACHED: ORGANIZATION IS ESSENTIAL

Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) – According to 2014 data-estimates; Compared to the previous year, a 10.1% decrease in grain products and a 4.5% decrease in fruits is expected. Compared to the previous year, wheat production decreased by 10.4% to approximately 19.8 million tons, barley production decreased by 12.7% to 6.9 million tons, paddy production decreased by 1.1% to 890 thousand tons, grain corn production by 6%. It is predicted to decrease by .8% to 5.5 million tons. It is estimated that chickpeas, among legumes, will decrease by 11.1% to 450 thousand tons. It is stated that the production amount of fruit products will decrease by 4.5% in 2014 compared to the previous year, reaching 17.4 million tons. Considering the production amounts of important products among fruits, there may be a decrease of 18.4% in apples, 4.5% in peaches, 7.8% in cherries and 55.1% in apricots compared to the previous year. These data also show that there will be an increase in prices for these products. The problem is how much the farmer benefits from the price increases that have arisen/will occur. To whom does the big share go? Since farmers are not organized, they cannot be effective in price formation. So who wins, those in the marketing chain rings other than farmers.

The solution to the problems and price formation in favor of farmers and consumers is based on organization and, in particular, cooperatives. While cooperatives have a share of around 50% in agricultural markets in economically strong countries, this rate is around 2-3% in Turkey. While cooperatives are referred to as the 3rd largest sector in the world, their existence and necessity are brought to the agenda with fruitless debates in our country.

In our country, farmers need to be organized under the umbrella of producer unions or cooperatives in a professional structure that prioritizes farmers' interests. It is important to employ qualified individuals who know marketing in cooperatives and producer unions. This will result in the provision of cheap inputs on the one hand, and being in a competitive and negotiable marketing channel on the other hand. As a final word, it should be noted here that 2014 was declared as the "International Year of Family Farming" by the United Nations all over the world. The path to sustainable production, getting out of poverty, nature-friendly production and consumer-friendly production must pass through small and medium-sized farmers. For this, organization and especially effective cooperatives are essential.

The high difference between producer and consumer prices is an issue that we frequently encounter with striking examples, especially in recent years. The reason for the high difference between these two prices is marketing margins. High marketing margins cause the consumer to purchase products at high prices and a very low portion of the price paid by the consumer to be received by the manufacturer. In this case, consumers complain about the price they pay, and producers are not satisfied with the price they receive. The difference between producer and consumer prices is related to the number of intermediaries, transactions applied to the product (with marketing services) and taxes.

Agricultural products reach consumers after passing through various channels after production and encountering different events in these channels. There are many marketing intermediaries in these channels, which are called distribution channels. In a traditional marketing system, these intermediaries can be grouped into three basic groups: manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer. In addition to these intermediaries, depending on the characteristics of the product, some organizations such as brokers, retailers, processors, producer associations, commodity exchanges or Soil Products Office are included in these channels.

As the number of intermediaries in marketing channels increases, marketing margins increase. Marketing margin, which expresses the difference between the sales price and the purchase price of the product by the intermediaries, consists of the expenses incurred by the intermediaries for the products in question (costs such as labor, equipment, transportation, etc.) and the intermediary profits. Under perfect competition conditions, this share remaining to the intermediary is expected to be sufficient to maintain its place in business life and continue its activities. However, in cases where perfect competition conditions are lacking, intermediaries can make profits above normal. As the number of intermediaries increases, the total share may in some cases reach levels that will negatively affect consumers.

Another known situation regarding prices in producer and consumer markets is that the parties are affected by price fluctuations in different ways. In local markets, prices are lower than in all other marketing stages. If there are few alternatives for buyers in local markets where there are many producers, this weakens the bargaining power of the producer and makes the producers victims of this situation in the face of price changes. Intermediaries, who do not want to give up their market shares in the face of price changes, place this burden on the producer in determining the price when purchasing products from the producer who is obliged to sell the product. In this way, producers are the ones most affected by price fluctuations. For example; Spinach, which has a producer's sales price of 50 kr, can reach the consumer for 3.00-3.50 TL with a marketing margin of up to 2.5-3.00 TL. If the consumer price falls, intermediaries prefer to reduce the price they buy from the producer rather than reduce their marketing share.

The difference between producer and consumer prices in the fresh fruit and vegetable market can vary significantly from product to product. The proportion of the producer price in the market price generally varies between 17-38%. These rates clearly indicate how little of the amount paid by the consumer is received by the producer. The difference between the market price and the producer price can reach 2.5-3.5 times for many products such as tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers. In fact, it is seen that this difference increases 5-6 times in some products (such as apple, spinach, parsley). These figures clearly show the high margins achieved by intermediaries within the distribution channels, considering that most of the products considered do not need intensive and complex marketing services and processing technology.

Table 1. Producer, Market, Market and Market Prices for Selected Products (31.11.2013; TL/Kg)

Note: Wholesale Market, market and bazaar data are average prices compiled from the provinces of Ankara, Izmir, Istanbul, Mersin, Antalya and Bursa. Producer prices are compiled from important production centers according to products.

Another important reason for the difference between producer and consumer prices is the processes applied to the product, in other words, marketing services such as collection, processing, storage and packaging. In line with changing living conditions and changing consumer demands, many agricultural products are now offered to the market after being processed. Marketing margin varies depending on reasons such as the level of processing technology and the nature of the raw material. For example, margins are higher on dairy products intended for children than on drinking milk.

Although marketing margins are closely related to the processing level, there may be different practices in the market. One of the striking and surprising examples of marketing margin occurred in 2013. Dried okra, which is collected in Silifke and dried and sold, is offered to the market for 150 TL per kilo. While the producer sells fresh okra for 3-5 liras - due to the low production amount - dried okra is offered to the consumer for 150 TL. The only explanation for the difference between producer and consumer prices of this product, which undergoes very simple processes during the drying phase and requires a small amount of labor and materials, is the marketing shares of intermediaries.

Reducing the increasing number of intermediaries in marketing channels and increasing marketing margins due to the level of processing technology is very important in terms of consumer welfare and more balanced distribution of market prices. Achieving this can be achieved by making improvements in marketing organizations and introducing some organizations such as producer unions or other organizations that will increase the bargaining power of producers by acting together.

Prof. Dr. Sait GEZGİN

Selçuk University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, KONYA

One of the most important elements of obtaining quality and abundant products per unit area in plant production is balanced fertilization. Balanced fertilization; Depending on the soil properties, it is to provide all the plant nutritional elements that the plants need and are deficient in the soil, at the appropriate time, in the appropriate amounts and forms, and in the appropriate way. For balanced fertilization, soil and plant analyzes must be performed.

While soil analysis determines the amounts of nutrients in the soil and the properties that affect the uptake of these nutrients by plants, plant analyzes provide information about the utilization of nutrients in the soil by plants, depending on soil, plant and climate characteristics. For this reason, while soil analyzes are often sufficient for balanced fertilization, in some cases, especially in orchards and greenhouses, it is necessary to perform plant analyzes as well as soil analyzes as a complement to each other.
 

Soil analyzes can make significant contributions to the protection of the fertility potential of soils, the nutrition and health of humans and animals, and the prevention of environmental pollution, as well as increasing the efficiency and quality of plant production through balanced fertilization. For these reasons, it is a very important and appropriate decision that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has supported soil analysis since 2009.
 

However, today in our country there are very important problems with laboratories that conduct soil analyzes for fertilization purposes. In my opinion, these problems and their solutions are as follows:

1) Taking soil samples: The majority of soil samples brought to laboratories are not taken on time and in accordance with the procedure. For example, soil samples are collected intensively from grain cultivated lands between January and May. However, soil samples for fertilization purposes should be taken and analyzed before the sowing or planting time of the plants and fertilization programs should be created. Because some of the fertilizers, especially phosphorus fertilizers, and some of them are applied during sowing or planting.

For this purpose, soil samples taken and analyzed during the vegetation period of the grown plant should not be supported in order to take soil samples properly and on time, and soil samples should be taken by or under the responsibility of a technical personnel (Agricultural Engineer). or technician) and delivered to the laboratory with his signature.

Samples taken from lands where crop production is not carried out or left fallow should not be supported. The farmer and the technical personnel who signed the delivery of the samples to the laboratory should be held responsible for incorrect soil sampling and some criminal sanctions should be imposed.

2) Mandatory analyzes to be performed on soil samples: Water saturation, pH, total salt, lime, available P, available K and organic matter analyzes are required to be performed in soil samples for support. Considering the soil characteristics of our country, these analyzes are not sufficient for balanced fertilization programs.

Because, according to the results of many studies conducted in our country, although K and Mg are generally at sufficient levels in our soil, it is recommended to fertilize with potassium and magnesium, especially potassium, depending on the plant type, soil characteristics and especially the balance between K, Ca and Mg. In fact, in some cases, calcium fertilization is even recommended in fruit and vegetable cultivation.

In addition, according to current mandatory analyses, nitrogen fertilizer recommendation is made according to the organic matter content of the soil. In most of the studies conducted on nitrogen fertilization in our country, it has been determined that there is an accumulation of inorganic nitrogen (NH4 + NO3) in our soil due to unconscious fertilization for years. As a matter of fact, according to the results of the research conducted to determine the most appropriate methods that can be used to determine the amount of nitrogen beneficial to the plant in the soils of different regions of our country, it has been reported that the NO3-N method is the most suitable for the soils of the Çukurova region, Gediz plain, Iğdır plain, and Konya-Çumra plain. In addition, according to the results of many studies conducted in our country, depending on the general characteristics of our soil, deficiencies of microelements (B, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu), especially Fe and Zn, and their excess in some places , especially boron, are very common and increase the efficiency and productivity in plant production. are decisive on quality.

For these reasons, inorganic nitrogen (NH4+NO3), available Ca, available Mg and trace elements (B, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu) should be added to the existing list of mandatory analyzes in order to make a well-balanced fertilization The program according to soil analysis.

3) Fertilizer supports: All fertilizers used in the fertilization program created according to the soil analysis results should be included in the scope of support. The type and amount of fertilizer recommended by experts and the fertilizer used by the farmer should be checked. Soil analysis should be mandatory in order for those who produce vegetables, especially in areas smaller than 50 decares, to receive fertilizer support.

4) Laboratory inspections: Laboratory inspections should be increased. The accuracy of laboratories' analyzes should be tested with reference soil and plant samples at least once a year. After warning the laboratories that failed the first test, they should be subjected to the same test again and the staff of those that failed should be given paid training somewhere, then the same test should be done again and the laboratories that failed again should be authorized and closed down.

In addition, the devices used by laboratories should be calibrated every year. Laboratories should be held responsible for incorrect analyzes and fertilizer recommendations and some criminal sanctions should be imposed.

Laboratory inspections should be carried out by technical personnel who have worked in laboratories for a certain period of time in their professional lives, especially Agricultural Engineers Graduated from the Soil Department. In this regard, support can be obtained from the Soil Science and Plant Nutrition departments of the Faculties of Agriculture. Regional reference laboratories should be established. Laboratories should record soil analysis results, fertilizer recommendations and chemical consumables purchased online.

5) Agricultural Laboratories Board: A board should be established to include all parties (Ministry-TÜGEM-TAGEM, Faculty of Agriculture-Soil Science and Plant Nutrition Department, Chambers of Agriculture, Private sector) related to laboratory inspections, laboratory opening-closing or other works. This board can be established as a supreme board in Ankara and in the provinces.

6) Analysis fees: A standard should be introduced in analysis fees. Because especially chambers of agriculture and private laboratories compete unfairly in this regard.

7) Capacity of laboratories: The maximum number of samples that laboratories can analyze should be determined according to space, equipment, staff availability and daily-monthly working time. In this case, laboratories can be prevented from writing reports without analysis. Additionally, consumable invoice numbers should be added to the chemical substance registry. Thus, the number of analyzes performed can be determined by comparing the consumables spent with the invoices.

8) Education: First of all, arrangements should be made in the curriculum of the Faculty of Agriculture - Soil Science and Plant Nutrition departments to provide students with sufficient information on soil, plant, water and fertilizer analysis and, accordingly, creating balanced fertilization programs for at least the most grown plants in our country, and laboratory management. Laboratory personnel should be required to attend training every year on the interpretation of soil, plant, water and fertilizer analysis results and fertilizer recommendations. In this regard, support should be received from the Faculty of Agriculture-Soil Science and Plant Nutrition departments. In addition, farmers should be trained and demonstration studies should be carried out on taking samples of soil, plants, water and fertilizers, their preservation, transportation and analysis, as well as analysis-based fertilization.

9) Plant analyses: While soil analyzes are often sufficient for balanced fertilization, in some cases, especially in orchards, it is necessary to perform plant analyzes as well as soil analyzes as a complement to each other. Therefore, plant analyzes should be supported like soil analyses.

* This article was also presented as a paper at the 5th National Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer Congress.