1. IRSA World Congress 2016
Sustainable and Just Rural Transitions: Connections and Complexities
Agrifood Activism in a Changing World 3 IRSA_5 August 11th 2pm
Sharona Plakidas nissos.ikaria@gmail.com
Sporos(Greek for seed) isa philanthropic initiative, which worksto connect a team of people
to advance education and research initiativesin sustainable agriculture and social equity on
the Greek Island of Ikaria.
Social Equity and Longevity: Strategies for Preserving and Enhancing a
Conservation Economy on Ikaria Island, Greece.
Good afternoon my name is Sharona Plakidas and thank you to the Congress
organizers for inviting me to participate today. I am here to talk to you about
Ikaria, a Greek island in the Eastern Aegean Sea.
Located between the most Eastern Islands of the Greek archipelago and the
Turkish coast, many native inhabitants are self-sufficient farmers who produce
crops for their own needs. Inhabitants cultivate local, endemic and unmodified
agricultural plants that are rapidly disappearing from the Mediterranean. The
economy is characterized by the lack of an industrial sector and dependence on
crops, forage, livestock as well as tourism. The economic crisis has seen a return
of young Greeks to self-sustainable farming.
Ikaria has an estimated 1,500 flora species due to its multitude of freshwater
microclimates. There are 150 varieties of edible wild greens, many varieties of
orchids. Natural and unspoiled ground cover includes wild-oregano, thyme and
lavender. Apiculture is practiced throughout the island. Ikaria is also recognized
as a ‘Blue Zone’ where people live exceptionally long lives in an inclusive social
context.
My reason for making this presentation is to appeal to the academic, intellectual
and business communities to invest their scientific know how and research
capabilities to help generate a sustainable model of crop generation, seed
preservation, cultivation and meaningful harvesting for multiple small farmers.
We are looking for researchers who stress the importance of understanding
social and cultural aspects in generating solutions for economic development.
Our objectives would include: increasing yields of indigenous crops for local
consumption; generating capital for the Ikarian small farmers; developing a clean
tourism based on education and the exchange of cultural and social knowledge
to help maintain social cohesion in the region.

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Sporos, is a philanthropic initiative, which I started with Nick Christoforou in 2013
when the severe impact of the economic crisis in Greece took hold. The crisis is
in its seventh year and provides an opportunity to assess the spatial changes,
which have occurred since Greece joined the European Union in 1981, while the
members of the generation born during WWII are still alive. Sporos has no
political or party affiliation. Our objective is to build a team of people to advance
education initiatives in sustainable agriculture, to facilitate a knowledge transfer
between academics and the local population and to create research opportunities
on the island. We believe that the consequences of the ongoing economic crisis
can offer a chance at the regional level to build a more eco-friendly and
sustainable future. Our mandate is to work with elected governments, academics
and local Ikarians and to bring academic resources and expertise to this unique
environment on the periphery of the European Union.
Sporos encourages and supports researchers to bring tools and expertise such
as GIS mapping to record pesticide use, to monitor the types of seeds that are
planted and to get an accurate economic and health profile of the families who
are there year round. As we have observed, the absence of scientific input in
formulating EU agricultural and trade policy has had a significant negative impact
on the ecology of the island. I’m going to briefly site two examples of policy
failures, which require academic input in order to be effectively tackled.
1. EU agricultural policy has created subsidies for herders, which many families
currently rely on. There has been no auditing of these programs nor have there
been initiatives to replace these unsustainable subsidies which families with
more appropriate subsidies based on cheese or meat production. The island for
example has no abattoir to process the animals subsidized by the EU. The over
population of goats who are left to graze unattended has had a severe and in
parts of the island, devastating environmental impact. The break down in the
environment has been accompanied by a schism within society with families
vociferously taking stands on booth sides.
2. Another example of well intended but ill-conceived policy is the importation of
food to the island in an attempt to mitigate the impact of the economic crisis by
feeding school aged children. This program is expensive and inefficient with a
large percentage of produce arriving spoilt and inedible. Direct funding to
families, what we refer to as a ‘baby bonus’ here in Canada, would establish a
less costly and more effective funding model. We are advocating for a family
allowance to be established as a test program on Ikaria. It is my conviction that
this will prove to be an equitable and empowering way to maintain rural
communities throughout the periphery of the EU.
In spite of increased publicity due to the “Blue Zones” project, there has been no
monitoring, mapping or analysis of agricultural land use or social change on
Ikaria. Without getting into too much detail structural problems include:

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Disruption of centuries old functional water distribution systems with unworkable
technology; Disruption of the traditional fish harvesting system as characterized
by the subsidized destruction of fishing boats; And the lack of appropriate
infrastructure for garbage disposal.
I’m going to quickly recount some history to provide context to the culture of self-
sufficiency and isolation that is still a defining feature of Ikarian life. Ikaria has
been inhabited since 7000 BC. In the 4th century it became a member of the
Second Athenian League and subsequently part of the Roman Empire around
230BC. The island seems to have entered a period of relative prosperity after the
end of the Persian wars. By the 3rd Century AD it became part of the Byzantine
Empire. Ikaria was variously under the governance of the Genoese and later the
Knights of St. John. Having no natural harbours and a difficult terrain after the
12th century there are no records of a naval presence and the island was left
largely unprotected for most of its history. Its inhabitants were therefore left
vulnerable to constant pirate invasions causing them to move away from the
coast. The islands settlements and culture still reflect this history. Unlike other
Greek islands there were no large villages, and homesteads were designed to be
self-contained, self-sufficient and invisible from the sea.
Ikaria fell under Ottoman occupation in 1521 although the Turks, like past
empires and future governments did not invest resources there. The Ikarians
were heavily taxed during this period, relying on the cash crops of charcoal and
raisins to trade with. Late 19th century observers note a marked disdain for elites
and conspicuous consumption, a functioning exchange economy, evidence of
communal animal husbandry and an ideological adherence to a simple life-style.
After the Greek war of independence in 1821 the Eastern Aegean Islands were
returned to Ottoman rule under the London protocol of 1830. Ikaria declared
independence on July 17th 1912 and became an autonomous republic. It was
contractually brought into greater Greece five months later by a 100-year
contract. Although it continued to be an outlier “the wild east” the island accepted
full Greek sovereignty four years ago when the contract expired, although the
flag of the free state of Ikaria is still ubiquitous throughout the island.
By the middle of the 1920’s the Ikarian propensity to take collective responsibility
took on a more tangibly politicised character. The majority of the population
rejected the inequities that they believed were produced by capitalism, while
there were more prosperous farmers, there was never a conspicuous landowning
class. While the flow of income from Ikarians in American’s still formed a sizable
economic contribution, by the 1920’s Ikarian immigrants had become US citizens
and were investing in their new country rather than return to the island. The
island continued to be largely ignored by mainland Greece and remained isolated
until its invasion by the axis powers during the Second World War. In the
ensuing Greek civil war it was used as a place of exile. After the war the British

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established an anti-communist regime. Over 13,000 people accused of
communism were sent to Ikaria from the end of the war into the 1950’s
outnumbering the estimated 8,000 local inhabitants and thereafter establishing
the politics of the island, which became known as “the red rock”. In 1964, after
the legalisation of the party, communists won every seat in Ikaria. Ikaria
continues to be administered by the KKE (Communist Party of Greece) and the
majority of her inhabitants have a communist or left of centre ideology.
The ‘Blue Zone’ publicity arrived in 2012 after a team of National Geographic
researchers concluded that there was an unusually high number of 100-year old
people and has been a boost for the island in terms of tourism. Many of the
elements discussed by journalists in search of the mystery of a long life hold true,
The Ikarian diet is rich in fruits and vegetables, honey and goat’s milk. They eat a
lot olive oil and consume lots of wine. Their life style involves a lot of natural
movement and they consume their meals slowly in communal environments with
family and friends. But this is true of much of rural Greece, so what differentiates
Ikaria? The answer lies in the island’s history of war and post war starvation and
the solutions founded in collective responsibility, which ensured survival, as well
as the prominent status of women in traditional and contemporary Ikarian society.
Ikarians continue to survive today by relying on an informal exchange economy
of goods and services. They largely shun the stress associated with
consumerism and live mostly in the open air. An enduring sense of community,
together with intergenerational equity is evident, young and old are present at
any festival or community event. In Ikaria no one is left out and people gain social
equity as they age.
A little about myself, I was born in South Africa, immigrated to Canada in 1969
and was raised in Guelph Ontario. I met my husband George Plakidas while
attending university in New York City. I hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from
the New School for Social Research in conjunction with Parson’s School of
Design. I am a past National Spokesperson for Canadian Artists’
Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC). My introduction to
the idea of an exchange economy comes from the Toronto arts community.
Artists have traditionally supported each other and Canadian visual artists have a
well-developed history of arts collectives and artist run centers, which support
their practices.
I first visited Ikaria in 1987 and subsequently lived there from 1989 to 1991
looking after my in-laws. At that time there were few vehicles or telephones.
Television broadcast one station which most inhabitants did not have access to.
The island was poorly serviced and almost completely lacking in imported food
products. Inhabitants by tradition and necessity were self-sufficient
conservationists. Everything was repurposed and reused. Plastic bags were
washed and hung to dry, food scraps were fed to chickens everyone kept a

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garden and had an astounding repertoire of song to entertain themselves at
gatherings.
My collaborator in Sporos Nick Chistoforou was born in Cyprus, and like me
arrived in Canada in 1969. Nick was a television director at Omi Television for 24
years and currently directs the news at CP24 here in Toronto.
Sporos will be available to provide support to academics interested in leading
field study courses on Ikaria through their respective universities. Our objective is
to develop a curriculum program outside of the fall and winter semesters that will
provide students with additional credits. We propose something that would be 4
to 6 weeks, shorter than a full semester, but which includes 39+ hours of focused
learning in an international setting. Traditional Mediterranean food equity and
food sovereignty practices on Ikaria are community-based and would provide
direct learning experiences.
The islands long history of apiculture and agriculture provides students with
opportunities to meet with local small landholders and practitioners. Women
handle most of the food tasks. Most learned the foraging skills from their
grandmother’s during the years of famine during and after the Second World
War. The program could include foraging and species identification, seed saving
and cultivation technologies both of commonly planted agricultural crops and
from a rare, healthy example of Mediterranean forest in Europe. Foraging
includes wild greens and mushrooms, which are eaten, trees and other foliage
used to feed goats and the wildflowers that bees forage for pollen.
The creation of field courses will aim to provide a comprehensive overview of a
variety of cultural, geographical, biological, environmental and historical forces in
shaping the nature of the human condition on Ikaria Island, Greece.