NIKAIA, Greece — From the beginning of December a wave of farm protests has spread across Greece, as farmers seek to protect their livelihoods from soaring production costs and falling prices for the goods they produce.
Farmers’ representatives came together Dec. 13 here in Nikaia in Thessaly, the region where the protests began, to coordinate their next steps. Gathered were the representatives of 57 “bloka” — local protests by farmers parking their tractors at highway intersections. They came from the northern province of Macedonia to the island of Crete in the south. Just outside this town, 1,900 tractors stand on the main highway joining Athens to Thessaloniki, while 2,500 stand at the nearby protest at Karditsa.
“We will continue this fight until the government gives solutions that will ensure the ability of farmers, beekeepers and fishermen to continue to exist in the future and to live with dignity,” Kostas Tzellas, representing the Karditsa farmers’ associations, told the gathering.
Anger and despair have been building for years, especially in Thessaly, which was devastated by Storm Daniel in September 2023. Nearly one-third of the region’s arable land was flooded. The meager compensation farmers got for lost herds of goats, sheep and cattle left them struggling to stay on their farms, the representative from Trikala said. Nor have flood-protection schemes promised by the government materialized.
“We must fight for guaranteed prices and lower costs of production, starting with cheaper gas and electricity, if we are going to stay on our land,” he said. “Without this there is no incentive to rebuild our herds or continue plowing.”
In his address to the meeting, Athanasios Nasiakopoulos, the mayor of the Thessalian town of Kileler, reported a 40% drop in the municipality’s population over the past three years.
Compounding the anger among stock farmers is an epidemic of sheep pox that has led to the culling of entire herds by authorities.
The meeting decided to also fight for reducing the cost of electricity to 8 cents per kilowatt-hour, tax-free fuel to farmers and a guaranteed minimum price for their products.
“We haven’t brought our tractors on the asphalt for 100 euros per stremma [one-quarter acre]. We want to continue to exist tomorrow and live off our income,” Tzellas said.
Additional demands include an overhaul of the state system of agricultural insurance to ensure 100% compensation for losses from natural disasters and diseases, as well as the freezing of farmers’ debts to banks, the power company and other creditors.
The farmers also said they won’t negotiate with the government unless charges against dozens of farmers who have been arrested during the protests are dropped. Rizos Maroudas, representing the protesters in Nikaia, said to loud applause.
“We’ve come to a dead end here,” Konstandinos, who grows legumes and tomatoes in the nearby village of Melia, told the Militant. “I handed over my lentils in June to the cooperative. In October I got 20 cents a kilo for them. I am still waiting for the balance, which should bring me to 85-90 cents [$1-$1.07] a kilo. Meanwhile, I have to live on borrowed money,” he said. “How much do lentils cost on the supermarket shelf? Four and a half euros [$5.30]. That’s not fair to me, or to workers in the cities!
“All kinds of people come to the protests to show their support: taxi drivers, truck drivers, civil servants, teachers, and unionists from different jobs,” he said. Farmers vowed to step up their actions over the Dec. 20-21 weekend.
Magdalini Lappa contributed to this article.