Cooperatives, pulse varieties, biomass, a substitute for sugar, and super foods. These are all keywords that describe the next Cross Visit. From April 4-8, partners from the AgriSpin project meet in Thessaly to take a closer look at the four Greek innovation cases.
The AgriSpin project partners will learn about innovation in Greek agriculture by visiting the following innovation cases:
Psyhanthos
Psyhanthos is an agricultural cooperative of pulses and food items. It engages in the cultivation, processing and trade of products, byproducts and derivatives of mainly commercial and traditional pulse varieties. It also deals with the integrated management of vegetables and cereals, intended for human consumption. The cooperative aims at creating a production and trade network that will ensure sustainable production and trade conditions for producers and better prices and high quality for consumers.
ASYST
ASYST is an agricultural cooperative that introduces a new ingredient, Steviol, to the food industry in Greece. Steviol is a substitute for sugar and shows promising potential for replacing sugar beets and tobacco cultivations. Apart from introducing an innovative crop as well as a new generation cooperative, ASYST is also an attempt to make a vertically integrated production aimed at the global market.
Efkarpon-Hellenic Super Foods
Aside from being a new generation vertical cooperative, Efkarpon-Hellenic Super Foods may also boast of farming, processing and marketing four innovative products: gojiberry, black chockberry, bilberry, and hippophae berry according to organic farming standards. The innovation concerns an initiative that pioneered the introduction of super foods, especially gojiberry in Greece and Europe.
ESEK
ESEK is an energy cooperative of Karditsa. It is a non-agricultural cooperative that utilizes renewable sources of energy, that is, biomass produced as byproduct of cultivations and forestry. The utilization of biomass contributes to environment protection and energy generation as well as to the creation of jobs an incomes locally.
The Cross Visit is concluded with a seminar where regional as well as rural stockholders participate.
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