Category: Success Stories

Thessaloniki, Greece – The table grape groups from the “Small Farm Adoption” project at the American Farm School (AFS), a part of the “New Agriculture for a New Generation” (NANG) program, have been recognized by the EU 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.

The groups are creating an integrated system that will precisely monitor the cultivation, harvest, processing, and shipping of table grapes so that farmers and buyers will know as much as possible about their crop. “We use sensors to monitor and record all measurable data on the vines during the growing season. We use meteorological stations to predict weather conditions, pests, and diseases; soil analysis to control the soil substrate and nutrients needed for the next period; photonic technologies to monitor chlorophyll and nutrients in the leaves and the health and sweetness of the grapes without destroying the berries,” said Ilias Kalfas, project manager. “We are now moving on a storage and transport monitoring system from the fields to the final buyer (truckload sensors, low radiation antennas). We want the buyer to be able to see exactly how the grapes are grown, and at the same time, know the farmer’s name and see his face. If buyers trust you, they will trade with you. I believe that in two or three years, all major supermarket chains will demand this level of precision and traceability.”

The project encourages the farmers to collaborate and has already created two officially recognized farmers’ groups in table grapes. “The groups create a common company and merge their activities,” Ilias said. “They produce and sell all their crops together, issue invoices, share the profits and the damages. This helps to raise the quality of the product because if you have one bad farmer, they all share the damages.” Working together helps the groups win EU grants for facilities and product promotion. They also share investment costs and can attract larger customers. “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,” said George Papadopoulos, a project mentor who grows Crimson Seedless grapes in Kilkis. “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 4000 stremmata (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.”

“The table grape sector is a very promising sector that has been neglected in previous decades. The winemaking industry is more or less vertical, but table grapes offer more profit, and we think the sector will get bigger and bigger in the coming years,” Ilias said. “With only 20 stremmata (2 hectares) of table grapes, you can earn 30.000 euros profit,” George said. “What other industry in Greece can provide you with a profit like that?”

The project also seeks to uplift Greece’s rural communities. “With the help of the program, many of the farmers have formed committed relationships that will last for decades,” Ilias said. “The beneficiaries’ success will have a positive effect on those around them, and we hope that they will share their knowledge with future generations.” For example, Giorgos Papanastasiou is an agronomist who collaborates with AFS. He’s a scientist, but he’s also a farmer. No matter how many degrees Giorgos acquires, he will still be the young boy they knew from the village. That’s why we try to collaborate with people from the different regions we’re visiting. We’re trying to leave people behind, to create local supporters.”

Thessaloniki, Greece – Now in its second year, the “Small Farm Adoption” project implemented by the American Farm School (AFS) as part of the “New Agriculture for a New Generation” (NANG) program brings experts from AFS to advise young farmers on their farms throughout the season. The project established 22 groups of practicing farmers in Thessaly and Macedonia to focus on the main crop of each area: chestnuts in Griva, table olives in Halkidiki, and rice in Chalastra, to name a few. A rotating set of trainers informs the farmers about best practices in planting, weeding, fertilization, crop protection, and harvest. “The training that each beneficiary receives is individualized and based on what is observed in his field,” said project leader Ilias Kalfas. “If a farmer has a problem with pests, for example, we send a PhD candidate who specializes in that pest or a very experienced field agronomist. It’s a countryside academy, a living lab.”

Let’s take a tour of some of these crops:

In Griva, near Goumenissa, growing chestnuts is a tradition. The chestnuts are not cultivated in normal, horizontal plots but grown in the mountains above the village. Producers cut wild chestnut trees to a height of one or one-and-a-half meters and then graft edible French cultivars onto the trunks. Usually four branches are grafted onto the trunk with tape, and then two or three branches take. The farmers use pipes to bring water from the mountain to the fields. They use nets to collect the chestnuts since the trees usually grow on a slope. The harvest takes place in October, and is combined with a chestnut festival. Two beneficiaries from the program, Kostas and Panagiotis, are cousins with young chestnut trees. They own a restaurant in Griva where they cook delicious dishes featuring chestnuts. The group mentors have also recommended that the producers collaborate with beekeepers to make chestnut honey. “It’s an easy way for the producers to make supplemental income,” said mentor Michalis Genitsariotis. “The beekeepers just need to bring their hives to the chestnut fields.”

Large, green table olives are cultivated in Kalives Poligirou, Halkidiki, and harvested in early September. In nearby Metaggitsi, olives are harvested by hand from a special local olive tree called Galani Chalkidiki in November. The olive oil is produced using traditional methods and has a lighter taste and a high concentration of polyphenols, natural antioxidants. Mentors from AFS helped farmers manage a fungus called verticillium wilt, the most difficult disease for olive trees. One of the trainers’ other main tasks is to teach proper fertilization, harvesting, and management techniques, focusing on quality and safety. Product promotion techniques are also of great importance.

Rice is grown in Chalastra, near the Axios Delta. Rice cultivation began here experimentally in 1949, and now 70% of the rice in Greece is produced here, covering 10.000 hectares. Since rice grows in fields that must be flooded by water, irrigation canals control the flow of water from the Axios River. Every season, producers prepare and level the soil using laser technology to produce a slight slope so that the fields can drain. In May, the rice fields are flooded and the seeds are planted. The crop grows through the summer and is harvested in October.

“Farmers need support both in cultivation and in selling their products,” Michalis said. “They must cooperate and carefully consider their decisions. Why did they get involved with agriculture? Why did they choose this variety? If they have a clear picture of their actions and goals, then it is easier to find solutions to their problems. It is a long-term commitment, and they must be patient. They should have the opportunity to test new varieties, new ideas, and new technologies. We are working in this direction, and we believe that this year, we have taken important steps with our farmers.”

Athens, Greece – The program of training seminars for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAP), implemented by the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), a part of the “New Agriculture for a New Generation” (NANG) program, has just begun its second phase. Under the direction of Falia Economou, a professor in the Faculty of Crop Science at AUA, the two-year training program adopted farms in four regions of Thessaly: Larissa, Vrinena Almiros near Volos, Farsala, and Grammatiko near Karditsa.

MAP are quite prosperous crops for the Greek rural economy. There is great demand for MAP from pharmaceutical companies because of their various health benefits, and the Greek climate favors the production of high-quality MAP products. “In my opinion, research on MAP is not being disseminated, so the advanced knowledge and the results from our experiments do not improve farmers’ yields or the quality of their products,” Falia said. “Most importantly, farmers do not have access to innovation related to the MAP sector, which is demanded by international market standards.” In response, Falia designed an integrated program to enable young farmers to learn everything they needed about MAP from farm to market, to establish the sector in a sustainable way.

Phase 1: Theoretical and Practical Training

Last year, AUA educated 60 farmers and young people from the four regions of Thessaly who were interested in developing MAP. The beneficiaries received 54 hours of theoretical training and 54 hours of practical training, which included instruction on farming issues (propagation, fertilization, irrigation, weed control), processing issues (how to harvest and dry), the development of a business plan, and marketing. “Most of the cultivation data comes from our own experiments at AUA,” said Petros Vahamidis, a teacher in the program. “Books don’t always give the full picture.”

The lack of certified plant material is one of the most serious problems that Greek farmers face. Instead of propagating their crops from certified mother plants whose genetic identity has been verified by the state, farmers use wild types of mountain tea, chamomile, and oregano. In order to have a substantial production of MAP that consistently meets international standards of quality, farmers in Greece must cultivate certified varieties. “One of our trainees plans to certify a specific species of mountain tea,” Petros said. “In order to do so, he must confirm that the genetic material is pure, test its uniformity, quality, and yield potential, and convincingly show that it is better than other varieties of Sideritis.”

For crops like oregano that are grown for their essential oils, farmers must bring their crops to a distillation company and certify their product by chemotype. This chemical certification is required in order for the product to meet industry standards. With oregano, for example, the main substance is carvacrol. The amount and quality of carvacrol in the plant depends on the cultivar but is also affected by farming practices like the soil, fertilization, and harvest time. Oregano does not need water or fertilizer, so if farmers add too much of either, the crop produces less carvacrol. The program teaches farmers how to obtain the certification and also best farming practices in order to obtain a typical chemotype.

“We visited the beneficiaries’ farms on Fridays and Saturdays,” Falia said. “We also organized trips into the mountains to identify wild cultivars and visited certified greenhouses and industrial distillation companies.” Falia is now administering this phase of the program to 15 new beneficiaries in Trikala.

Phase 2: Developing a Product

At the end of the first phase, AUA assessed its initial batch of 60 beneficiaries by asking them to each write a business plan. Falia and her colleagues then selected 5 beneficiaries from each region to participate in the second phase of the program, which runs until October. The beneficiaries in each region will work together and with economics professors from AUA to produce an innovative product from their MAP that they will then bring to market. “During this process, the beneficiaries will receive lectures from professors and industry leaders like APIGEA and APIVITA, and we will help them solve their problems,” Petros said. “They will have to research the market and the market needs to sell their product with a profit at the end.”

Tea producers Christos Mylonas and Tasos Xristopoulos were two of the five selected in Vrinena Almiros to continue to the second phase of the program. They intend to produce capsules with special blends of mountain tea and other local aromatic herbs that can be used in an espresso machine, and they are currently experimenting with various combinations of mountain tea with honey, mint, chamomile, fruit, and other ingredients from their village. “The group in Larissa wants to produce an oil with aromatic plants like chamomile,” Falia said. “We discussed the capabilities of their region and the local medicinal flora.”

“These beneficiaries entered the program as farmers, but I expect them to go out as businessmen,” Petros said. “Most of the farmers in Greece distrust new technology. They don’t even have email. So how do you tell them about precision agriculture? But the new generation is a different story. They have grown up with technology and are willing to absorb new perspectives, new ways of thinking. This generation of producers will also be more environmentally friendly, and equal to profit, sustainability is a big goal for us.”

“Our long-term vision is to organize the sector and establish a network of farmers who will continue to develop it, taking advantage of the many opportunities available in Greek and European markets for these products,” Falia said. “We will help them produce a product, and then the same farmers can cooperate to produce another and another. MAP offer so many possibilities: pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, collaborations with cheesemakers. The farmers just have to keep developing and innovating their certified indigenous species.”

Meet Ilias

Ilias Kalfas, 45, was born in Livadi, a village near Mount Olympus, and lives in Thessaloniki. He’s the project leader for the three-year “Small Farm Adoption” project at the American Farm School (AFS), a part of the “New Agriculture for a New Generation” (NANG) program. He studied agronomy at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and received his PhD in entomology from the Imperial College London. He spent a year working at the National Agricultural Research Foundation (formerly NAGREF) of ELGO DIMITRA, and after returning from the UK, he ran his own certification company. He also has a MSc in Quality Assurance Systems and Production Management in Food Industry from the Alexander Technological Educational Institution of Thessaloniki. He has been working as a project leader in the Strategic Project Management Office at the American Farm School since 2015. “At first, I wanted to be an engineer,” Ilias said. “Now I feel very lucky to practice a profession that will always be relevant because no matter what, people continue to eat every day!”

Now in its second year, the “Small Farm Adoption” project brings experts from AFS to advise young farmers on their farms throughout the season. A rotating set of trainers trains the farmers about best practices in planting, weeding, fertilization, crop protection, harvest etc. “The training that each beneficiary receives is individualized and based on what is observed in his field,” Ilias said. “If a farmer has a problem with pests, for example, we send a PhD candidate who specializes in that pest or a very experienced field agronomist. It’s a countryside academy, a living lab.”

AFS had an open call in Thessaly and Macedonia to invite farmers to participate in the program. They sought practicing farmers who already had their own fields and equipment and then established groups in different areas to focus on the main crop of the area: stone fruits in Veria, mountain tea in Elatochori, lentils in Farsala, to name a few. The project also teaches farmers how to use smart technologies to improve their products and help them process and sell their products. “In the first year, we evaluated the parameters,” said Ilias. “We learned a lot, met with the beneficiaries, diagnosed their needs, and set priorities. Now we are going faster. The beneficiaries really trust us. They come to us with their own ideas and feedback and want to have a more active interaction.”

“This work is like taking a child by the hand, holding it for three years, providing it with skills and knowledge, and then letting it go,” Ilias said. “Our hope is that by the end of the program, they will be adults, standing on their own feet and doing real business.” Another goal of the project is to encourage the farmers in each group to collaborate with each other. Working together will help them make investments by building on existing national and European programs, sharing the cost of equipment and facilities, and attracting larger customers. “With the help of the project, many of the farmers have created relationships that will last for decades,” said Ilias. “And the beneficiaries will continue to support their communities. Their success will have a positive impact on their communities, and we hope they will be a vehicle for transferring the experience of previous generations while sharing the knowledge they now have with future generations.”

Meet Falia

Falia Economou, 60, was born and lives in Athens. She is a professor in the Faculty of Crop Science at the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), where she teaches courses on weed management, crop physiology, and medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP). “Since childhood, I’ve loved nature and have been interested in studying the environment, so AUA was my first choice,” Falia said. “I study crop development and the factors which affect the productivity of the field crops as well as the production of high-quality products. I wrote my dissertation on the biology and control of Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense), the most serious weed of the field crops, and studied ways to protect crops from the weeds.” Falia’s other research interests include drought tolerance assessment, mitigating the effects of climate change on field crops in Greece, and agrobiodiversity. She designed and implemented the MAP program at AUA.

The Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Program

For the past decade, Falia has studied MAP, which are quite prosperous crops for the Greek rural economy. There is great demand for MAP from pharmaceutical companies because of their various health benefits, and the Greek climate favors the production of high-quality MAP products. “In my opinion, research on MAP is not being disseminated, so the advanced knowledge and the results from our experiments do not improve farmers’ yields or the quality of their products,” Falia said. “Most importantly, farmers do not have access to innovation related to the MAP sector, which is demanded by international market standards.” In response, Falia designed an integrated two-year training program for “New Agriculture for a New Generation” to enable young farmers to learn everything they needed about MAP from farm to market.

The MAP program has two phases. Last year, in the first phase of the program, AUA adopted farms in four regions of Thessaly: Larissa, Vrinena Almiros near Volos, Farsala, and Grammatiko near Karditsa. AUA educated 60 farmers and young people from these areas who were interested in developing MAP. The beneficiaries received 54 hours of theoretical training and 54 hours of practical training, which included instruction on farming issues (propagation, fertilization, irrigation, weed control), processing issues (how to harvest and dry, for example), the development of a business plan, and marketing. “We visited the beneficiaries’ farms on Fridays and Saturdays,” Falia said. “We also organized trips into the mountains to identify wild cultivars and visited certified greenhouses and industrial distillation companies.” Falia is now administering this phase of the program to 15 new beneficiaries in Trikala.

At the end of the first phase, AUA assessed its initial batch of 60 beneficiaries by asking them to each write a business plan. Falia and her colleagues then selected 5 beneficiaries from each region to participate in the second phase of the program, which runs until October. The beneficiaries in each region will work together to produce an innovative product from their MAP that they will then bring to market.

Falia also plans toestablish an oregano crop at AUA’s Experimental Farm in Kopaida so that she can teach students how to cultivate two types of oregano. A training course in mid-March will cover propagation material in the greenhouses, and a second course during harvest time will cover best farming practices, fertilization, and irrigation.

“Our long-term vision is to organize the sector and establish a network of farmers who will continue to develop it, taking advantage of the many opportunities available in Greek and European markets for these products,” Falia said. “MAP offer so many possibilities: pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, collaborations with cheesemakers. The farmers just have to keep developing and innovating their certified indigenous species.”

Meet Christos

Christos Mylonas, 25, born in Athens, lives with his parents in Vrinena Almiros, a village with 250 permanent residents located 60 kilometers from Volos. The village is known for its production of Greek mountain tea: 150 tons of tea are produced there each year.

Christos and his family moved back to Vrinena Almiros in 2002, when he was 8 years old. His father is a teacher with training in special education, who had for six years a blind student in Athens. Now he teaches in a primary school in Almiros, and his mother is a bank employee. Christos and his family own 70 stremmata of land, where for three generations, they have grown Greek mountain tea. “I remember helping my grandparents in the fields as a child, when I was 10 year old,” Christos said. “After high school, I studied agronomy in the Department of Agriculture, Plant Production, and Rural Environment of the University of Thessaly. I started to help out more with the family business. I’m currently doing my master’s degree at the University of Thessaly, focusing on mountain tea.”

Now Christos and his father work the fields. They grow 40 stremmata of organic mountain tea as well as oregano, mint, chamomile, and sage. The tea grows at the top of Mount Othrys at an altitude of 1200 meters and is harvested from the middle of May to the end of June. “My grandfather took the cuttings for our fields from the peak of Mount Othrys,” Christos said. “In Greek mythology, Othrys was home to the Titans during their ten-year war with the Olympian gods. They hurled parts of the mountain at Olympus and hid in the gorges of the mountains when Zeus threw his thunderbolts.” The family uses only natural fertilizers and grows, harvests, dries, and packages the tea all by hand, in the traditional way. This natural process is certified organic in both the US and Europe. They produce 6-7 tons of tea annually.

Participating in the Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Program

“The program ‘New Agriculture for a New Generation’ has helped me decrease the cost of production and increase the quality of our product,” Christos said. “It has also helped me to market our herbs, to make contacts with new customers, and with product certification.”

In 2009, Christos and his father started to sell their herbs abroad. Their first customer was in Canada. Now they have more than 10 international customers in the USA, Germany, Italy, France, and Japan. “Sending our products within the EU is easy, but the first few times we sent outside the EU was a little difficult. We needed to obtain many certifications and controls, like an FDA registration number. We’ve found our customers through some exhibitions abroad, or online. Last December, during the program, I started the company Mountain Herbs to facilitate exports.

Out of the 20 tea producers in the region, Christos and his friend Tasos Xristopoulos were two of the five selected to continue to the second phase of the program, where they will receive advanced training to turn their tea into an innovative product that they can bring to market. They intend to produce capsules with special blends of mountain tea and other local aromatic herbs that can be used in an espresso machine, and they are currently experimenting with various combinations of mountain tea with honey, mint, chamomile, fruit, and other ingredients from Vrinena Almiros. “The goal is for us to all work together to form new products,” Christos said. “How many grams of tea? How much mint? We’re still searching for the combinations that will give the best taste.”

“Greek mountain tea is still not well known outside of Greece,” Christos said. “In the last three or four years, it’s started to get recognition. We’d like to make the tea known all over the world.”

Our Way Chortiatis

Chortiatis, Greece – Our Way, a company which provides alternative excursion services in different regions of Greece, held its second activity, “The Nature of Photography,” in December. Armed with DSLR cameras, 30 participants followed the fabled map of Barba Nikita on a treasure hunt through the village and up to the Theodoros Litsas Scouting Center, where they warmed themselves in front of a toasty fire, ate homemade pies and steaming tea, and received a photography lesson from Ioannis Vergadis of Crom Studio.

The company is the brainchild of Gerassimos Mazarakis, age 41, and Stavros Papadopoulos, age 31, two longtime members of the Scouts of Greece, who both participated in New Agriculture for a New Generation’s (NANG) Alternative Tourism program at the American Farm School last year.

“We wanted to start this project because this is how we love to spend our free time,” Gerassimos said. “Chortiatis is our second home, and we’ve been organizing trips in the area for many years. In essence, we’re turning our hobby into a profession.” The Alternative Tourism program taught them how to turn their idea into a reality: how to price the excursions, how to advertise them, how to ensure the safety of their participants, and much more. All of this in collaboration with three other associates: Apostolos Maloudis (also a graduate of the program), Andreas Andrikos, and Maria Liakopoulou. They named their company “Our Way” to highlight their unique approach to developing new friendships through alternative experiences.

“There are certain values from the Scouts that we’ve applied to this endeavor,” Stavros said. “We want to give people first-hand experiences; we believe in the power of friendship and good chemistry between people; and we try to act with courtesy and respect for nature and for our fellow human beings. Our activities are accessible and inclusive for everyone, and we are very attentive to their needs and safety: we’d rather go all together in a group of 30 than go in a small, exclusive group and be the first to reach the top.

December’s “The Nature of Photography” activity highlighted the differences between Our Way and a company you might hire to climb the mountain or to lead you on a photography tour of the area. For one thing, the hike up to the Scouting Center was only part of the overall experience. We met at the Holocaust Memorial in Chortiatis, where Mr. Babis, a long-time resident, shared some of the village’s history with us. Then we were divided into small groups and each given Barba Nikita’s treasure map with clues to follow along the way to the Scouting Center. The cameras recorded our journey, and a friendly spirit of competition added to our excitement.

We reached the Scouting Center just as it began to rain, and the crackling fire in the fireplace of the main building and the delicious aromas of hot tea, cheese and spinach pies, and various homemade cakes and cookies greeted us. Once we were warm and settled, Ioannis taught us the basics of photography, and each group presented its photos and participated in a hands-on demonstration of three-point lighting. At the end of the evening, we proceeded single-file down the mountain, our path lit only by lanterns and the nearly full moon.

Each part of the excursion activated a different sense of perception. The cameras primed our sense of sight, the food our senses of smell and taste, and the descent our senses of hearing and touch. “I loved the food,” said Christina Amanatidou, one of the participants. “And I, the fire,” said her son Konstantinos. “I loved descending from the Scouting Center all together in the dark and seeing the lights from the village spread out below us,” said “Stella Yiapoutzidou. “It was fantastic adventure.”

“Nature is such a source of inspiration, and the activities we do are even better when we do them with friends,” said Apostolos, one of the organizers. The Greek idea of parea, a long-lasting circle of friends who gather together to share life experiences, values, and ideas, plays a significant role in Stavros and Gerassimos’s vision for Our Way. They hope that the people who participate in their excursions will want to come again and slowly develop bonds with each other. And that’s exactly how I felt. Our Way’s parea was friendly and welcoming, and the easy, joking rapport between them made the outing seem like an afternoon with old friends.

Meet Giorgos

Giorgos Papanastasiou, 26, was born and raised in Kavala. He studied in the School of Agriculture at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki for five years and grows table grapes with his father Dimitrios and his brother Panagiotis, 30. Together they grow two varieties of table grapes in the village of Kariani, 55 km west of Kavala: 50 acres of Thompson Seedless and 8 acres of Red Globe (which has seeds). Both varieties have good commercial value and thrive in the region.

“Since I was a child, I liked to help my father in the field. At first, it was more of a game, but as I grew older, I helped out more,” Giorgos said. “I learned the whole process of grape growing from my dad. He dreamed that I’d grow up to become a farmer like him. My brother studied business administration and then decided to become a farmer. And after finishing school, I decided to pursue grapes as well.”

Life as a Grape Farmer

Giorgos and his family prune the vineyards for 3-4 months, usually from about December or January until March. There are no leaves on the plants then, just bare branches. “From April to November, there’s lots of work to do in the fields,” Giorgos said. They top and de-leaf the vines and spray plant medicine and fertilizer. The fruit starts to appear in May. They harvest the Thompson Seedless grapes in August and September and the Red Globe grapes in October. With 20 people working together, it takes 10 days to harvest all the grapes. Each acre yields approximately three tons of grapes.

Table grapes grow close to the ground and are highly susceptible to fungi when it rains or when there’s moisture. Last summer was very difficult for the grapes since it rained a lot in June and July. Giorgos wrapped the plants in plastic nylon and gave them medicine to protect them. He fears that due to climate change, the difficulties that the crops face in the future will surely increase.

Collaborating with Other Grape Producers from the Small Farm Adoption Program

Giorgos was one of the grape producers selected by NANG to participate in its two-year Farm Small Farm Adoption Program. Other grape producers come from Kavala, Kilkis, Pella, and Katerini. They grow different varieties of grapes like Vitoria, Italia, and Crimson Seedless, which have different allergies and symptoms, as well as different harvest times because of their different climates.

By collaborating with the other producers, Giorgos has learned from their experiences. “We help each other by sharing advice and deciding how much to sell for,” he said. “We all sell for the same price.” Exporters sell the grapes in Greece and abroad in England, Germany, and Ukraine. “The price that exporters are willing to pay depends on two factors,” Giorgos said. “First, do we have better grapes than other countries like Spain? And second, what is the demand for grapes this year?” The prices change every year, depending on consumers. Last year, Giorgos sold the Thompson Seedless at 0.90 euro per kilo and the Red Globe at 0.60 euro per kilo. He’s eager to continue studying the grapes and refining his farming practices. “With the right combination of pesticides and fertilizers, Ι can improve the product and gain a better price from the market,” he said.

Meet Gerassimos

Gerassimos Mazarakis, 41, was born in Thessaloniki and lives in the neighborhood of Mpotsari. In 1983, when he was six years old, he joined Troop 9 of the Scouts of Greece, the national Scouting association founded in 1910 by Athanasios Lefkaditis. The Greek association has 20,000 members and includes the Scouts of Thessaloniki, established in 1914, which has 2,000 members.

“My father suggested that I join the Scouts when we saw a group of them playing in a park near our house,”Gerassimos said. “Thirty-five years later, I’ve passed all the ranks (Wolf Cub, Scout, Path-Finder) and now I am a Scout leader and a member of the training staff.”

Gerassimos took me to visit the Theodoros Litsas Scouting Center in Chortiatis, about 30 minutes from Thessaloniki atop the mountain called Hefaistio. At 1100 meters, Hefaistio is the highest mountain in the area. Driving through town, clouds hid the top of the mountain from view and seemed to spill towards us over the green, brown, and orange foliage. We climbed to the level of the gray clouds. “Thessaloniki’s there below us,” he said, pointing. When we arrived at the center, he introduced it to me as “our diamond.”

The center has played a huge role in Gerassimo’s life. It has a fire pit, an outdoor oven where Scout leaders were roasting souvlaki, and a small outdoor chapel. Birdhouses hung from the trees, and carved wooden signs pointed in different directions. Scouts in yellow uniforms and green hats busied themselves with various activities, chasing each other, dancing, playing cards. The center is still used by the Scouts because it’s so close to Thessaloniki, and the nearby military base maintains the trails in the winter. “I remember bringing my little Scouts up here the first time I led a trip,” Gerassimos said. “We spent the night in tents and enjoyed the starry sky by sharing the stories of the constellations.”

Founding Our Way

While participating in NANG’s Alternative Tourism program at the American Farm School last year, Gerassimos and his friend and fellow Scout Stavros Papadopoulos decided to start a company called Our Way to offer alternative excursions in Chortiatis. “We wanted to start this company because this is how we love to spend our free time,” Gerassimos said. “Chortiatis is like our second home, and we’ve been organizing trips here for many years. In essence, we’re turning our hobby into a profession.” The Alternative Tourism program taught them how to turn their idea into a reality: how to price the excursions, how to advertise them, and how to ensure the safety of their participants. They also met two of their collaborators, Apostolos Maloudis and Maria Liakopoulou, in the program. They named their company Our Way to highlight their unique approach to building lasting friendships through shared passions and alternative experiences.

“Stavros and I met in the Scouts 12 years ago, Gerassimos said. “We’re both members of the teaching staff, and slowly we became good friends.” They make a good team, and the easy, joking rapport between them makes each outing feel like meeting a group of friends. For its first excursion, Our Way organized a hiking trip that followed the path of the ice makers, people in Chortiatis who made and sold ice until refrigerators were invented in the 1960s. Their second event was a photographic treasure hunt following the map of Barba Nikitas, and their third excursion will take place this weekend.

Gerassimos completed a Master of Business Administration at CITY College, the Thessaloniki annex of the University of Sheffield. He has worked in the Purchasing Department at the American Farm School since 2000. His son, Konstantinos, is seven years old, and Gerassimos hopes that he too will join the Scouts.

Meet Alexandros

Alexandros Tataridas, 24, was born and raised in Athens. His parents, both doctors, came from the villages of Kalambaka and Kamena Vourla. His father’s parents in Kamena Vourla grew wheat and olives for olive oil. His grandfather used to have a flock of 150 sheep and a chicken coop. “I remember visiting the farm during the olive harvest and watching boxes of olives come in from the fields to be sorted by size,” Alexandros said. “My grandfather would take me to the place where he kept his sheep and show me how to care for them.” During weekends and holidays, Alexandros continued to visit his grandparents’ farm, stimulated by their descriptions of the olive trees and by the small vegetable garden they kept. Around age 15, when he began taking biology courses in high school, he also began to study plant biology as a hobby. Later, though his mother wanted him to study medicine abroad, he gained admission to the agronomics department at the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA). “My father was very happy because he dreamed of returning to Kamena Vourla,” Alexandros said.

Alexandros graduated from AUA with a degree in Crop Science. He has continued his studies at AUA, and this year, he will complete a master’s degree in Sustainable Agriculture, Plant Enhancement, and Agrometeorology with a specialization in Sustainable Agriculture and Certification. “I do a lot of experiments with various weeds and sustainable herbicides,” he said. While at university, he began working actively on his grandparents’ farm, applying what he learned in school. His grandparents taught him how to grow olives and produce virgin olive oil. “When I complete my studies, I would like to return to my village to help organize and coordinate their agricultural plan,” he told me. “I’m also thinking about doing a PhD, and I would like to take courses outside of Greece or travel to America and work for a company. Then eventually I’d like to start my own family and maybe settle permanently in one of my villages.”

In his free time, Alexandros dabbles as a homebrewer of beers, experimenting with the production of American pale ale and imperial stout. “I’m making lager beer now and some pilsner,” he said. “I’ve also made India pale ale and double IPA.” Alexandros also volunteers as a facilitator for AUA’s “Let’s Do It Greece” team. Each spring, the organization coordinates one day of nationwide environmental action. Last year, 128,000 Greeks volunteered to mend fences, reduce waste, and clean beaches. This year’s action date is Sunday, 7 April 2019.

The Experimental Farm

Alexandros is the project manager of the program’s Experimental Farm in Kopaida. Located 110 kilometers north of Athens, near Lamia, the farm covers 1000 stremma (100 hectares) and consists of a 0.5 stremma greenhouse and a training building which houses two classrooms, an office, and an overnight room that sleeps three people. The farm will begin operation in 2019 with 150 beneficiaires. “Our goal is to educate 300 young people over the next two years in agricultural sectors such as beekeeping, aromatic and medicinal plants, and the sustainable cultivation of spirits,” Alexandros said. “This will be done through intensive visits to the Experimental Farm in Kopaida.”

The farm will offer new farmers an opportunity to establish their own independent farm enterprises with on-site support and access to shared equipment, facilities, and resources that reduce initial barriers to entry. After completing the program, beneficiaries should be able to transition to plots of their own, having acquired the skills, knowledge, and expertise necessary to start farming successfully.

“I’m worried about whether Greece will be able to take the necessary risks to turn its agricultural industry around,” Alexandros said. “But this program gives new farmers the tools, techniques, connections to make the transition easier, and I want to share my skills and train others as well.”