COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ORGANIC AND CONVENTIONAL RAISIN FARMS

This study aimed to compare the results of economic activities of organic and conventional farms of sultana raisins by considering the case of the Manisa province, which is Turkey's biggest producer of sultanas. Organic sultana's yield is 30% lower compared to conventional sultana's yield, but also the price that the organic sultana producers earned for 2011/2012 is 12.26% higher than conventional raisin producers in the examined farms. It has been found that gross margin of organic sultanas is 8.78% lower than the conventional raisin gross margin. In order to generalize organic viticulture at producer level, factors such as increasing organic sultana's yield and trade practices in the direction of earning higher prices for producers must be assessed.