Sustainable consumption and organic farming: The case of Bursa, Turkey

Abstract

Organic farming as a key to sustainable agriculture has captured the attention of many countries worldwide. Nowadays, a significant number of conscious consumers are turning every day to the consumption of organic products for healthy living, soil and water. Thus, the concept of sustainable, healthy and natural nutrition, which comes into our daily life with the development of organic agriculture, gradually increases in importance. This research was aimed at determining organic product consumption trends of consumers and examining some marketing features in Turkey in the province of Bursa, where the first organic product market was located. For this purpose, a total of 541 consumers were surveyed in organic product markets in Bursa. According to the results of the analysis, product price and income level were important factors in organic product consumption. In addition, the majority of consumers (71.35%) did not trust organic products. An interesting finding is that the middle-income group (about 30-40%) consumed the most organic products. It is extremely important to increase the consumption of organic products for sustainable consumption in the region. There is a need to improve the quality of organic products and regulation of the market place, and to reduce market margin in favor of the consumer in organic product marketing.