Tat Gıda, “7. Met with Farmers at the "Digital Field Day" Event

Tat Gıda continues to make a difference in its sector by implementing applications that provide solutions to improve communication with farmers and support their development. At Tat Gıda 's seventh annual Digital Field Day event, 22 different companies, startups, universities, and research centers working in digital agriculture sensors and applications, plant nutrition and protection products, seed and seedling varieties, precision and smart farming technologies, drone, satellite and image processing technologies, and agricultural machinery and equipment set up stands to showcase their innovative solutions, reaching a total of 600 participants.

Karacabey District Governor Hakan Kafkas, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Agricultural Marketing Department Head Ahmet Turan Gürkan, Bursa Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Acar, Karacabey District Director of Agriculture and Forestry Davut Aytek, Mustafakemalpaşa District Director of Agriculture and Forestry Kamil Dinçer Uslu, President of Karacabey Chamber of Agriculture attended the event. Erhan Erdem and YeniÇiftçi Platform Founder Emrah İnce attended.

Agriculture and Food Sector is of Strategic Importance for Our Country

In his opening speech at the event , Veysel Memiş, Deputy Chairman and General Manager of Tat Gıda, emphasized the company's commitment to the development of farmers and agriculture, and its pioneering work in digital agriculture, stating : “As Tat Gıda, we are aware of the strategic importance of the agriculture and food sector for our country. Since our establishment, we have been continuing our work tirelessly in this context together with our farmers and stakeholders. In this event, where we come together every year, we aim to contribute to the development of the sector. We all know that healthy generations can only be built with healthy nutrition. The foundation of healthy nutrition begins with the agricultural activities we carry out in these lands, and then continues with the preparation of the produced products in the highest quality in food processing plants and reaches our tables. As Tat Gıda, we are moving forward by working together with our producers and stakeholders for the future of sustainable agriculture. We are continuing our digital agriculture activities, which we have been developing step by step over the years, in this direction. With the increasing population, the need for food is also increasing, and the climate crisis has negative effects on agriculture. Increasing quality and yield in agriculture is only possible with technology and new methods. We first apply the technology and methods in our own agricultural areas, and then we share them with our farmers.” We are sharing this information. Due to the climate crisis, freshwater resources are decreasing worldwide. The widespread use of drip irrigation systems in tomato farming is very encouraging. However, more is needed to provide the right amount of water at the right time, according to the plant's needs. We are testing AI-powered solutions for optimum irrigation on our own Tat Gıda farms. We want to be a pioneer in this field by disseminating the successful results to our farmers. As Tat Gıda, we are pleased to see that all our farmers are using our renewed mobile application. With the Tat Mobile Application, we share information such as weather conditions, satellite imagery analyses, appropriate spraying techniques, and tractor usage times. Farmers can also view delivery and contract information through the application. Furthermore, for the first time this year, they will be able to digitally access delivery and quality information for each vehicle delivered.”

“We Want to Attract Our Youth to Agriculture”

Veysel Memiş, emphasizing the importance of contract farming, continued: “We attach great importance to contract farming. Tat Gıda is the first company to implement contract farming in tomato cultivation. We are proud to have pioneered such a practice. Digitalization in the field makes a big difference in agriculture. Therefore, it is one of our priorities for our producers to monitor their fields digitally. We are guiding our farmers to use satellite technologies to remotely monitor plant health in the field. This year, we are monitoring plant health in a total of 12 decares of land through satellite image analysis. We are implementing the Digital Transformation Program, which we started last year, with 25 farmers in 3 regions this year, namely Mustafakemalpaşa, Karacabey, and Torbalı. For this, we have installed digital agricultural stations and camera-equipped insect stations in our farmers' fields. It is important to see disease risks early and intervene in time. For this, we are using artificial intelligence-supported solutions. Last year, we used 22% less active ingredient and fewer chemicals. We value practices that protect the soil, water, and our world, our natural resources. We are providing our farmers with training in production, agricultural technologies, and agriculture..." We provide information on developments and the protection of natural resources. Since last year, we have met with 100 farmers. We aim to reach 500 farmers by the end of the year and 1200 by 2026. It is very important for young people to show interest in agriculture. We want to attract young people to agriculture, and for this purpose, we will conduct various training programs. We will offer this important opportunity to 150 young people in the first stage. We aim to increase this number in the future.”

Speaking at the event, Ahmet Turan Gürkan, Head of Agricultural Marketing Department, also touched upon the importance of agriculture for our country, stating: “Through agricultural activities, we provide added value to both the national economy and the region. Factors such as water scarcity, climate change, the pandemic, and some developments in the nearby geography have emphasized the need for us as a country to carefully plan our food supply balance. Another important aspect in agriculture is contract farming. To prevent fluctuations in the product market and protect both farmers and consumers, we prioritize expanding contract farming and agricultural insurance. We also support the steps taken in this regard. We thank Tat Gıda for this important event that brings together current developments and innovations with producers.”

In his speech at the event , Emrah İnce, the founder of the New Farmer Platform, touched upon the benefits of digitalization in agriculture and added that Tat Gıda has taken significant steps in digital farming.

At the event, which attracted great interest from farmers and guests, Agrovisio, Altıntar, BASF, BASF Nunhems, Bayer, İzmir Agricultural Technology Center (İTTM), Doktar, Ege University, FarmLabs, Koyuncu Tarım Move On, Orgatek, Sabancı University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (PRESENTATION). ), Syngenta, Tat Gıda, Tekno Kurgu, Teta Teknik Tarım, TOPRAQ, Toros Tarım, Türk Traktör, Türkiye İş Bankası and İmece Mobil took part in the United Genetics stand.

The event ended after the companies that set up stands were presented with plaques for their contributions.

Source: HORECA Trend and Taste Food