Address
Dear colleagues,
On behalf of the organizing committee, we welcome you to the website of the 1st International Pistachio Congress which is going to take place at the Municipal Theater of Lamia on November
16 and 17 2024 (Saturday and Sunday).
This congress was an idea of the undersigned, for the correct, complete, but at the same time valid information of the pistachio growers of all Greece, which was missing from our area. 5 Lecturers-Professors from the
most valid source of knowledge in relation to cultivating pistachio issues (DAVIS UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA USA), the former president for many years of the American Pistachio Growers Association, as well and a
representative from the world's largest nut processing and trading company will honor our conference with their participation.
At this point I must thank in public the Greek professor at the University of Davis, California, USA, Themis J. Michailides, for his undivided support and help. The idea of this top event could not have been realized
without two more persons, who embraced this vision and supported it financially from the first moment. They are Andreas Papakonstantinou and his company BIO.GE.KAT. and Christos Skouras, and his company SKOURAS BROS,
whom I also publicly thank for believing in this effort.
We hope that our effort will find the corresponding response. Every contribution by the private sector (including all international and national agrochemical companies, machinery companies, supplies, nurseries) to the
success of the conference in the form of sponsorship will be welcome and highly appreciated.
Dear fellow growers and agronomists,
In an era of enormous environmental changes due to the phenomenon of the climate crisis that has already violently knocked on our door several times so far, we already see its disastrous effects in Thessaly, the increasing drought, the disappearance of water from thousands of boreholes, the warm winters, (which directly affect us in our cultivation), the constant hailstorms in the middle of summer all over the country, none of us has any doubts anymore that we are heading down uncharted roads, which no one can, or wants to predict.
On the other hand, the directives of the European Union with the “Green Deal”, the continuous withdrawals of active pesticides substances and the deprivation of the Agriculture sector from weapons against enemies and diseases day by day, together with the continuous adoption of Unfair competition practices by Third countries, bring us face to face with a new harsh reality, that of the dominance of the environmental lobbies in the decision-making centers of Brussels and the complete marginalization of European Agriculture as a ‘paria’ without effective protection through the Common Agricultural Policy.
Also, the decisions of the Greek governments with the complete lack of even the slightest interest in the future and the central planning of the Greek Agricultural policy, have caused the complete dislocation of the foreign workforce of our country, (since Greeks does not exist in the Greek countryside), who, seeing that the State not only does not help them to remain, but even hinders them, leave for other countries of the European Union, which have understood that there is a serious problem of labor shortage and attract them by essentially supporting their pension gap.
In addition, the complete lack of control of the country's multiplying material have created serious problems for the country's tree crops, not excluding the pistachio. Varieties from various parts of the world, without compatibility checks in the Greek reality, are sold as a panacea by nurseries paratroopers without certifications, without cards, without an essential state control mechanism. The continuous downsizing of the Ministry of Agriculture without replenishing the specialized scientific staff, the interventions of the Regions in the local Agri-administratives, putting ‘straw men’ in charge of their services to ensure their re-election, have led us to the zero point where if we do not take care of ourselves, the situation will soon be irreversible.
So in the midst of all this, Greek agriculture is called not only to cope, but also to compete at European and international level. Therefore, the Greek grower should be armed not only with the necessary machinery, but also with the knowledge that will allow him to survive and adequately respond to this harsh environment.
So starting from the saying of Confucius: “If you think for only one year, you could plant a seed, if you think for 10 years, you could plant a tree, if you think for 100 years, then you could teach people”, I think this conference will be a great “teacher” for everyone of us (agronomists and growers), trying to cover most issues in the pistachio growing sector and not only. It will also try to cover the next stage, that of the organization of the producers, the marketing and distribution of the product in the markets, as well as the awareness of the international market with guest-speakers leading professors not only from the USA, but also from Turkey and Spain.
We ensure you as organizers of the conference that we will make every possible effort to succeed in organizing an international conference, which in terms of knowledge will leave absolutely no gaps for the people of the countryside who are in such need of knowledge, as it has been said by our national poet: “ It is not enough for the sun alone, for the earth to give a harvest, many more are needed, but above all knowledge".
Yannis Hondropoulos
Grower - Agronomist – Consultant
Forefront of the Organizing Committee