ZOYIA KOTALIANOU

THESSALONIKI - The American Farm School (AFS) in Thessaloniki, which has been in operation for more than a century, is expanding its dairy production to make new products available. The dairy currently produces 3,000-3,500 bottles a day, or 1 million bottles a year. Its fresh, pasteurized milk in distinctive glass bottles is widely available in Thessaloniki. The plan is to gradually expand the range to include cheese, yogurt and ice cream.

Always innovative - it introduced pasteurization and low-cholesterol Omega-3 eggs to Greece - AFS also has groundbreaking courses at its Dimitris Perrotis College of Agricultural Studies. Among the options available is a course on the management of urban greenery and xerophyte gardening, the farm's director Thanassis Giamoustaris told Kathimerini.

At its 85-hectare Zannas farm, near the delta of the Axios River, AFS grows energy-producing crops such as rapeseed, and more recently kenaf, which can be used for fibers and thread in clothing and as a substitute for wood pulp, used in paper manufacture.