Writer: Ayça Olcaytu İşçen
January 2010/Ankara

Organic Farming in Cappadocia
Organic farming has been started in 1930s in Great Britain under control but Turkey met with organic farming at the beginning of 1980s. The first implementations have been done in Aegean Region and as time pass the implementations have spread to the other places. According to the 2007 data in Turkey organic farming is being implemented approximately on 93 thousand hectare area. The organic farming was shaped on 1 December 2004 with the ‘Organic Farming Law’ numbered 5262; the studies are being done mostly in İzmir with the leadership of Ministry of Agriculture and continued under the supervision of control and certification companies. In order to sell a product as ‘organic’, the approval of these companies should be taken and the logo of “Organic Farming-Turkish Republic” should be on the package.

Organic Farming is important for Cappadocia
Organic farming is quite new in Cappadocia, one of the most important touristical centers of Turkey. The initiatives started in 1994 within the region accelerated during 2000s by the increase in rock hotels serving in boutique style. The ones who would like to learn more about the specific nature of the region, the history and the culture have started to prefer staying in rock and arched places unique to the region. Actually it was inevitable not to serve natural products in such a natural atmosphere. The restaurants started to plant their own vegetables and fruits in order to follow the trend. The raise in the number of the aware travelers who want to explore the region with its all components also raised the demands of natural products. Thus, the organic products of fertile soil of Cappadocia have started to be served in some of the hotels and restaurants of the region. It is doubtless that ecotourism, whose footstep can be heard easily, will be one of the trends of Cappadocia in the future. 

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