BUYING A FARM Welcome. In Greece the mass production of farmland is not so recognised as other countries. the Greek farming communities still have smallholding, that are owned by families being pasted down the generations. Most Greeks have an association with the land, whether they are gowning family vegetables, to making wine, most homes have a grapevine to produce their own family wines.

   In Greece their are many smallholding around the country. In modern Greece today the farming communities are slowly reducing, as the new generation of young Greeks are opting out of farming and into the new up and coming computer age. As education in Greece as advanced then so the workforce is changing as well, leaving a small gap in the market of vacate land areas for sale or to be rented.

BUYING A FARM

These farmlands usually have olive trees on and in some cases a farmhouse. When looking for land not all land areas have dwelling homes on so if you are intending to build a home check with the local planning office, whether it is possible to build. Most smallholdings are outside the village plan so under current planning regulations in Greece stipulate that, if a building plot of land is outside of the town plan and if no archaeology, forestry, or natura, restrictions apply. Then permission can be granted to construct a building on a land plot area of a minimum of 4,000m2 plot then you are permitted to build either 220m2 or 240m2 determined on the road frontage of the property. These are the current laws that are subject to changes.

In Greece  land is sold under the measurements of stemmas, which is

100m x 100m = 10000 m2 = 1 stemmas.

In the old days land was sold by the amounts of olive trees on them. When buying land make sure that their is adequate water to irrigate the farmland. This can be found out by going to the local town hall to ask the question, if insufficient they many allocate a water well for the land.

  Make sure that the boundaries of the land are clearly marked and that the neighbors agree to the boundaries from the topichgragic plan. If the land does not have a topichgragic have a plan drawn up usually at the sellers expense.

When the topichgragic is in place go to the local town hall to establish the land usage and whether a home can be built on it. Over the land a agricultural road may exist that gives a throwaway to other lands. Check the road usage category as you are not permitted to build within a certain distance of the road.

The common agricultural policy for Greece lays down certain rules and regulations form the EU covering pesticides, grants, crop rotation. Also it is very beneficial to understanding the farming methods in Greece for production of Olive tree for olive oil which the locals shall be glad to assist.

When leasing the land area calculate the time of the crop that you wish to grown and timescale to the yield to profit calculated into the return capitol period.

Agricultural Activity

It is known that real growing was once very important on Crete and Greece that both during the Byzantine periods and whilst under Venetian occupation, Crete was seen as something of a ‘larder’ for its masters. In fact the remains of many Venetian built windmills can be seen in many places.

Nowadays the principle agricultural crop is olives, grown both to eat and, predominantly for oil. This change has partly been brought about because of subsidies that have been available for olive oil production from the European Union.

Goats and sheep are still herded and salads, potatoes and grapes are grown on a smaller scale. In the west of the island the climate is a little more humid and some citrus tree orchards can be found. Around the seaside resort of Malia there are still plastic growing houses that house the Cretan banana. This has a strong tasting small fruit and the houses that survive are remnants of a thriving industry which used to have strong governmental support (in the days of the Junta the importing of bananas to Greece was prohibited).

   On the whole you will not find large agricultural establishments. This is, in part, due Greek inheritance laws and traditions, which have led to the division of land over the years between siblings.

Agriculture in Greece is based on small-sized family-owned dispersed units, while the extent of cooperative organisation stays at low comparative levels, against all efforts that have been taken in the last 30 years, mainly under European Union supervision.

Geek agriculture employs 528,000 farmers, 12% of the total labour force. It only produces 7% of the national GDP (about $16 billion annually). A large number of the country's immigrants are employed in the agricultural sector of the economy, as well as construction and public works.

  Crrently, Greek agriculture is heavily subsidised by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with controversial results. Certain deductions of subsidies are planned within the next decade. Greece produces a wide variety of crops and livestock products. Fisheries are also playing an important role while forestry plays a secondary role.

Major agricultural products

Geece's climatic and topographic conditions allow for an extremely large number of crops ranging from tropical (eg bananas) to those more typical of northern climates (eg mushrooms).

Creals constitute very important crops mainly for local consumption. Older policies of the Greek state aimed at cereals production being in equilibrium with the country's annual needs. Frequent expansive and defensive people's nutrition, were two factors that galvanised the former policy.

Major crops

  Weat - Annual production of wheat reached 1.8 million tonnes in 2004 down from 2.1 million tonnes in 1964. Average yield went from 165.3 tonnes per square kilometre in 1964 to 211.3 t/km² in 2004, while the total area harvested decreased from 12,631 km² in 1964 to 8,519 km² in 2004. Barley - Annual production of Barley reached 220,000 million tonnes in 2004 down from 242,000 million tonnes in 1964. Average yield went from 144.91 t/km² in 1964 to 224.97 t/km² in 2004. The total area harvested decreased from 1670 km² in 1964 to 978 km² in 2004.

Maize, Oil seeds, Olive, Sunflower, Soybean, Cotton, Tobacco, Potatoes, Sugar beet, Vegetables, Tomatoes, Onions, Lettuce, Eggplant, Cucumbers, Green Peppers, Cauliflower, Carrots, Cabbage, Broccoli, Fresh fruits, Citrus, Oranges, Lemons, Grapes.