Laconia, Greece
Olive and citrus landscapes where monoculture has narrowed what the land can offer, and where young people are walking away from farming.
Laconia, Greece
Olive and citrus landscapes where monoculture has narrowed what the land can offer, and where young people are walking away from farming.
Olive and citrus groves
Monoculture farming
Agroforestry adoption
The Southern Lights
Olives and citrus are the two highest-value crops in this area. Between them, they shape almost everything: how the land is worked, what income looks like, and what a farm is expected to be.
Monoculture is the norm here. Ploughing is frequent and chemical inputs are high. Farms built this way have little to fall back on when conditions turn, and the fragility is showing.
Young people are leaving. Land is being abandoned, not because it stopped producing, but because farming here stopped looking like a future worth staying for.
Agroforestry is gaining ground in the region as an alternative to current systems, but the questions that matter are still open. Which combinations of crops, trees and livestock actually suit this landscape? What would make them profitable rather than merely possible? And what legal obstacles stand in the way of farmers who want to try?
FIREFLIES works on all three, alongside the farmers and communities who would have to live with the answers.
The Southern Lights farm - Skala, Laconia
The Southern Lights farm - Skala, Laconia
The Southern Lights farm - Skala, Laconia
The Southern Lights farm - Skala, Laconia
The Southern Lights farm - Skala, Laconia
The Southern Lights farm - Skala, Laconia
The Southern Lights farm - Skala, Laconia
The Southern Lights farm - Skala, Laconia
Greek Spoonwing (Nemoptera coa) - Skala, Laconia
Harlequin Flies (Xanthogramma spp.) - Skala, Laconia
Seven-spotted Lady Beetle (Coccinella septempunctata) - Sparti, Laconia
Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi) - Skala, Laconia
Thick-legged Flower Beetle (Oedemera nobilis) - Skala, Laconia
Sheila Darmos, Director of The Southern Lights organisation
sheila@thesouthernlights.org
Choose what data you share with us. Cookie Policy
Choose what data you share with us. Cookie Policy