Mapping The Turkish Agriculture Machinery Ecosystem
By: Kök Projekt
Tags: Kök Projekt, Turkey, Agtech, Agriculture, Startup

By Tezer Pekşen

Understanding the Sector

As Kök Projekt, we are an agri-food startup accelerator and an innovation partner for the food, agriculture, and water sector companies. We conduct research, prepare reports, and create databases to understand the world of food, agriculture, and water. Thus, we know the importance of recognizing each actor is crucial to understand the sector.

Thus, we shared Turkish Agricultural Ecosystem Maps, Turkish Food Ecosystem Map, Turkish Agricultural Cooperatives Map, and Turkish Water Ecosystem Map throughout the recent months in collaboration with Patent Effect and Startups Watch.

As we are deeply immerse ourselves in research, and considering the agriculture machinery is the main pillar for digitalization of agriculture, we have decided to map the Turkish Agriculture Machinery Ecosystem Map.

Through this map, we aimed to understand the agriculture machinery ecosystem and its stakeholders, which has a crucial role in the sector for digitalization and efficiency goals. Although we know that a map has many limits, it’s also a great tool to start digging deeper and initiate conversations.

An Overview of the Turkish Agriculture Machinery Ecosystem

In Turkey, agriculture and agricultural mechanization have been an important topic since the beginning of the 1900s. Many studies and researches have been carried out on this subject. As a result, mechanization in agriculture still maintains its importance, and Turkey has become a leading country in production and export in this field over the course of the years.

Starting with establishing the first Turkish Tractor Factory in Etimesgut, Ankara, in 1954, many remarkable results have been achieved, such as the first tractor export in 1974, and the domestic tractor presence reached 1 million by the 2000¹. Due to the domestic market fluctuations towards the end of the ’90s, some companies in the sector started to look for further opportunities for exporting their products. As a result of this orientation, exports have increased ten times since 2000.

Exportation requires a certain quality and technology; thus, noticeable engineering development has been observed in the sector. In addition to establishing a suitable infrastructure for this in the last two decades, it is also an important reason to regain the declining yield in agriculture due to environmental factors to the economy.

Today, almost all of the requirements needed mechanization equipment is manufactured in Turkey. Besides the heavy industrial products such as combines, balers, self-propelled silage, and cotton harvesters, which are generally designed in capacities and models suitable for large parcels and enterprises; entrepreneurs have started to invest in the market, products, and services such as sensors, drone technologies, and satellite scanning systems.

¹http://www.tzob.org.tr/basin-odasi/haberler/traktor-sayisi-1-5-milyonu-asti

Building the Map

Public and Governmental Organizations

From harvesting equipment to agricultural sensors, the Turkish Agricultural Machinery scene has never been this vibrant before. Research, studies, and financial support conducted by public institutions such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Industry and Technology, TÜBİTAK, and KOSGEB greatly impacted this development process.

We started our research by determining which governmental and public institutions are working on this subject. We dive into the 2018–2022 Agricultural Mechanization Sector Policy Document to determine the scope and implementation of food and agricultural policies in Turkey; this document was prepared to understand the current situation, challenges, and future trends of the sector and to regulate the procedures to be followed in the 2018–2022 period.

Unions

During the second stage of our study, we searched for unions and federations that contributed to developing the Turkish agricultural machinery sector’s development.

We found that TARKMAKBIR (The Turkish Association of Agricultural Machinery & Equipment Manufacturers) is one of the key contributors in this field. They achieve this by gathering essential players in the agricultural machinery field and publishing vital statistics and sectoral reports such as the “Agricultural Machinery Industry Interaction Report.”

Corporates

As Kök Projekt, we are an innovation partner for food, agriculture, and water sector companies; thus, we carefully follow the sector’s companies. Many national firms are operating in the agricultural machinery sector. These companies play a significant role in the development of the industry and contribute to efficiency and productivity.

Most of these companies produce more than machinery equipment; they simultaneously export to various parts of the world, but they also develop the machinery industry and contribute to the national economy.

Startup

In recent years, startups have become active players in the agriculture ecosystem, they contribute to this network by doing research and development.

As Kök Projekt, we are an agri-food startup accelerator. We follow Turkish agri-food startups closely and support them. In our map, we also append the startups to illustrate the sector more deeply.

The startups focus on increasing productivity, efficiency, and advancements in a manner of agricultural production. For the Startups Section, we used our startup database to put it on the map. Secondly, we collaborate with Startup Watch, a Turkish Startup Ecosystem Intelligence to get startup data. Finally, we worked closely with Patent Effect, supporting technology-driven companies, and research institutes to unleash the patents’ power to impact their innovation journey. In the map, with the contribution of Patent Effect, you will find startups and Patentpreneurs: Startups who have at least one patent/utility model application.

Quick Disclaimer

Quick disclaimer; This is not an exhaustive list of all stakeholders of the agriculture machinery ecosystem. You can reach out to our 2020 Turkish Agriculture Machinery Ecosystem Map here.

Our Turkish Agriculture Machinery Ecosystem Stakeholder Map 2020 (For Full Version)

Below is an overview of each startup category

Smart Agriculture/Precision Farming: Startups focusing on advanced technology, including big data, internet of things (IoT), which are tracking, monitoring, and automating agricultural activities. Specific crop management, farming management concept responding to inter variability in the field, and crops.

Indoor Farming: Startups working with hydroponic systems, vertical farming solutions, soilless, and indoor farming systems. Generally, indoor farming applications are used in urban farming. Urban farms reduce the distance between production and consumption.

Agriculture Machinery: Startups focusing on agriculture machinery.

Investors: Very crucial stakeholder of the ecosystem. Without investments, startups can not survive. The more ag-tech financing will grow, the more number of innovative startups will increase.

We welcome your thoughts and would love to hear from you.

For any of your questions or feedback, you can shoot us an email to:

info@kokprojekt.com

Sources

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https://www.oaibftp.com/arge3/tar-mak-etk-rap.pdf

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https://www.tarimorman.gov.tr/TAGEM/Belgeler/yayin/Tar%C4%B1msal%20Mekanizasyon%20Sekt%C3%B6r%20Politika%20Belgesi%202018-2022.pdf

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https://www.agrievolution.com/global-market-data

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http://www.tarmakbir.org/haberler/raporlar/akillitarimrapor01.pdf

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http://www.tzob.org.tr/basin-odasi/haberler/traktor-sayisi-1-5-milyonu-asti