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Meet Paschalis

Paschalis Harizanis, 66, was born in Serres. He is a professor in the Faculty of Crop Science and Director of the Laboratory of Sericulture and Apiculture at the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), where he teaches classes in the Pathology of Bees and Silkworms, the Pathology of Productive Insects, and Sericulture and Apiculture. His Sericulture Laboratory, part of the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food, is the silk farming reference laboratory for all of Greece. He leads the Apiculture program implemented by Agricultural University of Athens for the program New Agriculture for a New Generation.

Paschalis’ interest in bees began when he was 12 years old, a student at the American Farm School (AFS). The first class he took at AFS was an apiculture class, and though he didn’t intend to study apiculture, the school changed his mind. He received a BS degree in General Agriculture from Aristotle University, and while at university, he spent his summers working at AFS. In the summer of 1973, his first summer working at the school, he met a professor of apiculture from the Ohio State University–Columbus who was providing foreign technical assistance to Greece. “I asked if I could help him and learn some beekeeping,” Paschalis said. “And at the end of the summer, he asked me if I wanted to go to the US and Canada for three months the following summer to live with two beekeeping families. Of course I said yes.” The next summer, Paschalis split his time between Canada and the US. While there, he was able to develop his English skills, and in Canada, his professor took him to an apiculture congress where he met a professor from the University of California, Davis, who encouraged him to apply for a PhD. “I was already a beekeeper at that point, so I didn’t have to learn the techniques–that was a big plus for me,” Paschalis said. “This chain of circumstances led me to my Master and PhD in Entomology at UC Davis.” He returned to Greece in 1983 and worked as a professor at the Technological Educational Institution of Thessaloniki. He also started a successful beekeeping business that he ran until he started working at AUA in 1994. “Beekeeping is my whole life, my hobby and my business,” Paschalis said.

I visited Paschalis during his apiculture class at AUA as he demonstrated for his students how to open a hive for inspection. We stood around him in a circle wearing our beekeeper’s masks as he lit pine needles in the smoker and removed frames to show us the different types of bees, the eggs in their cells, and the queen. He scraped some honey from a frame and held it out to us. “Taste, taste!” he said. It tasted sweet, made from eucalyptus and other plants and flowers from the area. Every week, the students examine a different type of honey. This week, they examined the moisture of pine honey using a refractometer. “According to EU standards, the percent of water in pine honey should not exceed 20%,” Paschalis said. “If the honey has too much moisture, it becomes thin and will ferment. Tropical areas and places like Canada with a lot of humidity produce honey like this. Often they will buy honey from other countries and mix it with their own in order to lower the percentage of moisture. Dry climates like Greece and California produce less honey (about 15 kilos per colony compared to 50-60 kilos per colony in Canada), but the quality is better. All the honey in Greece is very thick.” Paschalis and his lab have also created over 55 videos, 15-20 minutes long, to teach students the basics of beekeeping. They teach 12 groups of about 20 undergraduates every week.

The year-long Apiculture program that Paschalis is implementing for NANG uses similar materials. The program offers young people with an interest in beekeeping 100 hours of theoretical and practical training. Last year, the program ran in Volos and Karditsa, and this year, it is running in Larissa, Lamia, and Aliartos. Paschalis and a team of six travel to these sites and lead four-day training sessions throughout the spring. “Often, our beneficiaries are young members of beekeeping families,” Paschalis said. “By the end of the program, they get a complete education in apiculture.”

Meet Vicky

Vicky Krystallidou, 44 years old, was born and lives in Thessaloniki. She’s the project leader for the program “Sheep and Goat: Enhancing Dairy and Meat Sector” at the American Farm School (AFS), a part of the New Agriculture for a New Generation program. She’s married and has two sons, 10 and 8. Her family came from Istanbul in 1914, before the population exchange. Vicky is an animal scientist who received her PhD in Animal Nutrition and an MSc in Dairy Animal Science from the University of Reading after being awarded a scholarship from IKY (Greek State Scholarship Institute). She holds Diplomas in Animal Production from the Technological Educational Institution (TEI) of Thessaloniki and ASPETE (certified adult educator). “I was drawn into animal production by pure luck,” Vicky said. “I really wanted to be a doctor, but I failed those exams. Then I had a degree as a dentist assistant. But after the first semester in animal production, I loved it. I think that people who start working with animals come to really love them. I don’t think I would do anything different.”

After returning to Greece, Vicky worked as a part-time lecturer at the Technological Educational Institution (TEI) of Thessaloniki and Larisa and as an advisor at Hellenic Feed Industries (ELVIZ). Then she came to American Farm School, where she has worked as a lecturer at Perrotis College and as a project leader in the Strategic Project Management Office for the past four years. Her research interests include animal nutrition and its impact on animal products and human health, monitoring feed formulations to meet quality performance and animal health standards, and evaluating chemical and nutritional value of feeds. “She’s also a very good cook,” said Ilias Kalfas, project leader of the Small Farm Adoption program. “She may not have a pencil on her, but she definitely has a knife!”

As part of the Sheep and Goat program, Vicky visits farms in 12 regions throughout Northern Greece, from Ioannina to Orestiada and down to Karditsa. Each region has about 8 farmers whom she visits two to three times per month. She examines each farmer’s animals, and gives them advice to help them enhance their products, and works with them to set goals. “The social dynamics of every group are different,” she said. “In Orestiada, for example, I work with Pomaks, Greek Muslims who live in villages in the Rhodopi Mountains near Bulgaria.”

Vicky is also working with food scientists, butchers, cheese makers, and chefs to develop new products from sheep and goat milk. In collaboration with Creta Farms’ new Research and Development initiative New Milk and the Department of Food Science at Aristotle University, she produced a new drink made from fermented goat-milk yogurt which is available in multiple flavors. In the next two years, Vicky aims to produce spreadable and hard cheeses from goat milk. In addition, she is working with the Hellenic Agricultural Organization DIMITRA to research the feasibility of producing heavyweight lambs. Lambs in Greece are usually slaughtered at 12 kilos, while heavyweight lambs are slaughtered at 18-20 kilos. “Although Greece ranks third in sheep production in Europe, we import much of our meat from New Zealand and Australia,” Vicky said. “By encouraging farmers to shift to heavyweight lamb production, we can reduce our dependence on imports from other countries.”

Vicky is also collaborating with the Alternative Tourism program at AFS, which has adopted the city of Xanthi this year for its activities. Xanthi and the Rhodopi Mountains are home to the Greek shorthorn cattle, the only indigenous breed left in Greece. Only 600-700 of the cattle remain, grazing free ly in the mountains between Xanthi and Kommotini. “We hope to certify and protect the breed, giving farmers an opportunity to sell it at a higher price. We’re going to have a three-day international conference, 7-9 June, focusing on the Belle Epoque era of Xanthi and its long-forgotten breed of shorthorn cattle. We’ve partnered with Brigade, an association of chefs, who will come to Xanthi to make recipes from the meat–they say it really does taste better,” Vicky said. “And since the breed is from Pomakohoria, we’ll also have an opportunity to work with the Pomaks and highlight what they are doing.”

Meet George

George Papadopoulos, 52 years old, was born in Kilkis and now lives in Thessaloniki. He is an experienced table grape farmer and an active mentor in the New Agriculture for a New Generation program. He studied law at Aristotle University and went to the US for his master’s degree. He lived in the US for six years, got married, and had three kids. In 2004, he and his family returned to Greece, and he started a construction company. He won contracts to privatize the national highways of Greece, renovating the roads, toll stations, and irrigation system. He was responsible for building the new, faster road from Lamia to Athens.

George’s father and grandfather grew grapes, and now he is expanding their business. He has 8 hectares of Crimson Seedless grapes and is preparing another 16 hectares by buying up neighboring farms. Because of his construction business, he owns all the machinery he needs to prepare the farmland at a relatively low cost. He covers his vineyards to protect them from the weather, first with a plastic net and then with a plastic cover to protect the final harvest from September and October rains.

Mentoring the Table Grape Groups from the “Small Farm Adoption” Project

George has been involved with innovations in the NANG program as well. He started helping two years ago, during the initial design of the program, and he was the first mentor. He is working with the American Farm School (AFS) to create an end-to-end system that will precisely monitor and control the cultivation, harvest, processing, and shipping of table grapes. “We use sensors to measure everything on vine during the cultivation period, including the quality of the soil, the grapes’ sweetness, color, health. Now we are proceeding with a system to monitor storage and transportation from the field to the final buyer. We want the buyer to be able to see exactly how the grapes were grown and to know the name of the farmer, to see his face. I believe that in two or three years, all the big supermarket chains will be asking for this level of precision and accountability.”

The four table grape groups have already been recognized for their outstanding achievements. They were chosen by the European Commission’s Smart Specialisation Platform as an implementation point, to show other member states how to grow grapes using smart technologies and to create a protocol for the next decade.

In collaboration with AFS, George is also working to bring a new white, seedless grape variety, Autumn King, to Greece from California. “Crimson Seedless is also a California variety,” George said. “These varieties perform well here because our weather matches California weather. But we’re going to have even better results. The Americans can’t believe the size of our grapes and their beautiful crimson color. And it’s all natural. With wine grapes, you’re not interested in how the product looks. You smash it. But with table grapes, people buy first with the eyes. The grapes must look beautiful and they must taste good and be sweet.” George hopes that they will be able to take the Autumn King variety from California next year.

One of George’s big goals is to organize the young farmers into teams. “If you are not a team, you don’t have power because you won’t be able to deliver the quantities that the markets need,” he said. “I have a contract with a huge company from the UK called Jupiter. They want a truck of grapes per day, 25 tons. In order to deliver this quantity, I need 400 hectares. We prefer to have young farmers on these teams because they are open to learning. They see the results from the first year, and they’re willing to grow with us. With only 2 hectares you can earn 30.000 euros profit. What other industry in Greece can provide you with a profit like that?”

Meet Thomas

Thomas Karagiorgos was born in Veroia and lives in Thessaloniki. He completed his PhD in the field of Sports, Tourism and Recreation Management, in the School of Physical Education and Sport Science at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He organizes sports and adventure programs, works as a researcher in academic research projects, and currently teaches in the Alternative Tourism program at the American Farm School (AFS), which is part of the Stavros Niarchos-funded “New Agriculture for a New Generation” (NANG) program.

“As a child, I was involved in alpine skiing,” Thomas said. “I started skiing when I was five years old. My father loves to hike and be active. He encouraged me to participate in a lot of sports and was a good role model for me. Because of him, I’m passionate about outdoor sports, and I love hiking, alpine skiing, and canyoning all around Greece.”

When I asked Thomas about his favorite places in Greece for mountain activities, he said, “Pelion is my favorite. I think it has a lot of potential, and it is a nice place to relax, far from civilization. I also love Mount Olympus and Zagorohoria.”

In 2015 and 2017, Thomas participated in Piera Creta, an outstanding ski mountaineering event on Mount Psiloritis in central Crete. “This is a very unique experience that combines sea and mountain at the same time,” he said. “It was a recreational opportunity for me, and the event committee welcomes its participants with the special hospitality of Crete!”

Thomas’s passion for outdoor activities and his academic interest in sports science, marketing, and alternative tourism complement one another. He had worked as an organizer of outdoor activities for many companies. He has also managed a children’s summer camp in Pefkochori, Halkidiki. Having worked in this field for 11 years, he has befriended many others in the space. “It’s a small world,” he said. “I know a lot of people, and we travel together, exchange opinions, share job opportunities.” Since 2018, he has worked as a researcher in the Sports, Tourism and Recreation Management lab based at Aristotle University and coordinated by Dr. Alexandris. Their current project is called ‘Run For Health’ and is about the contribution of running events to the welfare of the local community. These projects offer many opportunities to cooperate with European academics and professionals in the same field.

Becoming a Teacher

Thomas received a BA in Sports Science from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His specialization was in outdoor activities. He holds two master’s degrees, the first in Tourism and Recreation from the University of Thrace in Komotini, and the second in Business Administration from the Economics Department of Aristotle University. When his supervisor asked him to give two lectures in his course, Thomas realized that he liked teaching. Teaching in the classroom was a natural extension of his experiences as a camp manager and outdoor activities organizer.

Now Thomas teaches three adult courses at the American Farm School: Outdoor Activities and Recreation, Coastal and Maritime Tourism, and Marketing in Alternative Tourism. “The American Farm School has one of the most efficient programs in Greece,” Thomas said. “The classes combine practice and theory, and I often invite people from the working world to visit my classes.” After participating in NANG’s “Train the Trainers” weekend in Elatochori, he told me that he especially liked the psychological training modules because they gave him tools to reflect on his teaching in the classroom.

Thomas hopes to continue researching outdoor activities so that he can help recreation companies in Greece offer high quality sports services. “The businesses in Greece have a lot of potential,” he said. “I’d like to contribute and inform the owners and staff about international standards and best practices in the sports tourism field, and help them make better use of analytics and data. And most importantly, I want to help people understand how outdoor sports can improve their quality of life.”

Xanthi, Greece – Alternative Tourism (the term has now been replaced: we are talking now about “special” tourism) is a broad term, necessarily so. It encompasses any type of activity where the visitor can experience part of the local culture. Traditional tourism—for Greece, sand and sun—has disadvantages: it only happens in the summer, and it doesn’t always attract the right people, with the devastating effect of creating social problems for the local communities that accept visitors. In Zakynthos, for example, British tourists come to get drunk nonstop, to do what they can’t do at home, and the local social network is almost broken. Now that tourism is the main industry in Greece, we’ve realized that there are many advantages to attracting tourists who respect the ecosystem, the residents, and the culture, while expanding the tourist season. Thus, Greece now markets itself as a 365-day destination.

The “New Agriculture for a New Generation” (NANG) program’s Alternative Tourism Program aims to make a name for itself in the industry. The highly competitive, year-long program accepts 100 students in total: 50 in Thessaloniki, 25 in Volos, and 25 in Ioannina. Trainees apply electronically, and their applications are reviewed by a three-member committee. They are selected based on strict criteria. Last year, the program received 350 applications for Thessaloniki alone. Applicants must be between 18 and 40 years old. Most are university graduates; many do not have master’s degrees and are looking for a second career path.

Last year’s trainees worked to redefine the tourist profile of the mountain village of Elatochori Pierias, which neighbors Katerini and Mount Olympus. Trainees and professors worked with the residents of Elatochori to expand and diversity the village’s tourism business, which in recent years had been overly dependent on its ski center. The trainees proposed an innovative tourism product that combined unique gastronomic experiences, outdoor activities, and creative workshops for adults and children. The proposed tourism product uses the flowers of the plant Sideritis Scardica as a brand since Greek mountain tea flourishes in the area. “A place can really flourish when the people who live and breathe there have a vision and a desire to work and make the best possible use of their region’s resources. This love for their home and care for its development is one of the first things one can perceive about Elatochori and its inhabitants,” said Antonia Galani, a biologist who worked on the project.

This year, 2018-2019 trainees decided to “adopt” the city of Xanthi and tried to utilize all of its resources—natural, cultural, and human—with the main goal of creating a holistic tourism product which combines the multiculturalism, the gastronomy, and also the natural wealth of the area.

“First of all, you have to convince the residents that you care about them and share their concerns. You can’t go in as an intruder or as an expert. This year, Xanthi was a greater challenge than Elatochori because it is a larger area, and Xanthi’s officials and agencies already have already included in their cultural agenda many activities and many plans with the aim of increasing tourism,” said Communications Coordinator Maria Soumelidou, who teaches in the program “Legal Framework and Ethics in Tourism.”

The final proposal came when the trainees and their trainers collaborated with specialized partners in the area, based, on the one hand, on the region’s rare breed of shorthorn cattle and on the other hand, on Xanthi’s Belle Epoque era. The trainees formed five working groups, each focused on a different activity like gastronomy, urban/cultural tourism, outdoor activities in the urban environment, marketing, and costing. Each group of 10-15 trainees collaborated with one or two trainers and one mentor from the research team that consisted of graduates from the same program. The trainees chose their groups according to their interests and experiences after carefully reading the feasibility study prepared by the research team.

We believe that the NANG program will bear more fruit if we build synergies between different sectors. The best way to highlight this collaboration is a two-day event that includes an international business conference, a culinary symposium, an interactive demonstration of new trends in wellness tourism and conference tourism, and finally, a dramatized tour of the history of the Old Town of Xanthi. At the same time, catering companies in Xanthi will cook for the first time the tasty meat of the shorthorn cattle and have recipes available to the public. These animals are monitored by animal scientists and veterinarians from the American Farm School while the butchering and maturing is done by a team of professionals and experts in Xanthi. In fact, this action will “travel” to other parts of Greece to highlight indigenous Greek cattle breeds.

The program also enables its graduates to work for two months in an alternative tourism-related businesses and/or organizations in Greece. “More than 60 businesses have requested to host one or two graduates,” Maria said. “These are businesses, municipalities, or organizations all over Greece who are either implementing or want to implement an alternative tourism strategy but don’t have the know-how. Today, 64 graduates work in these businesses, while many have been hired permanently. Like the Xanthi project, this experience places our trainees out in the real world, where there are many miles and obstacles between the birth of an idea and its realization.”

“After three years, we will have 300 enthusiastic graduates of this program. People from all different backgrounds who have the same dream,” Maria said. “I hope to see lots of collaborations, synergies, great ideas. I want our graduates to start their own companies and change people’s attitudes about what tourism means in Greece.”

Meet Serkos

Serkos Haroutounian is a Professor of Chemistry and Vice Rector of Academic, Administrative, and Student Affairs at the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA). He has recently become the scientific officer at AUA responsible for the “New Agriculture for a New Generation” program.

Serkos served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Agricultural Organization DIMITRA (ELGO DIMITRA) from 2013-2015. ELGO DIMITRA is the largest agricultural organization in Greece, responsible for rural research, training, and education in the agricultural sector; control and quality assurance of Greek agricultural products; as well as all controls in the meat and dairy circuit.

With a scientific background in chemistry, Serkos’s main area of study is biomedical research with a specialization in the study of estrogen hormones and the development of new anti-cancer drugs. He earned his PhD at AUA in collaboration with the University of Illinois, where he later returned as a postdoctoral researcher (1985-1987) and then as a visiting professor (1992-1993). When I visited him at his office at AUA, he showed me a framed diagram of his academic pedigree, a lineage of mentorship that goes all the way back to 15th century Italian doctors and 17th century French apothecaries.

“I often tell my students: In 30 years, 62% of jobs will concern specialities we can not even imagine today. Without a solid scientific background, you will not be able to succeed. Basic sciences like chemistry will give you a solid foundation for the future.” Serkos told me about his father, who started working as an electrician in the early 1950s. Originally, he was repairing jukeboxes, then radios. Then came the transistors, then the TV–first black and white, then color–and now the modern flatscreen. “If he had only learned the jukebox, we would have died of hunger!” Serkos said. He seems to have inherited his father’s appetite for challenges and new knowledge. He recently changed departments, joining the Department of Animal Production and Aquaculture Sciences. In addition to biomedical applications of organic chemistry, his research interests now include natural products, climate change mitigation, and the promotion and certification of Greek traditional agricultural products.

“Greece does not produce large quantities of its products,” Serkos said. “Productions are small. A medium-production winery in Greece produces 150,000 bottles, while one in California produces 3-5 million bottles. You understand the difference in scale economies and the impact on the final price. We cannot compete with them on price. Instead, we have to invest in the quality and uniqueness of our products.”

The Wine, Fava, and Tomataki of Santorini

Serkos has done much work to study and promote the local products of Santorini. Although the island’s particular soil-climate environment (volcanic soil, constant sunshine, poor water resources, and strong winds) is not conducive to agriculture, it offers some important advantages, mainly because crops must grow under such stressful conditions. To cope with these unfavorable conditions, the plants produce secondary metabolites, substances with significant bioactivity, For example, Santorini grapes are particularly rich in polyphenols, which are known to exhibit significant antioxidant activity and are used to produce a wide array of cosmetics, medicines, and dietary supplements. Similarly, Santorini wines are much richer in polyphenols than the wine of other regions.

And because Santorini, due to its geomorphology, can not sustain extensive sheep and goat farming, its inhabitants have traditionally cultivated fava as a source of protein. Although fava is grown all over the world, the variety cultivated in Santorini (Lathyrus clymenum) is unique. It is an ancient variety, rich in protein, which was thought to have become extinct. However, the discovery of fava remains in the prehistoric settlement of Akrotiri, the ancient Minoan settlement that was destroyed by the explosion of the Santorini volcano in the 16th century BCE, enabled scientists to certify that the same variety was still being cultivated on the island. Santorini fava boils faster, has a soft, light texture, and has a special, slightly sweet taste. As a result, it’s much more expensive than other varieties of fava.

Finally, due to its particular soil, Santorini’s tomataki (little tomato) is much sweeter and healthier than those grown on mainland Greece.

Serkos has also been involved in the promotion and certification of a variety of other Greek agricultural products, including the tsipouro of Tyrnavos, the Vatikiotio onion, and the cheeses of central and northern Greece (Tsalafouti, Kaskaval, and Kalloni).

Exploiting the Knowledge of the Ancient Greeks

Serkos is also interested in the ancient Greeks’ knowledge of the pharmaceutical uses of plants. His research team has studied the work of Dioscorides, a Greek physician of the first century AD who studied medicinal plants and the medicines that can be obtained from them. Based on Dioscorides’ ancient texts, Serkos’ team published a journal article in 2015 that mapped modern plants to those mentioned by Dioscorides. Today, Serkos continues to study these formulations, but also their production using modern techniques. The knowledge gained from these studies helped Serkos implement the EU-funded research project LIFE-CONOPS to combat new species of mosquitoes that have invaded Greece and Italy as a result of climate change. Based on the ancient Greeks’ knowledge that juniper wood is not penetrated by insects, Serkos and his team studied all the juniper species in Greece to develop a new mosquito repellant that is expected to be released next summer.

“I started at AUA as a scientific collaborator in 1981, and this is my 38th year of teaching,” Serkos said. “Now when I tell my students how long I’ve served at AUA, they just stare at me.”

Serkos will attempt to make the NANG program at AUA more effective and open to new activities. To this end, he is collaborating with Professor George Papadakis from the Department of Natural Resources and Agricultural Engineering. “George specializes in energy efficiency, modern sustainable agriculture, and renewable energy sources, all of which will help promote innovation in the program,” Serkos said.

Meet Petros

Dr. Petros Vahamidis, 39, from Athens, completed his PhD at the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) in 2013. He studied in the Department of Plant Production and specialized in field crops. The main objective of his research is to develop alternative solutions for traditional agricultural practices in order to use resources more efficiently and increase crop productivity, quality, and sustainability. Regarding medicinal and aromatic plants, his research focuses on weed management and the optimization of fertilization and irrigation techniques. He has been working as a scientific collaborator at AUA since 2013. In the “New Agriculture for a New Generation” program, he teaches weed management and fertilization practices in medicinal and aromatic plants.

“I wanted to become either an agronomist or a civil engineer, but life ultimately led me to serve agriculture, which I’m very proud of,” Petros said. “Agricultural science is a dynamic biological science. You learn something new every day, so every day is a challenge.” Petros loves teaching and problem solving. He dreams of being able to work as an agronomist with consistency and productivity for as long as possible.

By participating in a number of research programs, Petros has been able to travel to many different parts of Greece. He has met with farmers from all over the country, and they have learned from each other. “One of the things I love about this job is that I meet new people and am exposed to new ways of thinking. While many farmers have not pursued higher education, they are practical and innovative,” he said. “When you go into the fields, you learn the real problems that producers face. Then you return to the university and try to find solutions.”

The Malt Barley Project

“In 2013, I began researching malt barley as part of a collaboration between AUA professors Economou and Derka and the Athenian Brewery, where we introduced malt barley into Greece. Until 2008, there was no cultivation of malt barley in Greece. Malt barley is quite different from the barley used to feed animals. We used to grow feed barley in fields with low fertility, which can not be done with the malt barley varieties we examined. From the beginning of the program until today, our research team has evaluated over 30 modern varieties of malt barley. Choosing and cultivating the barley best suited to Greek conditions over the last 7 years has led to an increase in yields of 30 kg per stremata per year. From the early stages of our collaboration with Athenian Brewery, it became clear that in order to substantially improve the quantity and quality of malt barley, using high-yield varieties alone was not sufficient. For the last 7 years, we have been doing intensive experiments aimed at improving the cultivation technique for malt barley.”

Meet Maria

Maria Soumelidou, 56, was born and lives in Thessaloniki. Her family is Pontic Greek, from the Black Sea. She is in charge of the unit “Legal Framework and Ethics in the Tourism Sector” in NANG’s Alternative Tourism program at the American Farm School.

Maria has always liked animals, and as a 16-year-old student at Anatolia College, she joined the Skyrian Horse Club. As a member of the club, she started riding and learned more about the endangered horses. The Skyrian horse is a miniature horse found on the island of Skyros, one of the rarest horse breeds in the world. These were the horses that supposedly pulled Achilles’ chariot and were immortalized on a Parthenon frieze. Moved by a desire to save the Skyrian horse, Maria worked for the association and became its president after graduation.

“Not only did we aim to disseminate information about the Skyrian Horse, but we worked with public and private bodies in Skyros and Thessaloniki to raise awareness about the importance of this breed and how it could be used to shape the touristic identity of the island,” Maria said. “And though we didn’t have much money, we sent blood samples to American universities so that they could test the DNA and confirm that the horses were of ancient origin.”

Years later, as a graduate student in Farm Management in the Department of Agronomy at Reading University in the UK, Maria made the management of Skyrian horses the subject of her master’s thesis. Now there are different units on Skyros who are implementing her ideas, and they have managed to save the species. “It’s heart-consuming work,” Maria said. When she started work on Skyros, there were less than 100 horses. Now the breed exists not only in larger numbers on Skyros but at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki and on the island of Corfu.

Teaching at the American Farm School

After receiving her master’s degree, Maria worked in England for a few years before returning to Thessaloniki to work at the American Farm School (AFS) and at other agricultural enterprises. She worked at Tsantalis Winery, implemented EU policies with Euroconsultants, and lectured in seminars and forums funded by the EU in Northern Greece. Her first job in Greece was at AFS as a coordinator in the Thessaloniki International Training Program, which aimed at teaching educational leaders in Africa how to implement a model like the American Farm School. Maria then decided to go back to school and study law at Aristotle University. “I was 34, married, and pregnant with twins, and I had to take the bar exam in these tiny chairs!” she said. For 10 years, she worked as a freelance lawyer in her father’s notary office.

Maria has spent the past 8 years teaching Principles of Law, Management, and Marketing at Perrotis College, which is accredited by Cardiff Metropolitan University. For NANG, she teaches in the Alternative Tourism program and coordinates a project where each year, students propose a new touristic identity for a selected region in Greece. This project gives students the opportunity to put into practice what they have learned over two semesters in the program. They propose a plan to revitalize the site and expand the touristic period, which they present to the local authorities and business owners at the end of the spring semester. Last year, the program “adopted” the mountain village of Elatochori Pierias, which neighbors Katerini and Mount Olympus; this year, the program “adopted” the city of Xanthi in Thrace. The students designed and implemented a professional, international conference aimed at linking Xanthi’s gastronomic identity to a rare breed of shorthorn cattle, which they promoted as a social and cultural resource. They also proposed and demonstrated new trends in tourism, like the dramatization of Xanthi’s past and movement activities within the urban environment, and both were successful.

“I would like to see Elatochori and other destinations implement our plans and work towards solutions,” Maria said. “Tourism is now the main industry in Greece, and if we are to change people’s attitudes about what Greek tourism is, we need education. The Alternative Tourism program gives students the rare opportunity to meet people like them, to collaborate and create synergies, to implement exciting and innovative ideas together. They come from all different backgrounds, but they have the same dream. I want to see our students start new companies here in Greece or offer their specialized knowledge to serious alternative tourism businesses.”

Meet Katerina

Katerina Zagkretou, 26, grew up in Nea Moudania, Halkidiki. She graduated from NANG’s Alternative Tourism program at the American Farm School (AFS). Today, she leads hiking trips for Green Oliver, an alternative tourism and environmentally friendly activity office based in Thessaloniki. “Both of my parents love their jobs, and they taught me that it was very important to love what you do,” Katerina said. “I remember that when I was a child, I accompanied my father on walks in the woods and fishing trips. I watched him move comfortably in nature and became very familiar with it. I felt so free in the forest. It was so different from the courtyard of my house. I wanted to spend all my time  outside.”

In 2017, Katerina graduated from the School of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Environment at Aristotle University, specifically from the five-year Department of Forestry and Natural Environment. “In Greece, forestry is not valued as much as in other countries that emphasize sustainable development and increasing the quality of daily life, so I take every opportunity to stress the crucial role of this science in solving modern environmental and social problems. For example, urban green spaces are directly linked to our mental health.”

Experience in the Alternative Tourism Program

Katerina participated in the first cycle of the Alternative Tourism program at AFS. The program taught her the legal framework governing alternative tourism activities, current visitor trends, and practical training on how to design and market an alternative tourism experience using a natural resource. “One of the most valuable parts of the program was the time I spent exchanging ideas and knowledge with other participants,” she said. “It’s difficult to identify the potential of a tourist destination and to bring together the right people to get it off the ground. But now I have the background and contacts I need to launch my own alternative tourism experience.”

Katerina and the other beneficiaries in her cycle “adopted” the mountain village of Elatochori Pierias and used what they had learned to create a new, year-long tourism profile for the area, exploiting the natural resources of the region in the most sustainable way. They formed groups related to gastronomy, the natural environment, visual exhibitions, creative workplaces, and events that connected local cuisine with art. “I participated in the group on the natural environment,” Katerina said. “We organized a hiking trip on one of the many paths in the area with intense biodiversity and natural beauty, and we identified medicinal and aromatic plants that could be used in the kitchen and in the production of cosmetic and therapeutic products.”

Working as a Mountain Guide

When Katerina began her studies in Thessaloniki in 2011, she also joined the Mountaineering and Climbing Club. Gradually, through her studies and her mountaineering activities, she realized that she wanted to work to promote the natural wealth of Greece and to combine scientific knowledge with hiking and sports in nature. She just completed her studies at the State Institute for Vocational Training with the specialty of Mountain Guide. “Greece is a mountainous country with a very intense landscape,” she said. “I think I will always be impressed by how many different destinations our country has to offer in proportion to its size.”

She began working with Green Oliver after a hiking trip in 2018 where she and the organizers had the opportunity to get to know each other and to discuss the type of excursions that the office organized, which agreed with Katerina’s own philosophy. “I believe Green Oliver stands out not only in its choice of special hiking trails, but because of the character of its actions: the goal of our excursions is not always to reach a peak or to cover more kilometers, but to reap the maximum benefits of contact with nature and to return to our more ‘primitive’ roots.” As part of the Alternative Tourism program, Katerina completed a two-month, full-time contract with Green Oliver, which enabled her to take on a larger role in organizing the office’s outdoor activities.

One of Katerina’s favorite routes is on the Tzoumerka mountain range in Pindos National Park, starting from the mountain shelter in the village of Pramanta near Ioannina and ending at the peak of Strogoula at an altitude of 2112 meters. It is an unforgettable route because it offers a panoramic view that will convince even the unbelievers that Greece is much more than sun and beaches.

Katerina also had a few words to say about the exploitation of natural resources in Greece, which directly affects alternative and hiking tourism since both occur in rural areas. “Greece is a small country with a wealth of natural resources. As a result, large-scale projects like the gold mines in Halkidiki or the wind farm in Agrafa, with so much direct impact on the food chain and people’s quality of life, occur relatively close to residential areas and prevent the development of alternative tourism and the promotion of local agricultural and livestock products. I’m not saying that the Greek countryside should become an area of absolute protection, because sustainable development and, by extension, economic progress, exists when multiple purposes are served. But we should consider the needs of the inhabitants, who depend on the proper functioning of the ecosystem, now and in the future. And on a personal level, it is important to understand that we hikers are responsible for preserving the destinations we visit. During our excursions, we try to leave the smallest possible footprint on the paths and to create an environmentally friendly philosophy.”

Meet Ioannis

Ioannis Theodorou, 28, lives in a western suburb of Larissa and owns two bee hives. He is a beneficiary of the apiculture training seminars implemented by the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) as part of the “New Agriculture for a New Generation” (NANG) program. He has two younger brothers, and his father works for TrainOSE. His grandfather cultivated olives in the village of Pyrgetos near Mount Olympus, and he too prefers to live outside the city where he can have direct contact with nature. “I don’t like the gray of the city with its apartment buildings like cages,” he said. “A man who’s closer to nature is more of a man.”

Ioannis graduated from the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Thessaly in 2015 with a degree in Business Administration. While in school, he developed an interest in beekeeping and making homemade honey products. He did some research online but ultimately decided to wait because he didn’t know anyone who could advise him and he needed capital to get started. “It seemed like a mountain to me, very difficult,” he said. So he did an internship at an accountant’s office and got a job as an accountant’s assistant so he could save up enough money to make his dream a reality.

He joined the Apiculture Club of Larissa and participated in a conference they organized at the Chamber of Commerce in April 2018. There he met Mr. Spyros, a beekeeper from Ambelonas who offered to teach him the trade. Ioannis visited his hives after work and on weekends all through the spring and summer. He learned that spring was the best time to buy bees so that they would have enough time to build their hives before winter. Mr. Spyros gave Ioannis two of his own bee colonies to put in the beehives that Ioannis had prepared and painted white with yellow trim. Ioannis kept the hives next to Mr. Spyros’s hives and learned how to tell what the bees needed by opening the hive and how to deal with issues like swarming, when a queen bee leaves the hive with a group of workers to start a new colony. With Mr. Spyros’s guidance, Ioannis harvested three kilos of wildflower honey from his hives in September. “I’d started from scratch, and after all the time and effort I put in, I felt a great joy and happiness,” Ioannis said. “It wasn’t a lot of honey, but the quality was good. I liked the taste a lot.”

Participating in the Apiculture Program

Ioannis spent a total of 300 euros on his first two hives. He has since moved the hives closer to his home in Larissa to reduce his expenses since he isn’t making a profit yet. He visits his hives once a week in the winter and every day in the summer. He’s been reading books on apiculture and following new developments in the field online. He plans to add two more hives at the beginning of May, but he’s awaiting further instruction from the seminar. “I bought stackable hives, and they are in my warehouse ready to go,” he said. “I’m starting slow because I don’t want to make mistakes—I want to make sure I have more than enough knowledge.”

Ioannis learned about the training seminars through the Beekeeping Club and thought it would be a great opportunity. “I feel really lucky,” he said. “Professor Harizanis knows so much about apiculture, and he’s even written a textbook about it! I’m learning all about the magical world of bees, like how they give off a chemical signal to enter into the hive, and what you should do in order to avoid stressing the bees. Pairing theory and practical training together is really important.” Ioannis loves quotations, and he recited one often attributed to Albert Einstein: “If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live.”

When he feels that he has learned enough, Ioannis wants to add more hives, then get a beekeeping vehicle so that he can transport them to his ancestral village in Pyrgetos. That area has some of the rarest and most unusual plants in the world. He wants to try putting some hives in the olive grove or among almond trees. He wants to experiment with making honey from lots of different crops: chestnuts, lavender, Greek mountain tea, oregano. In Pyrgetos, his family owns a stone house in the village that was built in 1927. Ioannis went there in the summer as a kid. It was built in the traditional style of Epirus, and his family has maintained the architectural elements. He wants to turn the house into a multipurpose venue with a beekeeping shop to sell his products, a place for apicultural and agricultural exhibits, an office, and an events space. Eventually, he hopes to own 200 hives.

“I want this to become my full-time job,” he said. “And I’d like to cooperate with other beekeepers in the program. I think that we all have the same goal in mind, and as the program continues, I hope we’ll keep developing our relationships and getting closer.” To close the interview, Ioannis shared one of his favorite quotes from Demosthenes, an ancient Greek politician and rhetorician from Athens: “Small opportunities often become the beginning of big and successful businesses.”