A time when people in Turkey, both adults and children, were being distanced from natural and additive-free foods through 'profit-oriented marketing', when fast food advertisements were intensifying on television channels, and organic farming was not yet known.
Our founder Mehmet Ali Işık, foreseeing the potential damages of the unhealthy consumption patterns being imposed in the early 90s, decided to practice organic farming. With this vision, he and his team took on all the challenges of a new initiative and designed Turkey's first independent organic farming project by a company. In those years when technology was behind the digital age, different regions and villages with suitable natural structure and climate conditions for various products were identified on maps drawn on parchment paper. Then, Işık Tarım's agricultural teams went to each identified village to explain the importance of organic farming, what it is, and how it's done. Farmers gathered in village coffeehouses were given detailed presentations about organic farming, and village farmers were encouraged to practice organic farming. Before farmers who wanted to start organic farming could join the project, our agricultural experts examined their lands, and those found suitable were registered in the Happy Village Project. Registered farmers were given regular training to increase their organic awareness.
Just like today, in those years Turkey had a land structure with intense inheritance-based fragmentation, so fields were generally very close to each other and highly fragmented. When organic farming was practiced in one field without using harmful chemicals, if chemicals were used in the adjacent field, these chemicals would even reach the organic farming field through the wind. Solving this wouldn't be easy, but our project and brand were born from this challenge.
There was only one way to solve this problem: Creating completely organic villages.
Happy Villages...
Creating happy villages was possible by raising awareness among all the people in the village. Occasionally, we found chemical traces in products coming to our factory from registered organic farmers. When we investigated the reasons, we realized that other family members, thinking that the harvest would be more productive, had used chemical substances in the production areas with all their naivety, apart from the male farmers who received training in the first stage. That is, the training given only to the men in the household was not enough. Upon this, our agricultural experts gathered women and children in village houses to explain organic farming and its requirements to raise awareness about organic farming.
At the beginning of the project, farmers who were hesitant to join the organic production project later joined the project voluntarily when they saw the satisfaction of registered farmers with the organic farming project.
The Year 2023...
We have our "Happy Village" with over 175 organic villages and 4000 registered farmers in 6 regions of Turkey, and we have converted a total of 145 million m2 of land to organic farming over the past 30 years.
Happy Village is more than just a brand.
The products we bring to our consumers under the Happy Village brand are not just products for us.
They are the products of a large happiness project, carefully crafted over 30 years by a visionary who loves nature, living beings, and production, along with his team, recognized and respected worldwide.
We promote organic farming and good agricultural practices to protect the environment
We create great interaction between Işık Tarım employees, customers, growers, consumers, and everyone in our community
We provide good working conditions for harvest workers and their families.
All fruits and hazelnuts we offer are traceable directly to their source and the farmers who grow them.
We support rural development by making life easier and better in rural areas
