The European Green Deal: Implications for Turkey

Hunger, food insecurity and the ill-informed use of natural resources are issues that concern the whole world, while the excessive use of chemicals, the increasing demands for food, climate change and political instability are posing significant challenges to existing food systems and sustainability. The Green New Deal (GND) seeks to resolve these problems and to support the positive transformation of the agriculture and food sectors. Turkey can be considered an ideal country for an analysis of the GND concept and for understanding its potential impact on the agricultural and food sectors, given its population in the region of 82 million, and its status as the second most populous Mediterranean country. The present study analyzes how the agricultural and food sectors will be affected by the GND, and clarifies the current status of the agricultural and food sectors in Turkey to understand what needs to be done to meet the GND goals. The adverse conditions in Turkey that are of particular note include the lack of R&D activity in the field of renewable energy; micro-scale food security issues; instability in agricultural policy; high inflation affecting food prices; and food losses and problems related to food fraud.