Knowledge for being,a strategy for higher agricultural education

Abstract

This paper reassesses the value of the popular Greek concept of being a sistimatikos person to face rural development challenges. It dwells on fieldwork with olive growers in Western Crete, where a study was carried out to appraise the socio-economic and ecological impact on regional development of organic olive oil production. Working sistimatika turned out to be essential for organic farmers to develop their enterprise. This notion comprises knowledge about what to do, which is made up of a clear vision and technical knowledge about how to organize the work, hard work, love, and finally an ability and desire to search for and learn whatever may be needed. The aspects love and learning capacity are usually unacknowledged in Western conceptions of development strategies informed by a so-called systems approach, but are, however, essential to arrive at what is headed for: specifically, in the Cretan case, the production of organic olive oil, and in general, the conceptualization and materialization of development alternatives for rural areas.