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To Cultivate or Not to Cultivate? An Exploratory Analysis of What Influences Greek Farmers’ Decisions Towards the Cultivation of Bioenergy Crops

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Towards a Sustainable Bioeconomy: Principles, Challenges and Perspectives

Part of the book series: World Sustainability Series ((WSUSE))

Abstract

Much emphasis is placed by the EU on bioenergy crops as a means of decreasing Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels and environmental sustainability and in turn, promoting potential rural development benefits from biomass production and processing. Various reasons have been identified in the literature as influencing the future of bioenergy in the EU. Critical among them is the farmers’ willingness to engage in bioenergy crops cultivation. While common concerns of farmers at the EU level have been identified in the relevant literature, evidence exists that such concerns differ at country and even local level. In this chapter, through an exploratory approach, we identify parameters which influence Greek farmers’ decisions to engage in the cultivation of bioenergy crops. Thematic analysis was implemented for the exploration of data from a focus group, from central Greece, involving farmers and relevant stakeholders. General themes such as socio-economic, institutional/policy support, environmental and land-use considerations emerged. Numerous sub-thematics involving social and value considerations (e.g. generation gap), issues of social capital such as trust in government institutions and strategic planning complement the general themes.

This chapter is based upon work supported by the WATBIO research project under programme No. 311929 (EU’s FP7 Programme). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the WATBIO programme.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Stremma (plural: stremmata) is the area unit mostly used for agricultural land. A stremma equals 1000 m2.

  2. 2.

    See more on this in Commissioner Phil Hogan’s speech at the Greek parliament on October, 6, 2016. Available at:https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/sites/agriculture/files/docs/speeches/hogan-2016-10-05-greek-parliament_en.pdf.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Crete, Crete, Greece

    Eugenia Petropoulou & Vasiliki Petousi

  2. Agricultural Economics Research Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organisation—DEMETER, Athens, Greece

    Irini Theodorakopoulou

Authors
  1. Eugenia Petropoulou
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  2. Vasiliki Petousi
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  3. Irini Theodorakopoulou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eugenia Petropoulou .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. “Constantin Brancusi” University of Târgu Jiu, Târgu Jiu, Romania

    Diana Mihaela Pociovălișteanu

  3. Department of Management, College of Business, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

    Paulo Roberto Borges de Brito

  4. Institute for Agrarian & Regional Development, Federal University of Southern and Southeastern Pará, Marabá, Pará, Brazil

    Ismar Borges de Lima

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Petropoulou, E., Petousi, V., Theodorakopoulou, I. (2018). To Cultivate or Not to Cultivate? An Exploratory Analysis of What Influences Greek Farmers’ Decisions Towards the Cultivation of Bioenergy Crops. In: Leal Filho, W., Pociovălișteanu, D., Borges de Brito, P., Borges de Lima, I. (eds) Towards a Sustainable Bioeconomy: Principles, Challenges and Perspectives. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73028-8_22

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