Innovation Practices in Agricultural Organizations: The Case of Türkiye

In recent years, the importance of the agricultural sector has increased even more with the COVID-19 pandemic process that the whole world has faced. This process has once again shown that the most important factor in the survival of people is the minimum level of food requirement and that it is only possible to meet this requirement through the agricultural sector. Especially after the world population exceeded the 8 billion mark, it has become more and more difficult to meet the world's food demand. In this context, it is necessary to ensure efficiency and productivity in agriculture in order to increase food production. For this, agricultural innovation practices are needed. This study aims to identify the current state of innovation practices used in agricultural organizations in Türkiye. In the research, document analysis technique was used within the scope of qualitative research method. The population of the research consists of agricultural organizations in Türkiye that are engaged in innovation practices. In this context, 40 agricultural organizations that can be reached via the internet were determined as the sample of the research. The innovation practices of agricultural organizations were examined through the web pages of the organizations and the data obtained were subjected to content analysis. As a result of the research, it was determined that 45% of the innovation practices of agricultural organizations were product innovation, 32.5% were process innovation, 20% were organizational innovation, and 2.5% were marketing innovation. In addition, it was determined that 30% of agricultural organizations were engaged in agricultural innovation practices in smart agriculture, 20% in education, 20% in organic/sustainable agriculture, 14% in good agriculture, 14% in food safety, and 2% in e-commerce. As a result, it is thought that this study will guide the managers of agricultural organizations on agricultural innovation and contribute to the relevant literature.