We have been driving around Crete for the last week exploring every mountain pass... every deep ravine... every olive grove... every goat herd. The thought recurring each day is, "with such difficult farming terrain, how come these farmers look so relaxed?" These guys have more spare time than any other farming group I know... they have the longest life expectancy in the world... and appear to be enviably happy during the worst economic crisis of our time. How smart are these people. When facing a crisis, why aren't world leaders beating a path to their door... seeking advice from the smartest people in the world.
The Cretean farmer has developed a farming economy where he doesn't plough any fields, doesn't need any fertiliser... doesn't have to rush his produce to market before it spoils. .. and in his spare time he grows some grapes. He has bred goats smart enough to come home without being herded and smart enough to live on cliff faces with minimal vegetation. He developed a farming economy that left him plenty of time to solve the problems of the world created by Athens and Brussels and New York.
As far as solving the GFC, the Cretean Farmers are already on the job. In every mountain village you can see the farmer gathered with his mates sharing a drop of grappa followed by a drop of raki. They talk for hours about the range of possible solutions. The arguments are impassioned... lots of arm waving... lots of raised voices. Tomorrow, they will repeat the process... and the day after. Over time the sense of crisis will pass... even though there will have been no steps towards rectification. Imperceptibly, change will occur... through osmosis. I reckon the farmers will find a solution in the end... a result that will be surprising in its simplicity and its robust nature.
Why have so much faith in the Cretean farmer? It's their track record that impresses. These guys come from the Minoan civilisation... circa 2000 BC to 1000 BC. The ancestors to these guys were plumbing palaces for running water and flush toilets at the time your ancestors were patting themselves on the back for placing one stone on top of another at Stonehenge. These guys were administering a civilisation with no army... no fortifications... and equal rights for women at the time your ancestors were building Hadrian's Wall and asking the Roman boss if it was OK if he had a drink of water. Don't be fooled by the Cretean farmer... he has proven DNA.
Living at the crossroads of the world, they have been attacked by every would-be military strongman history has thrown up during the last two millennium. First it was the Mycenaean brothers (mainly from Greece), then the Romans that splintered into the Byzantine group. When the Moors were kicked out of Spain, they took over the island as a convenient base from which to operate a Piracy business. The Moors were pulled into line by the Arab civilisation until the Byzantine empire retook Constantinople. For want of a better idea, the Byzantines virtually gave Crete to the Venetians who milked the taxes out of the island for a few hundred years. Eventually, the Ottomans took control for 200 years. The major powers of Europe (Britain, France and Germany) put increasing pressure on the Ottomans. In 1923 the Turkish population in Crete was repatriated and Greek control of the island was consolidated. Bear with me... there is one more major population shift. After World War II, population repatriation between Turkey and Greece resulted in large numbers of people of Greek heritage who had been living in Turkey moving to Crete. They brought with them good technology for wine growing and making. (That is enough history!)
Through all the turmoil history could throw at the Cretean farmer, he learned to survive... knew when to fight... knew when to acquiesce. No wonder he can look at the GFC and still be happy.
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