Proceedings: 1st International Conference on Food and Agricultural Economics: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IMPLEMENTATIONS IN AN AGRI-FOOD COMPANY: CASE OF KAYSERI SUGAR FACTORY

Sustainable development means programming the life of today and tomorrow so that it can balance the natural environment with human beings and allow the needs of future generations to be met without finishing the entire natural resources. Sustainable development suggests that natural resources should be used to remain in future generations. For this reason, sustainable development has become an important issue globally. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals accepted by 193 countries at the UN Sustainable Development Summit held in 2015 is one of the best examples of importance of sustainable development. In this study, sustainable development in agriculture, which is one of the most important topics of sustainable development, is discussed. The social, economic, environmental, sectoral, geographical and temporal dimensions that are among the generally accepted dimensions of sustainable development are defined. Later, the UN 2030 sustainable development targets were introduced and the current situation in the world and in Turkey in sustainable development was examined. Then, sustainability in agriculture was addressed and the ecological, social and economic dimensions of sustainable agriculture were discussed. Within the scope of this study, in Kayseri Şeker Fabrikası A.Ş., one of the most important producers of agricultural production in Turkey and Kayseri, sustainable agriculture studies carried out were examined. Kayseri Şeker Fabrikası A.Ş. According to sales from production, it is among the top 500 industrial enterprises and it is the 101st largest enterprise in Turkey according to the data of 2015. A case study has been carried out in the study and social, environmental, economic and temporal dimensions within the context of the sustainable agricultural activities carried out in the last 5 years by the company have been reviewed and interpreted. Among the findings of the study, the social aspects of sustainable agricultural activities carried out in the business seem to have come to the fore such as open door, happy employee- happy business, farmer awareness and farmer promotion. In the economic dimension of sustainability, economic benefits such as water savings, savings in transportation costs, energy savings and new products obtaining from wastes have come to the forefront. On the other side, in the environmental dimension the issues of soil-rehabilitation, waste management, environmentally sensitive struggle against soil and beet pests come forward. Finally, in terms of temporal dimension the land and product tracking system comes to the forefront through the geographic information system.