Tarım Bilimleri Araştırma Dergisi, cilt.6, ss.73-78, 2013 (Hakemli Dergi)
In recent years, although Turkey in term of the apple production amount ranks as the third among the leading apple grower countries in the world, it in the yield obtained per area has a fairly bad place. The main components affecting on the farmers' apple farming bring out the attitude and behaviours based on their demographic characteristics related to the farming, the farms' agricultural structure and the production factors. The aim of the study, therefore, is to analyze 125 farmers' attitude and behaviours farming in the modern apple orchards from various dimensions by the structural equation models by considering their demographic characteristics, some attributes of the agricultural structure and production in Egirdir District of Isparta. The primary data obtained from 125 apple farmers associated with the apple farming were first used for Principle Component Analysis, and then Cluster Analysis in SPSS statistical program. The results of the study showed that the attitudes and behaviors of the young apple growers tended to increase their revenues at the current production period by using technically dwarf rootstocks with high effectiveness at the installation and planning stages of apple orchards; that of the middle-aged ones focused on the studies of the general and technical education based on the technical farming under the influence of their demographic factors affecting on the management of apple orchards; and that of older ones tended to provide the optimal labor and to be much more sensitive towards the economic/natural risks and uncertainties.