Marianna’s Farm
After yesterday’s hike along Mount Olympus, we started today’s tours out on the vineyard where Mr. Kazakis explained the vineyard’s history and the different products of the vineyard. The family vineyard grows and harvests grapes of the Sultana variety, and they use the leaves for their business of making the highly sought after Greek Dolmadakia (stuffed grape leaves).  We viewed the processing line where he explained their custom built traceability and tracking systems, much of which was subsidized by the Common Agricultural Policy. Mr. Kazakis said 55% of their costs were subsidized and he joked that the German tax payers were to thank for their new facility since 2008. We wrapped up the tour in the on-site store, where we learned more about their diverse business plan and sampled some of the top products. We learned that they are currently breaking into both the pie market and frozen food sector.

Interesting Facts about Marianna’s Farm:
• Organic, established 1994 with 15 hectares
• 60 different product varieties
• Own 50% of the market (niche)
• 70% of their products are domestically sold, 30% exported
• Only producer of Ntolmadaki (Dolmadakia) in the area
• Less than 1% food waste

Gerovassiliou Winery
About an hour later we visited Ktima Gerovassiliou, a Greek vineyard, where we were greeted by a hostess who gave us a brief history and tour of the facility. We started in the vineyard, then went to the show room and toured the wine museum containing viticulture, winemaking, bottling and cooperage tools. The tour concluded with a tasting of some of their products including a dessert wine made of the rare Greek variety, Malagousia.

“Livestock and Dairy Production in Greece”
We ended our day with Dr. Stratos Souglis who walked us through the dairy parlor and ended at the new processing facility. Throughout the tour he gave us many insightful facts about The American Farm School’s dairy production.  For instance Dr. Souglis informed the group that the American Farm School’s 130 milking cows are able to produce around 11,000 tons per year which is close to double the amount of the average Greek dairy farm.

Interesting Facts:
• AFS produces almost double the amount of milk compared to an average Greek dairy farm
• fully artificial insemination with heifer’s sex-semen which is not widely practiced in Europe
• Heat stress is a large problem they deal with in their herd
• Fully integrated supply chain with an independent distributor