New Challenges in the Agri-Food Industry!

We have designed, coordinated and supervised a GAP program in Turkey after 2003. So that we supplied cereal grains, fruits, and vegetables without contaminants and residues according to the EU baby food regulations. We designed, developed and produced many prototypes and commercialized some of them in Turkey and CEEMENA markets. So that we have analyzed, developed and achieved competitiveness in the agrifood value chain. This created quality, profitability, and growth for the farmers, SMEs and the private sector in Turkey.

Agro-Food Consulting performs conventional and/or organic grape production and convert them to value-added products!

I know that we have to create systematic and continuous transient competitive advantages. Because, today, we can only create transient competitive advantages. This means that effective leaders can create waves of temporary competitive advantages. In other words, the job of orchestrating how these waves are managed and executed is mostly a crucial job of today’s business owners, CEOs, and leaders. Therefore, we have designed and developed many new products and performed consumer tests before launching.

I like this quote:

“To stay ahead, they need to constantly start new strategic initiatives, building and exploiting many transient competitive advantages at once. Though individually temporary, these advantages, as a portfolio, can keep companies in the lead over the long run.” Rita Gunther McGrath.

As an Agri-food Consulting Expert, we combine stability and dynamism in a continuous manner in donor-funded agri-food project management and create sustainability and competitiveness in the food value chain and welfare to the stakeholders by solving the challenges in the agrifood industry.

Now, let's look at the new challenges in the agri-food industry;

1. Ensuring food authenticity and avoiding food adulteration

2. Creating new packaging to prolong the shelf-life and reducing the spoilage and oxidation

3. Providing long shelf life, maintaining freshness and minimizing the use of additives

4. Improving the cold chain, prolonging the shelf-life of products and reducing the energy consumption

5. Entering farming systems and practices that use low agrochemicals

6. Increasing efficiency in processes and energy use

7. Improving water use efficiency in food manufacturing

8. Reducing waste and reusing of waste materialIntroducing products for healthy living and agingIntroducing low salt, low fat and low sugar foods

9. Launching products for specific consumer groups

10. Performing overall increase in plant and animal productivity and farm output

11. Entering to the new marketsIncreasing the growing fields of the fruits and vegetables

12. Increasing plant and animal production in urban or enclosed environments

13. Developing and launching high quality convenience foods

14. Educating the people and extending agricultural activities to developing countries to increase the supply.

15. Financing the business

Innovation in the agrifood industry is a key factor in competitiveness!

How to Ensure Food Safety?

Effective food safety management is a crucial parameter for a good leader. When we have started infant food production in Turkey, we have designed, developed and implemented an excellent risk management and food safety system from the fork to the table. Of course, we have collaborated with Goverment agencies, private sector, SMEs, farmers and our stakeholders in export markets. We have achieved full traceability and produced a diversified baby food portfolio according to the EU regulations. Therefore, we didn’t face any failure in our state of the art factories and in the markets including TRCEEMENA countries. We have worked with the best laboratories in Turkey, Spain and Italy (Neotron, Ecosur, LQM etc.). We are proud with this experience, know-how and achievement! Now we are transferring this excellent know-how to the agrifood development projects.

Food safety from field to the fork!

Clearly, I have to define that the main purpose of the food safety system is to protect and improve public health by ensuring that foods meet science­ based safety standards through the integrated activities of the public and private sectors. In summary, we have to apply:

1. Excellent communication and cooperation between food drivers;

2. Targeted quality assurance and R&D to reduce the food-borne illness in the whole supply chain from farm to plate;

3. Driving new product development, growth and innovation in the agriculture and food industries;

4. Effective regulatory compliance and offering healthier choices in nutritional labeling;

5. Effective capacity building and training development programme for supply chain, quality, risks, R&D, marketing and innovation, regulations, trade, exports, leadership and investment including agrifood industry including SMEs and private sector;

6. Effective allergen, contaminant and residue management;

7. Managing emergency outbreaks and food incidents;

8. Increased awareness of food safety among consumers and food industry drivers.

Food safety from field to the fork

Top 20 Issues Affecting Agribusiness Industry!

When I have managed our family agriculture and farming business for more than 20 years, we have performed cereal and crop farming, fruit and vegetable farming and cattle, and sheep farming operations and irrigation in the field. However, we faced some challenges in different years. These were market volatility and climate volatility. Some summer seasons were dry and some others were rainy. It was not easy to sell sheep and cattle in the local market due to the low customer demand, especially in 1960-1970 years. In the coming years, market access was improved and many smallholders achieved agribusiness growth and welfare. Because we improved our marketing strategy, developed new skills, increased know-how and we used new technologies. It was clear that the price volatility and drought seasons always affected the smallholders in agribusiness productivity and value creation.

In another project, we have performed agribusiness value chain analysis, applied good agricultural practices and integrated pest management methods, cooperated with farmers, SMEs and Government agencies and we have supplied fruits, vegetables and grains according to the EC infant food standards. So that we achieved economic growth, conserved biodiversity, increased agricultural output, created additional export opportunities and improved food security. These works benefited farmers, SMEs, the private sector and our company.

Agribusiness productivity is a crucial factor to increase the quality and output in food safety.

Now let’s look at the top 20 key issues affecting agribusiness industry and food security, the two with the most impact are the market volatility and climate volatility. If we summarize these top 20 issues, these are:

1. Climate volatility;

2. Domestic and global market volatility;

3. Marketing/visibility of the agribusiness sector and market access;

4. High global competition and changes in global trade policies. Disruptors in technology, production and services driving down margins;

5. Increased corporate investment in the agribusiness industry & corporatization;

6. Cybersecurity;

7. Agtech innovation and internet of things (IoT) and digitalization of the supply chain;

8. Automation and digital disruption at farm, factory and customer services;

9. A need for effective risk management;

10. Poor financing sources to access international markets;

11. Changes in consumer needs and issues based on strong food safety and quality records;

12. Increasing rural-urban migration and loss of manpower in farming areas.

13. Weak infrastructure in rural areas

14. Standardization and differentiation

15. Collaboration and networking

16. Availability and price of land for expansion

17. New government mandates and regulations

18. Commercialization of research and knowledge

19. Acting as change agents

20. Entrepreneurship capability and innovation

Strengthening the agribusiness value chain is important to understand customer needs, what products, technologies, skills, and services are needed for future productivity and economic growth of the region. Smart specialization, cooperation, and competitiveness are especially vital or important for SMEs during the global and domestic economic transformation process in the agribusiness industry. For example, 50 percent of the agricultural supplies is provided by the cooperatives and they have 40 percent agro-food market share in Europe.

Finally, I have to define that smart specialization and cluster-focused approaches supported by effective marketing and innovation strategies to regional economic development are internationally proven to be one of the strongest avenues to increased business growth, productivity and new job creation in agri-food industry to solve the issues and create agribusiness growth, welfare and food security.

Organic Turkish Tea from Rize