Shepherds Cooperative of Livadi Olympou
On the slopes of Mount Athos and at an altitude of 1200 meters we can find Livadi Olympou, a village with a long history of livestock farming. This dynamic productive sector that financially supports Livadi has 60 thousand sheep and goats and 1000 cows. At this place in 2007 a group of young people, having as a basic occupation the livestock farming, founded the cooperative "Shepherd". A few years later in 2010, its 14 members, wishing to take advantage of the comparative advantages of their region and to increase the added value of their product, proceed to the establishment of a dairy farm. Today the cooperative supplies its products (Feta, Butter, Yoghurt, Graviera, Katsikisio, Chaseri, Kefalotyri, Myzithra, Xinotyri) to the Macedonian, Pieria and Thessalian markets, as well as delicatessen shops in Athens and Thessaloniki.
This remarkable effort of the cooperative is strengthened by the Bodosaki Foundation 'Thought For Food' program, in collaboration with the American Farm School. For 'Voskos', the Strategic Programs Office of the American Farm School (SPMO) has designed the following educational and advisory services
• Cheese production and critical production control points
• Milk microbiology, hygiene and food safety as well as quality assurance
• Modern reproduction techniques
• Animal husbandry management, Health and welfare of sheep and goats
• Good pasture and diet management practices
The aforementioned educational activities carried out at the premises of the cooperative are aimed at improving the quantity and quality of the produced milk as well as the products produced by it and thus the improvement of the financial viability of its members.
Scientific Coordinator of the action
Dr. Evdokia Krystallidou
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