WHEAT ACADEMY TRAINING PROGRAM

The training program is designed in collaboration with the American Farm School of Thessaloniki and consists of a series of 5 seminars, in which the following topics are developed, taught and analysed:

Soil extraction / Fertilization / Certified seeds / CAP

/Good agricultural practices / Climate change / Precision Farming / Crop rotation / Quality requirements of the industry / Crop diseases / Plant protection / Proper operation of agricultural machinery / Personal protective equipment / Harvesting / Storage – disinfestation/ Costing

PROGRAMME AND TEACHING UNITS

The seminars focus on sound agricultural practices regarding agricultural machinery and the sound use of fertilisers and pesticides. Namely, all the tools and methods that must be properly utilised to get the results we want with regards to the quantity and quality of production, while protecting the environment from harmful consequences.

Another important part is training to avoid wasting valuable resources, such as water. Although most of the participants in the programme come from Thessaly, the seminars are also attended by farmers from all over Greece, from places such as Domokos, Kozani, and Kastoria.

CONTRACT FARMING

Melissa, as the largest buyer of durum wheat in Greece, needs more than 80,000 tons each year, so we started and established the contract farming programme in 2013. Our goal was to create long-term partnerships with producers, to discover ways together to improve product quality, increase production, and reduce costs. And that is something we have achieved, and continue to achieve on a daily basis, through our continuous direct contact with producers and from in person assessments we execute per each field.

The numbers prove the success of our venture. In the first year 112 160 farmers participated in the programme with 1100 hectares, while in 2020 there were 915 660 farmers participating, with an area of about 7000 hectares.

CONTRACT FARMING

• We ensure a guaranteed minimum price.
• We add a premium to the price through an additional bonus, if the quality exceeds standard specifications.
• We provide producers with the option of locking in the price at any time they choose, but no later than mid-November of each year.
• We provide contracted producers with the option of joining the contract farming funding programmes with a cooperating Bank.

CONTRACT FARMING

In addition to the above, we enable contracted producers to benefit from the farming consulting programme provided in partnership with the American Farm School of Thessaloniki. At the same time, scientific partners of the programme provide free cultivation advice to producers after visiting their fields.

Furthermore, each year 30 contracted producers attend a series of free seminars organised by the American Farm School’s adult education department on cultivation issues: precision agriculture, climate change, the new CAP, edaphology, diseases, plant protection, etc.

CONTRACT FARMING

• Cultivating at his own expense one of the durum wheat varieties proposed by Melissa.
• Using certified seed and performing soil analyses on the plots included in the program, producer delivers the quantity to us immediately after harvest.
• The production must also meet the required quality specifications.
• He always keeps a log of tasks and cultivation care.

The significant response and the great success of our program led us to establish the WHEAT ACADEMY.