Sustainable Agriculture Studies
Sustainable Agriculture with Farmers
Tat Gıda believes it is important to work in
cooperation with farmers, who are the most
critical stakeholders, and to lead the way in
terms of both financial support and the use of
new technology in order for them to be able to
continue their work.
Farmers are trying to produce and provide safe food every day while coping with many problems. Issues such as the shrinking amount of arable land, decreasing productivity, and anomalies caused by the climate crisis are all highly relevant to both farmers and companies engaged in food production. 80% of farmers in Turkey are struggling to adapt to climate change, and these problems have caused the number of farmers to decrease in recent years. Data from the last 5 years show that the number of farmers in Turkey has decreased by 28.7%.
Farmers need sustainable agricultural policies and a wider use of agricultural technology to reduce costs and increase productivity, and to do this they need technology to be produced,and share their knowledge and experience. Tat Gıda’s practices support the farmers it works with, with the aim of creating an environment in which many business partners who are leading the technological transformation of agriculture and food can cooperate easier thanks to new investments.
With its vision of sustainable agriculture, Tat Gıda aims to help farmers develop, communicate easier, and make digitalization more widespread in tomato farming. Through its contract farming and digital agriculture projects, Tat Gıda enables farmers to produce more efficiently, while also providing financial aid which help farmers continue their business.
Contract Farming
One of the first companies to implement “Contract Farming” in Turkey, Tat Gıda has been practicing this uninterruptedly for 57 years to ensure the continuity of the ecosystem. It works with over 1000 farmers, about 500 of whom are contracted.
The basic working principle of this model is a contract between farmers and the industrial plants that process crops, according to a long-term projection of agricultural supply and a win-win understanding. This model contributes significantly to the sustainability of agriculture in regions where these production plants are located. Farmers get support throughout the process with contracts made at sowing time before the tomato season, through in-kind and cash advance payments as well as digital agricultural support until harvest time.
Tat Gıda supports farmers’ cash flow with advance payments, but also offers in-kind advances for seedlings, seeds, fertilizers, and drip irrigation systems. In 2024, a total of approximately 167 million TL in cash and in-kind advance support was provided to farmers
Prestigious Awards for 2024 in Agriculture and Sustainability to Tat Gıda
In 2024, the company was awarded first place in the “Smart Agriculture” category at the Fast Company Türkiye Agriculture Awards, received the Gold Award in the “Sustainable Agriculture Project of the Year” category at the Pazarlama Türkiye Climate and Sustainability Awards, and won first prize in the “Innovative Ideas and Suggestions” category with its Digital Transformation Program at the Tat Gıda Project Awards.
Agricultural Value Chain
At Tat Gıda, we launched the “Agricultural Value Chain” project to support the financial sustainability of our contracted farmers and to ensure the continuity of agricultural production. Through this project, our farmers are able to access financing without the need for collateral, credit limits, or waiting for payment terms, and under favorable conditions aligned with market standards.
The project facilitates farmers’ cash flow management, enabling them to carry out field production processes in a more efficient and planned manner, while also supporting the management of input costs and improvement of product quality. As a result, both the welfare of farmers is enhanced and a strong and sustainable agricultural ecosystem is fostered.
In accordance with its vision on sustainable agriculture, Tat Gıda makes huge contributions to sustainability by spreading its Contract Farming and Digital Agriculture efforts which enable farmers to produce more efficiently.
To be ready for changes both today and in the future, technology is the greatest tool we have to ensure sustainability. With this awareness, Tat Gıda is pioneering digital transformation across its supply chain from farm to fork, offering a visionary perspective on how to develop digital agricultural technologies and solutions.
With its vast agricultural knowledge, Tat Gıda supports farmers in sustainable agriculture, with the aim of leading agricultural transformation by spreading digital agriculture and applying new agricultural technologies in food production.
Cooperation to Develop Agricultural Technologies
Technology is critical for sustainability and readiness for the future. Tat Gıda works together with companies and organizations that develop and provide technology to implement digital agricultural applications to solve the problems of the future while creating added value at the same time. Analyzing data obtained by integrating technology into production processes, creating data-driven decisionmaking mechanisms and algorithms that increase efficiency, and efforts to develop new solutions provide resources and opportunities for sustainable, innovative agricultural production and business models.
In this context, we have initiated efforts to develop an Irrigation and Fertilization Algorithm that uses data collected from the fields to calculate the correct and optimal amount of irrigation and fertilization. These developed algorithms will help identify proper methods and practices to ensure efficiency and improve quality.
Tat Gıda is Transforming the Soil into Digital Fields!
Tat Gıda plays a leading role in digital agriculture technologies with the aim of increasing farmer productivity and supporting sustainable agriculture. In 2024, within the scope of the Digital Agriculture Program applied over 12,000 decares of land, farmer productivity increased by an average of 28%, while tomato production costs were reduced by 30% compared to regional averages.
The company utilizes sensor stations, mobile soil analysis devices, digital insect traps, and climate monitoring systems as part of its innovative technological approach. Through the Tat Mobile App, Tat Gıda maintains active communication with farmers, conducting awareness initiatives on water conservation, soil management, and plant health.
With its Agricultural Climate Stations, Tat Gıda provides localized weather forecasting and conducts risk analysis for diseases that may affect tomato development. These insights are shared with farmers in real-time via the mobile app.
As of 2025, the company aims to expand the Digital Transformation Program to include 300 additional farmers and implement it across 15,000 decares. Additionally, within the scope of the EBRD program, training is planned for 1,200 farmers on digital field technologies and digital literacy, with a focus on providing technical education specifically for young farmers.
Tat Gıda’s total investments in digital agricultural applications and mechanization have reached approximately 30 million TL. In 2024 alone, around 2.75 million TL was invested in this area.
One of the most critical problems caused by global warming is water scarcity. Water use is the most important requirement of agriculture, and 70% of the limited freshwater resources around the world is used in agriculture. To ensure that plants receive the optimum amount of irrigation at the right time, Tat Gıda is carrying out research and trials for Smart Irrigation Technologies. Tat Gıda uses drip irrigation systems and other methods to ensure effective use of water while reducing the water it uses by about 30%. Launched in 2020, the Satellite Images Analysis for Irrigation Management application was implemented on an area of 265 hectares. In addition, climate stations and satellite images help monitor air and soil moisture to make predictions about irrigation, and then evaluate these predictions for optimal irrigation management.
As of 2024, production has been carried out on more than 20,000 decares of land with over 400 contracted farmers, while Tat has directly managed agricultural operations on 2,600 decares. A total of TRY 167 million in in-kind and cash advance support has been provided to farmers. Approximately TRY 2.75 million has been invested in digital agriculture activities, generating around TRY 1 million in revenue.
Tat Gıda is able to perform direct analysis on fields in all the regions where it receives supplies from or produces with its Digital Soil Analysis Equipment. Soil analysis results are ready in 10 minutes, supporting fast and accurate decisionmaking. These devices can measure 9 different soil structure values, which are analyzed by experienced agricultural engineers to ensure the application of the most suitable fertilization programs.
An important technology in the field of agriculture, Digital Pheromone Traps capture pests and photograph them with cameras inside the trap to identify and calculate population density using image processing technology. Besides being used in pest estimation to calculate warning models, they also collect climate data from the field with a sensitive temperature humidity sensor, allowing Tat Gıda to take any actions necessary at the right time, saving time and money.
Guided by satellite, Automatic Steering Systems help save soil and/or fertilizer without tiring the driver or being affected by weather conditions, even at night, eliminating any unwanted spacing or overlapping. This technology has resulted in 5% space and 17% time savings in tomato production.
Tat Gıda is leading the efforts to reduce risk and increase efficiency along agricultural supply chains by providing transparency and traceability with Blockchain Technology. In line with its digitalization vision to create sustainable food security, Tat Gıda used first in Turkey the TTRACE Platform that a complete smart contract structure in an agricultural supply chain. This project’s pilot study was completed this year. When the project finishes, it will make it possible to gather different stakeholders in the value chain on a single platform from farm to fork.
To spread digital agricultural technologies and increase quality and efficiency in agriculture, Tat Gıda provides preliminary information to farmers over the Tat Leader Farmer Mobile Application. Using satellite images to analyze plant health, the application provides farmers with information free of charge under the guidance of agricultural engineers.
In addition to helping today’s farmers get acquainted with new technologies, Tat Gıda also cares about introducing young, new generations to farming and agriculture. Thus, we are working on new projects to provide knowledge and experience to visionary young farmers who have new generation agricultural knowledge, think agricultural R&D is important, and can use smart agricultural systems.
Digital Field Day
As part of our “Tomato Leaders” project, we organize the “Digital Field Day” event every year, aimed at developing farmers, enhancing communication, and increasing digitalization in tomato agriculture. In line with Tat Gıda’s vision of digitalization, this recurring event brings together solution partners who set up promotional booths to showcase their agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, smart agricultural technologies, machinery, and seeds, sharing the latest innovations in digital agriculture with farmers. Tat Gıda also shares its experiences and successful field results with farmers through its digital agricultural applications, contributing to raising farmers’ awareness and supporting their adaptation to digital technologies in agriculture.
