Abstract
Greece's agricultural economy has undergone a gradual process of adjustment since World War II. While farm numbers have been reduced and average farm size has increased, the relative size of the farm population is still large by European standards. The slow rate of consolidation and adjustment in the agricultural sector of Greece is influenced by the following three factors: (1) lack of developed markets for long term capital; (2) multiple job holding among Greek farmers; and (3) protective agricultural policies.
Greece's accession into the European Economic Community in 1981 has shifted her trade patterns towards her European partners. In terms of agricultural trade, Greece exported considerably more agricultural goods to EEC members in 1987 than was imported from EEC countries. Greece's agricultural trade balance with all nations of the world is roughly one to one, i.e., agricultural imports equal agricultural exports in value. Since entry into the EEC, Greece has improved her degree of competitiveness or self-sufficiency in vegetables, citrus, and wine, but has reduced her self-sufficiency or competitiveness in meat and livestock products.
Improved competitiveness of Greece's agricultural sector in the 1990s will require adoption of known production technologies, reduction in government bureaucracy, development of new technologies for improving product quality and minimizing plant diseases, reduction in production and marketing costs, and more effective domestic and export group marketing strategies.
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Additional information
Leonidas C. Polopolus is a Professor of Food and Resource Economics and Co-Director of the Center for Greek Studies at the University of Florida. He is also currently CSRS Representative in Agricultural Economics for the Cooperative State Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. He is a past President of the American Agricultural Economics Association (1982–1983) and former Chairman of the Department of Food and Resource Economics of the University of Florida (1973–1983). He has published widely on topics dealing with agricultural marketing, agricultural policy, and agricultural labor.
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Polopolus, L.C. Greek agriculture in a period of adjustment. Agric Hum Values 6, 82–90 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02219424
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02219424