Miller Magazine Issue: 126 June 2020

58 COVER STORY MILLER / JUNE 2020 approach to be adopted and support and pricing policies to increase production be developed. The pandemic will have at least short and middle-term effects on global and longer chains and governments will tend to prefer shorter and regional chains. This may decrease the role of China’s role in these chains and Turkey can make an export spurt by being more active within the new regional food chains. It is worthwhile to highlight that thanks to some support pro- grams and the Contactless Export Model, fruit and vegeta- ble exports of Turkey have continued without interruption. In high-uncertainty and high-risk situations such as ep- idemics, the sustainability of stocks is also critical. It is im- portant to protect and sustain products by establishing re- gional grain warehouses with the capacity to meet basic needs and by expanding licensed warehousing to balance supply shortages or excess stocks that may occur with sup- ply and demand volatilities. The need and demand for these are expected to increase. Another point that stands out during the pandemic period is the increase in communication and collective movement among the players in the chain. As long as the farmers in the chain produce at adequate levels, agricul- tural industrialists can continue production. On the other hand, if the agricultural supply surplus occurs, the farm- ers can survive as long as the industrialists purchase and process this excess. Industrialists can improve the in-chain balances with the messages to the farmers regarding the expectations regarding the demand. Increasing coopera- tion, activation of organizations such as cooperatives, and increased tendency towards planned and contracted pro- duction will reduce risks. Businesses that produce appropriate innovative solutions by observing emerging needs and demands during the pan- demic period, will have important opportunities. In the agri- food sector, food safety and food accessibility have come to the fore. In this respect, food industrialists will focus on technology and digitalization investments as much as pos- sible, which will increase efficiency and reduce food loss- es. For example, by creating a blockchain infrastructure in the supply chain, flour industrialists can track information such as the origin of the seed, the rate of pesticide used, transportation and storage conditions for each party of the wheat and they can make all these data available to the consumers. The transparent tracking of the chain will not only provide food safety but also reduce intermediaries and product losses within the chain. One of the effects of the pandemic has been changing trends in market channels. Due to reasons such as hygiene measures and lockdowns, there was a need for consum- ers to access food through safer channels. E-commerce for the virtual market category grew by two or three times in the world and Turkey. About half of consumers using these channels in Turkey are new customers. It shows that e-com- merce will have a larger share within food supply chains during and after the pandemic. With a high potential for agricultural production, Tur- key has opportunities to strengthen domestic production, to increase its role in the international food chain, and to create new regional chains in the post-pandemic period. To achieve that, it is important to determine the stra- tegic products, develop policies of sustainable produc- tion, promote contractual production, increase the use of agricultural land and technology, activate cooperatives, establish sustainable and effective support and incentive mechanisms, and develop policies to increase regional cooperation. With the help of these kinds of sustainable policies, Turkey will be able to ensure the balance of sup- ply and demand and create new opportunities in inter- national trade.