The three-stage workshop series carried out in cooperation with GIZ, TEPAV and IPA was completed with the last, in person, workshop held on November 22, 2022.

ISTANBUL - Within the scope of the Promotion of Economic Prospects (PEP) Programme  financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the workshop titled “Planning Tomorrow's Food System Today”, which was the last of the three-stage workshop series, held in Istanbul on Tuesday, November 22, 2022 in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, TEPAV and the Istanbul Planning Agency (IPA) to determine what we can do to ensure that Istanbul has a more resilient, sustainable and inclusive food system.

The workshop started with the opening speech of TEPAV’s Sibel Güven. Emphasizing the importance of transforming food systems, Güven stated that policy design is important to make Istanbul's food system more resilient.

The workshop continued with the speech of Rubeena Esmail, Country Director of GIZ Turkey. While emphasizing that Public-Private sector cooperation plays a key role in identifying the problems, Esmail highlighted that achieving a sustainable and green food system in cities is an issue that should be prioritized due to increasingly growing cities.

In his opening speech, IPA Advisor Prof. Dr. Murat Şeker stated that many people had to shrink their portions due to financial difficulties and the children have to go to school hungry. Emphasizing that the food crisis brings along other crises, Şeker also stated that food supply security should be a prioritized issue for all of us.

After the opening speeches, the workshop was followed by Sibel Güven's presentation titled “How did we come to this day? What are we going to do today?" Drawing attention to the fact that the food prices in Istanbul are higher than Türkiye’s average and the need to strengthen the regional food system, Güven stated that the topics of cooperatives in the transformation of the food system, digital transformation of the food system and planning in the transformation of the food system will be discussed in the continuation of the workshop.

The first session entitled “Cooperatives in the Transformation of the Food System” was started with the presentation of Dr. Selin Özokcu from TEPAV. While drawing attention to the problems and difficulties experienced by food cooperatives in Turkey, Özokcu emphasized that in order to provide access to safe, healthy and sustainable food with an alternative and short food value chain, it is necessary to rethink the cooperative and community supported agriculture model on the axis of digitalization. The session continued with the presentation of Prof. Dr. Gökhan Özertan from Boğaziçi University and discussions after the presentation.

Yakup Peker from TEPAV made the first presentation of the session entitled "Digital Transformation of the Food System." Peker emphasized that it is possible to increase the welfare of many different groups with the digital transformation of the food system. In the second presentation of the session, Trendyol Sustainability Leader Simge Abay talked about the details of the “Villages of Tomorrow” project implemented by Trendyol. The session ended with a discussion where the views of the participants were taken.

The third session, entitled "Planning in Transformation of the Food System ", started with the presentation of Sibel Güven from TEPAV. Güven drew attention to the short and long-term reasons for the need for planning and stated that it is only possible to achieve price stability in food with a holistic agriculture and food policy. The session continued with the presentation of Taylan Kıymaz, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Country Program Manager.

The workshop ended with discussion and evaluation speeches.