How to Achieve Agricultural Transformation?

I know that there are many key factors to increase the agricultural output to ensure food safety and security in the world.

We have designed, coordinated, supervised and operationalized a state of the art innovation Centre in Turkey to increase the Competitiveness of the Turkish Tea Industry.

Today, the globalization, urbanization, new technologies, new services, new products, increasing mass production, increasing world population and changing human needs require a new innovative and agile approach to creating productivity, ensuring agricultural growth, providing market access, keeping biodiversity and increasing welfare for the society.

Establishing innovation centers to stimulate the innovative power of the agro-food industry through stimulating the visibility, connection, and collaboration between local and international companies, knowledge institutes and governments.

These centers will be responsible for the promotion of the agro-food industry in the region, country and globe with the various activities in investment, innovation, technology, value-added products, tourism, exports, marketing, promotion, sales and training by collaborating with the government, public institutions, farmers, manufacturers, R&D centers and individuals.

We have designed, coordinated and supervised TRAC as a state of the art innovation and competitiveness center in Turkey. This development project was financed by the EU. We are proud!

Clearly, we have to focus on and improve the following key elements to ensure food safety, achieve food security and easy access to improved nutrition.

Market access is a crucial parameter for farmers.

I have to say that agricultural transformation process must be realized by:

1. Reducing climate uncertainties and water scarcity with regional and national landcare programs;

2. Developing agro-industrial value chains and business models promoting the integration of smallholders and improving market access for smallholders;

3. Supporting farm tourism and family farming;

4. Increasing the R&D, innovation and entrepreneurship capability of the agro-food sector;

5. Increasing marketing, brand promotion, and visibility activities in the domestic and global markets;

6. Improving human resources and skills;

7. Providing easy access to financial funding and investment;

8. Investing in new technologies.

We have to perform financial supporting to smallholder families and increasing their skills, investments and market access.

How to Increase Competitiveness in Agri-Food Industry?

Today agrofood industry is an important component of an economy. If this industry has competitiveness in global markets, it will create welfare for the related society.

Do you have an innovation action plan to develop the agriculture, food and beverage processing and trading sectors in your local agri-food sector? I have to say that such a competitiveness strategy program should pinpoint the sector’s areas of competitive advantage, identify opportunities to grow the agri-food business by highlighting key growth areas and three-year strategic innovation action plan.

Agrifood industry creates economic growth, welfare and food security for the society.

The best way is to analyze the sector issues and develop and implement a competitiveness strategy program to create more and more reconfigurations and transient competitive advantages within the agri-food sector in the next years to create growth, profitability, customer loyalty and economic welfare in the agri-food industry.

Today, we are living in a hypercompetitive, uncertain and complex business world. The globalization, urbanization, new technologies, new services, new products, increasing mass production, increasing world population and changing human needs require a new innovative and agile approach to create productivity, growth, international market access, customer loyalty and welfare for the society.

We are entering into the Fourth Industrial Revolution period. It is characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds. All of these impact all disciplines, economies and industries, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human.

I know that strengthening the agriculture, food and beverages’ value chain is important to understand what products, technologies, skills and services are needed for future productivity and economic growth of the agri-food industry. Competitiveness is especially vital or important for SMEs during the global and domestic economic transformation process.

Please note that competitive products, services and skills play a top priority through increasing economic competitiveness and building a larger and more export-driven private sector.

Agrifood Research and Innovation Center Works should be commercialized!

I have to define that we, as agrofood consultants, design, develop and implement a long-term innovation action program in the donor-funded projects. We designed, developed and performed successfully between 2002-2015 years in Turkey.

Rize Tea Research and Application Centre for Turkish Tea Industry Competitiveness!

My advice is to establish an Agro-Food Innovation Centre that will promote the activities for R&D and innovation management, funding, training, marketing and technology investment to achieve growth and competitiveness in the domestic and international markets. This center must focus on:

1. Increasing the Innovation and Entrepreneurship capability of Agro-Food Sector in Province

2. Increasing marketing and brand promotion activities and visibility in the domestic and international markets

3. Improving human resources and skills

4. Providing financial funding and increasing investment

5. Fostering new technologies and increasing investment

6. Creating effective networking and collaborations

7. Running permanent promotional campaigns

How to achieve sustainable agrifood industry?

Are Competitive Intelligence and Sector Analysis necessary to create sustainability in the agriculture and the food industry? This is the one of the main questions for us! I know that sustainable food and agriculture is a crucial parameter for the world in which food is nutritious and accessible for everyone and natural resources are managed in a way that maintains and protects ecosystem functions to support current as well as future human needs. There are many key factors to assess sustainability in the agri-food industry.

Organic Apple Production by applying Good Agricultural Practices in Erzincan. Cooperation with Government, SMEs and Farmers.

When I have managed some agrifood industry projects in Turkey, we have analyzed the competitors, trends, new products, customer needs, technological changes, marketing strategies, regulations, risks, policies, prices and skills in the domestic and global markets. We have also performed current, medium and long-term sector analysis to understand the survival capability of the sector. So that we designed, developed and implemented an innovation action plan to create provincial agri-food growth strategy document.

Digital transformation and using it in agribusiness to increase productivity and quality.

Now, let’s discuss two of the key factors to achieve sustainability in Agrifood industry.

I see that many organizations don’t perform competitive intelligence and sector analyses today. Normally agri-food industry must do this to solve the economic, social, and environmental challenges that affect them all.

Let’s explain! Competitive intelligence is the capability that captures and analyses consumer, market, trends and competitive information in a systematic and continuous process, with the focus on generating actionable insights to help the business make truly valuable decisions regarding future events to achieve a transient competitive advantage to the organization.

Regular survival analysis will show the future of the sector and this will help them to make healthy disengagements before business failure.

I like this quote of Peter F. Drucker, “Knowledge has become the key economic resource and the dominant, if not the only, source of competitive advantage."

For example, a global survey conducted by PWC shows that companies that place a high value on competitive intelligence grew at a 20 percent faster than other companies. Clearly, I have to say that an extra 20 percent growth is really valuable in today's complex business world.

I have to say that agri-food organizations should have a constant fast-paced change in today’s digital age and get better position faster than others and create a long and prosperous future on a global scale. They have to do competitive intelligence and sector analysis to capture, analyze, and package the opportunities into actionable insights in agriculture and food industry.

Agricultural drones are used in farming. Sensors and digital imaging capabilities improves crop yields and farm efficiency.

Therefore, when we manage a development project as agrifood consultant, we design, develop and implement three-year innovation action plan to foster quality, productivity, market access, growth and competitiveness for creating welfare for the stakeholders, SMEs, the private sector and farmers.