With highly engaging training sessions and a dense schedule of visits, the eighth three-day event of the Agrifood Leadership program, the first specialized Leadership program in Agrifood implemented by the organization New Agriculture New Generation in Greece, was concluded.
The educational three-day event, which is also the last of the program for this year, took place in Athens, Loutraki, and Nemea from May 24th to 26th, sponsored by NuAqua. The goal of the Agrifood Leadership program is to give participants the opportunity to become members of a community of leaders, network with esteemed professionals in the Agrifood sector, and discuss new trends in production, processing, and supply chain management.
The main instructor of the three-day event was Mr. Stathis Klonaris, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Agricultural Economics & Development at the Agricultural University of Athens, whose lectures focused on the Common Agricultural Policy and the Greek strategic plan. All aspects of the common agricultural policy and the opportunities it offers to those engaged in the Agrifood sector were thoroughly analyzed. Noteworthy was the lecture on the importance of certifications in agricultural production given by Mr. Vasilis Kitsos, Technical Director from COSMOCERT, which participates as a program and certification sponsor by providing 10 free certifications for organic products to the participating producers of Agrifood Leadership.
Participants of the program had a dense schedule of visits and presentations during the three days. Specifically, on Friday, a visit was made to Piraeus Bank, where the Agrifood Leadership team discussed with the leadership of agricultural banking, while the same day included a visit to the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, particularly to the Services responsible for the implementation of the Rural Development Program and the Strategic Plan.
An excellent impression was made by the visit to the bottling plant of the natural mineral water eonio Loutraki by NuAqua, where the program participants had the opportunity to witness firsthand a success story of Greek processing.
The training sessions on Saturday and Sunday were held at Lafazanis Winery in Nemea, which were combined with visits to the winery’s vineyards and production facilities.
NuAqua was the sponsor of the three-day event, and we thank them for their contribution to the realization of the event and for the tour of the bottling plant facilities.
The Agrifood Leadership by the organization New Agriculture New Generation is the first specialized Leadership program in Agrifood in Greece. It lasts 90 hours and includes 8 experiential three-day events with training sessions, systematic networking actions, field visits to decision-making centers of the Agrifood sector, leadership role-playing activities, as well as 2 online training sessions. The program modules include, among others, basic concepts such as Leadership, Analytical Skills, Marketing Principles, Governance, Agricultural Economy and Policy, etc. The goal of the program is to empower the future Leaders of the Agrifood Sector to prioritize sustainability, technology, participation, market orientation, collaboration, adaptability, and resilience.
The Agrifood Leadership program is implemented by the organization New Agriculture New Generation through the founding donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). The Technical and Strategic Advisor is Rutgers University of the USA.
Sponsors of the Experiential Three-Day Events include COMPO EXPERT, KOUIMTZIS Group, Batsolakis Meat School, the Chios Mastiha Growers Association, the Consortium of Cooperatives of Producer Groups of Imathia, the Union of Messinia, and NuAqua. The International Visit Sponsor is DayGroup. The Program Sponsor is BAYER. The Program and Certification Sponsor is COSMOCERT. The Air Transport Sponsor is SKY express. The program is under the auspices of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food.
