Farming News - Greek coop cuts out the middle-men with vending moochines
News
Greek coop cuts out the middle-men with vending moochines
image expired
In 2012, the 'potato revolution' saw farmers and activists in Northern Greece banding together to set up a website linking farmers and townspeople, allowing direct orders of potatoes and other fresh produce, which were then distributed in car parks on a given day. Since that time, the initiative has gone from strength to strength.
More than five years of recession and several waves of austerity measures inflicted by the government to satisfy lenders in the EU and IMF have led to widespread immiseration and turmoil. Now dairy farmers in central Greece have formed a cooperative to begin direct selling. In Larissa, capital of the Thessaly region, vending machines have been placed around the town selling milk directly to townspeople, re-localising production and keeping milk prices afloat.
The novel idea means cash-strapped customers save 30 cents on supermarket milk prices (with a litre of milk costing 1 euro, or 90 cents to those who prepay); though the recession has hit Greeks hard, milk prices in the country remain amongst the highest in Europe. Those buying milk from vending machines bring their own bottles and containers to fill, saving on packaging.
As with similar developments, most of the success and expansion of the ThesGala (Want Milk?) concept has been through word of mouth. The cooperative behind the machines said it plans to stretch out around the Thessaly region, building on the positive reception to the 14 machines in the regional capital.
Government policy in the face of Greece's recession has been unpopular with farmers, who staged protests at the beginning of the year against rising taxes, production costs and the government's ongoing austerity package. In a repeat of earlier demonstrations, farmers blocked major highways with tractors and assembled outside the ministry of agriculture buildings in Athens.
More recently, proposed changes to milk labelling laws, designed to liberalise the dairy market in Greece led dairy farmers to revolt and deputy agriculture minister Maximos Charakopoulos to quit in protest.