Research Information System
VI. International Agricultural, Biological & Life Science Conference, Edirne, Turkey, 18 - 20 September 2024, pp.1469-1473
The current trend of decline in the ability of agroecosystems (e.g. organic farming) to provide ecosystem services is a major threat to food security worldwide. In 2022, the total area of organic agriculture in Türkiye totaled about 310.584 ha from 24 million ha of agriculture area. On the other hand, Türkiye is facing environmental problems such as soil degradation, deforestation, climate change, loss of biodiversity, etc, which pose major threats to human safety, health, environment, and productivity. Therefore, organic farming can provide important services to the environment and society. Basically, the function of organic farming systems plays an important role in both ecological and economic aspects by improving livelihoods, protecting biodiversity and increasing soil fertility and health. The development of organic farming is possible for the use of its services such as provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. For example, organic farming provides a systems approach to reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and increasing soil carbon sequestration while maintaining healthy soils and protecting biodiversity. This can reduce the world's agricultural GHG emissions by about 20%. Furthermore, this agricultural system may cut soil erosion by 22%, which is an issue that Turkiye's agricultural lands are facing. In general, organic farming reduces negative impacts on nature-related ecosystems while simultaneously providing ecosystem services. In this article, we will address this issue, how can the development of organic agriculture minimize the environmental problems of Türkiye by providing ecosystem services.