The drivers of change for the contribution of small farms to regional food security in Europe

The capacity of the food system to respond to the economic, demographic and environmental challenges ahead has become a topic of increasing interest, with particular attention to the roles and responsibilities of the different actors to ensure more sustainable food systems that can guarantee food and nutrition security for all. In this paper we approach the need to better understand the factors that can condition the potential contribution of small farms to regional food and nutrition security in Europe, acknowledging the role that small farms play in Europe at present. The analysis is based on a survey to 94 experts from 17 regions (NUTS3 level) in 11 different European countries, which identified the drivers of change according to the regional experts. These drivers were then categorized and their relative relevance assessed. The results indicate that some relevant drivers in the European context are linked to the capacity to adopt technologies and practices allowing adaptation to climate change, and the capacity to connect to food markets, with emphasis in the need for cooperation and collective action. The weight of other more European-specific drivers such as ‘consumer values and habits’ reveal that the future role of small farms will be very dependent on a societal change, with equity becoming a relevant component of consumers’ choice

What EU policy framework do we need to sustain High Nature Value (HNV) farming and biodiversity? Policy Paper prepared in the framework of HNV-Link (project funded by the H2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement no 696391)

This policy paper builds upon the work carried out in the framework of HNV-Link (H2020 Project, 2016-2019, www.hnvlink.eu), a thematic multi-actor network on High Nature Value (HNV) Farming involving 13 partners from 10 European countries. The goal of this network is to support HNV farming systems by inspiring and sharing innovations/practices that improve their socio-economic viability while preserving their ecological value and the public services they provide. HNV-Link informs policymakers and authorities at the European and national levels of the main policy stakes around HNV farming, and to recommend adjustments of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and other policies in order to adequately support HNV farming, the territories in which they are embedded, and the communities that depend on them. In Europe, farmers operate within a complex and constraining environment and policy/regulatory framework, including income support and rural development measures of the CAP, but also the numerous regulations related to agriculture, food hygiene/safety, animal health/welfare, environment protection, and climate change. This framework can provide farms with incentives or on the contrary, hinder their development, and it has consequently a major influence on their economic viability and the survival of the communities depending on farming. This institutional framework was designed to deal mainly with the problems that intensive farms face. Far less weight has been placed on designing and implementing policies adapted to the needs of HNV farms, i.e. those low-intensity farms which rely on and safeguard a rich biodiversity and associated ecosystem services made up of a variety of habitats and landscapes elements. Hence, there is a need for a creative yet thoughtful design and implementation of adapted policy measures

The European and local context of Greek family farming

The restructuring of agriculture worldwide and the reform of the CAP have raised the issue of the adaptation of Greek family farming. The peasantry has adjusted to the technical requirements of the intensive model with the help of the state and the mobilization of local co-operative networks. Nowadays however, the development of rural society faces a new challenge with the end of the protectionist system. The question is whether the peasantry - collectively strong in its technico-economic strategies, but weak in its professional organization and its relations with the outside world - can adjust to the agricultural restructuring process in which it is caught

Integrated Remote Sensing and 3D GIS Methodology to Strengthen Public Participation and Identify Cultural Resources

In the context of territorial development, the construction of specific and competitive local resources is based on the identification of their intangible and material elements but also their links to the region. The connection between these links and local heritage, along with their spatial dimension, makes the active participation of residents in the entire process necessary. This paper presents the application of an integrated methodology that fosters the involvement of residents in a process of collecting relevant implicit information, with the assistance of experts, in order to identify cultural resources from different historical periods. This methodology is based on the synergy of three components: interdisciplinarity, local community participation, and the use of non-destructive cutting-edge technologies (remote sensing, UAV mapping, ground-penetrating radar, and 3D GIS interactive representations). The use of various methods and tools is organized in successive phases, the objective being the substantial participation of residents through 3D interactive visualisations of their area. 3D representations enable the activation of local memory in conjunction with the collection of information regarding location, type, and traces of cultural resources. The entire process validates the implicit information that guides the competent authorities and experts in the further search for more precise information, both from satellite data (high-resolution images) and images from subsurface mapping (ground-penetrating radar). The proposed methodology significantly accelerates the process of identifying cultural resources and provides a comprehensive picture to local government and cultural institutions about the area’s cultural resources and planning possibilities while reducing the failures and costs of the research process. © 2022 by the authors

Kinship relations and economic interdependence in family agriculture of the Greek plain

Small famliy holdings created by the agrarian reform since 1992 remain nowadays the major feature of the agrarian structure in the lowlands of central and northern Greece. Agriculturists are able to rent and cultivate fields owned by their relatives: families express their social cohesion without any consideration for economic differentiation. It seems that the traditional rural individualism is less influential and the small peasantry is now able to improve its technical level, enlarge its equipments and master its future. -from English summar

Un nouveau rôle pour le port de Volos (Grèce) en Méditerranée orientale

Volos, a medium-sized maritime port, that never had a large national hinterland has been adopted by a new ro-ro service directed to Tartous (Syria). This is revealing the revival of old Balkans itineraries and their importance in view of the goods' transportation between Europe and the Middle East.Port méditerranéen de moyenne importance dont l'arrière -pay s est étranglé par ceux du Pirée et de Salonique, Volos (Grèce) accède à de nouveaux rôles grâce au trafic ro-ro et à la ligne de navires rouliers qui l'unit à Tartous (Syrie). Cette évolution révèle l'importance des itinéraires par les Balkans et par la mer pour l'organisation des liaisons entre l'Europe et le Levant.Goussios D., Péchoux Pierre-Yves. Un nouveau rôle pour le port de Volos (Grèce) en Méditerranée orientale. In: Méditerranée, troisième série, tome 44, 1-1982. La géographie des transports en méditerranée. pp. 39-45

Relations de parenté et solidarité économique dans l'agriculture familiale de plaine en Grèce

Large families and small agricultural holdings in modern Greece. Small family holdings created by the agrarian reform since 1992 remain nowadays the major feature of the agrarian structure in the lowlands of Central and Northern Greese. Twenty-five years ago most of these farms, being too small and divided according to the dowry system, seemed out of reach of modernisation and many peasants emigrated to escape underemployment. Anyhow many of them are still going on and developing nowadays though there is no formal land consolidation. But agriculturists are able to rent and cultivate fields owned by their relatives : families express their social cohesion without any consideration for economic différenciation. It seems therefore that the traditional rural individualism is less influent and that the small peasantry is now able to improve its technical level, enlarge its equipments and master its future.La petite exploitation agricole en Grèce : les effets des liens familiaux et des relations socio-économiques induites. La petite exploitation familiale caractéristique des plaines de Grèce du centre et du nord depuis la réforme agraire de 1922 éprouvait pendant la décennie 1960 des difficultés à se moderniser et à se perpétuer, le système du partage dotal contribuant à sa fragmentation et le sous emploi des agriculteurs les poussant à émigrer. Aujourd'hui ces exploitations survivent et se développent sans que l'on observe de concentration foncière. Cela tient aux effets de solidarité que manifestent les locations de terres à l'intérieur des groupes familiaux qui restent solidaires en dépit de leur diversité économique. On peut y voir le signe que la petite paysannerie rompt avec une tradition d'individualisme pour garantir son progrès et assurer son autonomie.La pequeña explotación agrícola en Grecia : impacto de los vínculos familiares y de las resultantes relaciones socioeconómicas. La pequeña explotación familiar, característica de las llanuras de la Grecia central y norte desde la reforma agraria de 1922 experimentó en los años 60 dificultades para modernizarse y e incluso mantenerse : el sistema de partición dotal favorecía la parcelación de la tierra y el subempleo de los agricultores empujándoles a emigrar. Hoy, estas mismas explotaciones se mantienen y se desarrollan sin que se note concentración de fincas. Aquello resulta de la solidaridad manifestada mediante el arrendamiento dentro de los propios grupos familiares que siguen solidarios a pesar de la diversidad de su estatuto económico. Lo cual es indicio de que los paqueños campesinos van rompiendo con una tradición de individualismo para favorecer su progreso y garantizar su autonomía.Goussios D., Tsimboukas Konstandinos. Relations de parenté et solidarité économique dans l'agriculture familiale de plaine en Grèce. In: Revue géographique des Pyrénées et du Sud-Ouest, tome 63, fascicule 2, 1992. L'Europe entre deux modèles agricoles. pp. 303-318

L'exploitation agricole à distance en Grèce : mobilité, pluriactivité et ruralisation (Note)

Goussios D., Duquenne Marie-Noëlle. L'exploitation agricole à distance en Grèce : mobilité, pluriactivité et ruralisation (Note). In: Méditerranée, tome 100, 1-2-2003. Recherches récentes en géographie aixoise, sous la direction de Roland Courtot . pp. 45-48

Greek economic crisis and new agrarian dynamics: The example of Eastern Thessaly [Crise économique grecque et nouvelles dynamiques agraires: L’exemple de la Thessalie orientale]

Eastern Thessaly is a plain bordered by semi-mountainous landscape. The region is home to dairy sheep and goat farming systems exploiting both public and private agro-pastoral resources. The effect of decoupled payments, decreasing prices for irrigated cotton and groundwater depletion bring back complementarities between semi-mountainous breeding systems and plain-located productions (fodder crops). In parallel, the high unemployment rate and the decreasing incomes caused by Greek crisis are leading to conversion of activity in dairy sheep and goat farming, based on communal rangeland grazing. This farming activity is often characterized by a semi-subsistence economy with low cost, fully or partially exploring common spaces. Those two evolutions are promising because their combination in the same agrarian system could lead to complementarities in spatial management in favor of the development of small-ruminant farming systems. However, they face many limits to their development: current irrigated cropping systems are highly dependent on historically based decoupled payments, which represent more than 65% of their farming income. On the contrary, reconversion breeding systems based on rangeland utilization suffer from scant support from European subsidies, and yield low reproductive and productive parameters due to a lack of production means and technical information. Uncertain orientations of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and economic situation in Greece will not allow the current farm income support to be maintained, nor the support for rural development. We must therefore guide agricultural development towards decreasing production costs and enhancing product value, through farming practices adapted to local fodder crops and development of local production networks. This article aims at showing how economic crisis and long-term European subsidies have shaped the agrarian system of Eastern Thessaly, and seeks to identify specific needs of regional dairy sheep breeding systems. © Armand Colin

A territorial approach to social learning: Facilitating consumer knowledge of local food through participation in the guarantee process

Recognition of the link between the origin of local food, farming practices and their territorial settings is important in increasing consumers’ trust and perceived value of quality schemes. Using the concepts of social learning and Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS), this study aims to strengthen consumers’ knowledge regarding local food and its territorial anchoring, by associating product quality with territorial attributes while facilitating consumer participation in the guarantee process. First, a total of 199 online questionnaires assessing consumer preferences for local food showed limited awareness and knowledge of practices connecting products, production processes and quality attributes. Additionally, based on an existing PGS for a local cheese with (Thessaly, Greece), we combined consumer expectations and producers’ guarantees through farm visits and a participatory focus group facilitated by interactive visualisation technology. Results showed that visualised knowledge of intangible and tangible territorial resources raised consumers’ awareness and appreciation of specific quality attributes while helping co-construct shared meanings related to the place of production, local know-how and historical and cultural practices. Thus, it appears that this approach further prepared the ground for consumers’ future ‘physical’ or ‘virtual’ engagement in a bottom-up collaboration for the ongoing negotiation of trust and social control built on trust. © 2022 European Society for Rural Sociology