Nihat DELİBAŞI
The 44th Meetings with İş, organized by İşbank in cooperation with the DÜNYA newspaper since 2008, was held in İzmir. In the panel held with the participation of representatives from different sectors related to the agricultural sector within the scope of the meeting themed "Technology and Sustainability in Agriculture", it was pointed out that there is a serious potential in the agricultural sector despite all the negativities.
The 44th of the traditional Meetings with İş organized in cooperation with İşbank and DÜNYA newspaper, was held in İzmir with the title of Sustainable Agriculture, Livable Future. Speaking at the event that took place at the Kaya Thermal Hotel Conference Center and attracted great interest, the panelists pointed out that the story of sustainable production in agriculture can be written thanks to technology.
Speaking at the opening ceremony moderated by WORLD Top Manager Hakan Güldağ, İzmir Commodity Exchange (ITB) President Işınsu Kestelli drew attention to the R&D and innovation ecosystem they will create with the İzmir Agricultural Technology Center (İTTM), which they created for adaptation to the smart agriculture process that started with Tarım 4.0, Aegean Region Chamber of Industry (EBSO) President Ender Yorgancılar emphasized that the purchase-guaranteed agriculture system should be adopted.
ITTM Will Be a Pioneer in Agricultural-Specific Technological Solutions Işınsu Kestelli / President of İzmir Commodity Exchange
With the information technologies becoming a part of agriculture in 2010 and later, Agriculture 4.0, or with its widespread use, "Smart Agriculture" era began. While countries that follow a highly disciplined policy in this regard are making rapid progress, it is obvious that we need the energy of the youth with easier access to more technology, science and financial resources as a result of researches on our country's agriculture.
Our research on this subject led us to the struggle to implement the Izmir Agricultural Technology Center (ITTM). ITTM, which will operate in the concept of “Living-Lab”, will be the first R&D ecosystem in our country where information technologies-based solutions for the agricultural sector will be produced. At the center of ITTM will be start-ups and companies working with agricultural technology. In this ecosystem, agricultural enterprises and farmers will be supported with the participation of agricultural machinery manufacturers, public and private sector researchers and academics, technology firms, financial institutions, investors and students. Thanks to the new technologies to be developed at ITTM, more efficient use of resources will be ensured by increasing productivity in production. Specialized Agricultural OIZs, the establishment of which we contributed, will play a leading role in achieving this goal.
Agriculture is also social justice. All stakeholders need to take responsibility for the integration of new technologies into the sector in order to establish a sustainable agricultural ecosystem, without ignoring this fact. Now we need smart agriculture not only to earn more or to feed ourselves but also to live peacefully, happily and healthily in a better world.
A Purchase Guaranteed Agricultural System Should Be Transitioned Ender Yorgancılar / Aegean Region Chamber of Industry President
There is nothing we cannot achieve when we set out in a goal-oriented way. We can solve the negativities experienced with a solution-oriented approach. We learned about food and health in the pandemic. The importance of food was revealed here. While exports were 13-14 billion dollars in 1993-1994, the share of agriculture was 16 percent. Today it is at 5%. There must be reasons for this. This means that the producer does not get paid for the product, while agricultural areas are opened for other purposes, the product does not make money due to the changing strategies at the time of harvesting the product. Therefore, when a purchase-guaranteed agricultural system is adopted, we will have solved one of the biggest problems of this sector. We need to rethink our input supply system. The biggest need we business people need is to see ahead. There is only one roadmap. Our state should have development plans. When we bring up production-oriented and production-indexed issues, our country's way is clear.
"Digitization and smart technology in agriculture should be paved the way"
At the Meetings with Business held under the title of Sustainable Agriculture, Livable Future, a panel on "Technology and Sustainability in Agriculture" was held under the coordination of WORLD Coordinator Didem Eryar Ünlü. In the panel where the importance of digitalization in the agricultural sector was emphasized, it was stated that the state should put smart machines in the grant system and banks should include smart machines in their credit systems.
The Country Producing Food, Not Petroleum Will Come to the Fore Ali Ekber Yıldırım / World Newspaper Agriculture Writer
In agriculture, we have to work hard for the story to have a happy ending. Awareness emerged with the pandemic. The interest of industrialists and young people in agriculture is increasing. This shows where we should look for the solution. The crisis in the world is not production-oriented. Sustainability came to the fore with the pandemic.
The green consensus began to highlight the farm-to-fork process. We must produce the solution in Turkey in accordance with Turkey's conditions. There is a need for a holistic policy and it needs to be fully implemented. Transformation is not so easy; It will be difficult. Interest in digitalization and smart agriculture has intensified with the pandemic, but those who demand this are white-collar workers who entered this business later. But no agricultural information. Traditional producers have ancient knowledge. If we can combine young people's technology knowledge with production knowledge, we can make a serious breakthrough. The use of technology in agriculture is possible with data. Many manufacturers do not enter data by saying private information.
Therefore, the use of digital and technological information in agriculture is not widespread. Agricultural organizations should also enter here. Providing a social security umbrella in agriculture also prevents rural youth from leaving agriculture. In addition, family farming must be kept alive. As a country that produces wealth from agriculture, Turkey can solve many problems if it develops its policies accordingly. This is one of the important elements of getting out of the economic crisis. While the concept of oil-producing countries in the past was transformed into the concept of food-producing countries, Turkey is one of the important countries that can take part in this field.
The State Should Include Intelligent Machines in the Grant System Dr. Murat Salih / Turkish Technology Development Foundation Stok Tarım Co-Chair
There are many things that need to be done for sustainable agriculture. Soil and water resources should be used sustainably, the farmer should have the financial power to do sustainable agriculture, the financial structure should be strengthened, producer organizations should be strengthened and they should cooperate with industrialists using agricultural products. For this, an advisory board should be formed. This helps prevent plans that are incompatible with the field.
Sustainable profitability of the farmer is necessary for sustainable agriculture. Until today, grant support in Turkey has been given to machines that do not have hardware or software on them. The government should include smart machines in the grant system, and banks should include smart machines in their credit systems.
The technologies used by the defense industry and smart agriculture technologies are very similar. Therefore, Turkey's engineering power has the ability to develop smart agriculture technology. What we need to do is to ensure that some of the defense industry technology companies enter smart agriculture and value-added technologies. To be able to export value-added technology. If we do this, we have a serious opportunity in front of us.
The Use of Technology in Agriculture is Not a Preference, It is a Necessity İrfan Donat / Bloomberg Ht Agriculture Editor
In the past, the understanding of "Let's achieve maximum efficiency with minimum input" worked to a certain extent. Now, minimum input, optimum efficiency as well as environmentally friendly, carbon neutral and fair approaches have come to the fore. The consumer has come to question not only the product, but also how that product is grown. The use of technology in agriculture is no longer a choice, it is a necessity. Farmers need digital decision support. It is necessary to create that infrastructure for farmers. The sweat of the mind has been added to the sweat of the farmer. I see this as a great opportunity for Türkiye. In the next 10 years, 85% of the productivity increase in agriculture will be achieved through technology, irrigation and productivity increase per unit area. 10 percent will consist of secondary crops and 5 percent will be new agricultural areas.
We Should Disseminate Technological Applications Murat Bolat / Fresh Milk and Dairy Products Partner
Although we use advanced technology, we cannot dare to buy a new company or establish another farm. Because we can't make a profit. There needs to be consolidation in Turkey, but there are issues that we cannot deal with, such as feed costs. We are very successful in milk production and cost management in digital matter. There is a very serious effort and infrastructure. These need to be disseminated.
Support to the Manufacturer Should Be Combined with Technology Kerem Akıner / İşbank Agricultural Banking Manager
We have an obligation to meet ever-increasing needs with limited resources. The way to this is through sustainable agriculture. We see this as a solution to increasing needs. We are trying to contribute to the sector by combining support for our producers with technology, financing needed transformation points, observing cooperation in this ecosystem, positioning outside a financial institution, sometimes as a social entrepreneur, sometimes as a non-governmental organization.
Financial institutions need investment in many areas such as technology, R&D, awareness of farmers and warehouses, in order to support the healthy growth of the agricultural ecosystem. Technology has now become a necessity and one of the main inputs of agriculture, like a diesel. Therefore, we need to implement the practices that lead the sector. We have determined a strong roadmap in this area. Considering the production processes of farmers, we support them in every field.
The development of the agricultural sector in our country and the efficient increase of agricultural production is essentially a national issue and a strategic issue. This is how it should be handled. We have full confidence that we will overcome obstacles as stakeholders of the ecosystem. At this point, as İşbank, we put our hands under the responsibility.
We Will Form an Agricultural Advisory Board Hakan Aran / General Manager of İşbank
As much as there are fertile plains in Turkey, we have a promise to open an agriculture specialization branch in every plain. Wherever agriculture is practiced in Turkey, there will be a branch of specialization in agriculture. Saruhanlı Branch was in Gediz Plain. We will also have a branch in Bakırçay Plain. We will complete these by August 26, 2024. As a farmer's child, we have friends who are bankers. They have competency against agriculture. We started to employ agricultural engineers alongside them. We develop by giving them banking education. We are adding our friends from different disciplines on environmental engineers, energy engineers, food, renewable energy and sustainability. We decided to form the İşbank Agriculture Advisory Board.
Science Will Be Our Guide İzm Erdem / İşbank Deputy General Manager
The recent increases in input prices have started a difficult process to manage. In particular, there is an increase of 228 percent in fertilizer and chemical inputs. This includes the effects of climate change, the increased costs of the pandemic, and the factors created by the Russia-Ukraine War. But besides this, the exchange rate shocks we have experienced also have an effect. We can manage some of that. Some of them are still an important cost item. Then, as countries, institutions and individuals, we can manage the areas that we cannot manage in cooperation with our farmers, and we can make the areas that will increase productivity more balanced.
Here, too, our guide will be science. As a bank, we take this very seriously. It is important to include technology more in agriculture, to cooperate with agriculture faculties while doing this, to teach agricultural banking to the students there, and to listen closely to our farmers. As in the agriculture specialization branch we opened today, we will also have important gains to make them feel how close we are to them, to increase the productivity of our farmers and to tell them that we will act together with them in every field.
