The famous Zagorin apples

At the dawn of the 20th century, the trade of silk and fabrics that brought prosperity to the village was in great decline. The Zagorians were forced to look for another economic outlet and found it in their delicious apples, the firikia (which gradually moved to the background) and from 1935 the starking delicious, which today are known as "Zagorin" and flood not only the markets of Greece, but also those abroad. They had also taken care to organize early and proceeded to the establishment of an Agricultural Cooperative, already from 1916.

The Cooperative, despite the trials it has gone through from time to time, now completes 109 years of operation, something that very few businesses in Greece have achieved. It was the first at European Union level that secured in 1996 Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) for apples (initially for "Golden Delicious"), while at the same time in the same year it was the first Greek company to affix a label of authenticity to its products.

Zagorin equals Zagora

Today, the Agricultural Cooperative of Zagora Piliou has 780 members - producers, 99% of the growers in the area, in less than 15,000 acres of land. Despite the problems caused by Daniel (loss of approximately 10% of arable land), it continues to look to the future with optimism.

It produces approximately 15 thousand tons of products, with over 90% being apples, while it also produces firikia, cherries, chestnuts, kiwis and pears in much smaller quantities. It has a modern privately owned complex of refrigeration facilities, sorting and packaging, with advanced apple sorting capabilities, as well as privately owned facilities in the Central Market of Athens since 1965 and the Central Market of Thessaloniki since 1973. Very important are the innovations that are applied both in cultivation and in the standardization process, in order to achieve the best possible ecological "footprint".

But beyond the financial figures, even more important is the social contribution of the Cooperative. It operates as a bulwark against urbanization and the abandonment of the countryside and as a pole of "cooperation" for four generations of Zagorians. The frequent question of visitors "but what are so many young people doing in Zagora?" finds its answer here!