Integrated farming in Northern Greece

The study is focused in Northern Greece and the implementation of Integrated Farming Standards by large fruit growers’ cooperatives. After a large period (1981-1992) of farmers’ adaptation to CAP large production surpluses and market distortion effects occured. The whole initiative started in 2000 in response to this and a further trigger point - 'AGRO2: Management of Rural Environment - System of Integrated Management in Agricultural Production Part1 Specification Part2 Requirement for the application in crop production', a standard officially launched at the end of 1999 by AGROCERT, a standardisation and certification organisation under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Agriculture. The initiative was adopted to fit the actual needs of the Producers Groups. The realization of the potential of the initiative led to a reorientation of the Producers Group goals, when implementing IF system, since they could reduce cost and improve quality.