A Greek family’s quest for seeds, sustainability
and independence
This article was published by Al Jazeera International
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| Yiorgos (L) and Antonis Antonopoulos on a hill overlooking Dilofo. |
DILOFO, Thessaly - On the Greek
government’s list of certified organic farmers, Antonis Antonopoulos has the
serial number one.
What really makes Antonis
and his brother, Yiorgos, a singular phenomenon, though, is not that their
model farm pioneered organic methods in Greece; it’s that they were among the
first to realise that organically grown, local varieties of wheat and barley other
farmers had cast aside could be a commercial hit.
The Antonopouloi have
branded and shipped their organic flours made from indigenous grains to
specialty shops and bakeries for years. Two years ago, their branded Zea flour,
derived from a double-kerneled wheat bred in their town of Dilofo, became the
key ingredient in an eponymous sliced bread that is distributed nationwide.
Although sales figures are a closely guarded secret, it is clear that Zea’s
commercial success has brought an ancient grain back from the brink of
extinction.
“Demand is growing,” says
Yiorgos Antonopoulos, who won’t divulge his annual turnover or how many
hectares he cultivates. “Suffice it to say that I’m better off than anyone else
in the area.”
This success is important
because Greece is a natural gene bank. Its archipelago, varied terrain and
microclimates favoured so many divergent evolutionary paths that today it has
the highest plant biodiversity in Europe, with approximately 6,000 wild plant
species or subspecies, and thousands of cultivated plants. Should this vast
genetic vocabulary be lost, scientists and farmers could lose a vital resource in
the fight to keep feeding the planet in a rapidly-changing climate.
