The Domokos plateau is geologically unique, the result of the movement of tectonic plates, permanent volcanic eruptions and cataclysmic events over hundreds of millions of years. Geomythology wants this particular plateau to be the source of life and origin of the Greeks after the flood of Deucalion. There is also the country of the Myrmidons, the kingdom of the Homeric Achilles that was defined by the Enipeus river and stretched from Melitaia to Farsala and Feres (Velestino), as the monetary union of the regions that had the ear of corn as a symbol also states.
Whatever the case may be, the plateau mediates between Sterea and Thessaly and is geographically defined by Mount Othrys, an offshoot of Pindos, which flows into the Pagasitikos and extends to Agrafa, constituting a kind of natural border between Sterea and Thessaly.
From the great transformation of ’53…
The landscape evolved over time and is recorded since the historical era as a place of cereals and oak. It is made up of two characteristic basins, the basin of Xyniada and that of Melitaia. The first in the interwar years was covered by the shallow lake of the same name, which bore the name Xynias or Xyniai since ancient times. It extended to about 31,000 acres and its drainage began in 1937, completed in 1942, but agricultural exploitation of the exposed lands began in 1953 and took its present form in 1972 with the completion of the drainage works.
Farmers’ dilemmas and reactions – Investors offer farmers between 1,600 and 2,000 euros per acre, when a few years ago they rarely reached 500 euros
In the mountain-surrounded basin of Melitaia, streams branch off to form the historic Enipea river that penetrates the mountains, finds passes, descends in Thessaly and flows into Pineos. In the pre-war years the area was covered by fragmented agricultural land and scattered stands of oak, accompanied by plane trees and willows near the streams, which limited its exploitation. The great transformation of the landscape began in 1953 with the start of one of the first land reclamations in Greece and the mass clearing, basically uprooting, of forested oak areas in order to reveal and increase cultivated areas. The specific projects obviously affected the environment and the landscape.
Natural plant hedges were uprooted, watercourses were covered, the removal of plant debris led to soil erosion and degradation and resulted in our days, until recently at least, in a mosaic of crops on the almost always sunny hills of the plateau, in these “undulating folds of soil”, as experts describe them, which are interrupted by the presence of the natural formations of the streams, water corridors in essence, with scattered trees, which document the existence of uprooted oak stands in the area.
…in the second one with the blackboards
Now the area is experiencing a second transformation. Entering the visitor at the beginning of the plateau almost automatically feels the reflection of the glass, the smooth blackboards of the installed photovoltaics. From the mountainous Palamas you are blinded looking at Agios Stefanos and the sunset is lost in Panagia and on the slopes of Koromilia by the Chinese investment. And she’s not the only one. Recently, there has been an increase in purchases of agricultural land by large investment schemes that are preparing the installation of giant energy parks.
In the area of Achladia, approximately 3,000 acres of semi-mountainous arable land have already been purchased – productively degraded, say the investors and confirmed by the Authorities – by an investment scheme owned by Tsakou, which is proceeding with the shaping of the area. Huge bulldozers and heavy vehicles are leveling, digging, placing stakes and barbed wire fencing on a massive scale. Respectively, on the borders of Skopia and the villages of the province of Farsala, another cooperative Greek-Spanish scheme has made mass acquisitions of fields of thousands of acres also for the installation of giant photovoltaic parks. The largest energy parks of the country are expected to be built in the wider area.
The 2,000 euros for each acre is tempting
The few inhabitants of the plateau see the wheat fields, “the undulating rolling hills” flattened and say with sadness and sarcasm “soon glasses”, “our plain will soon become glass” they comment disheartened and emaciated. The truth is that the area is depopulated. In an area of 60-70,000 acres you have to try very hard to meet a person, the 36 villages of the once prosperous province of Domokos are decaying and empty, only in August they fill up and get a little life.
The few inhabitants of the plateau see the wheat fields, “the undulating rolling hills” flattened and say with sadness and sarcasm “soon glasses”
Basically what is left are exhausted old farmers who are treating the newly arrived investors as their last chance in life. The lure is great. Investors are offering for the degraded fields, as they say, from 1,600 to 2,000 euros per hectare. Until a few years ago, any sales barely exceeded 300 euros per acre and rarely reached 500 euros per acre. You can imagine a 65-year-old farmer in the area who owned a hundred acres, which in their best harvest barely brought him 10,000 euros a year, how he would react to an offer of 200,000 euros to buy them out.
Strong reactions from farmers
Despite this, the remaining farmers by profession are strongly protesting what they describe as the uncontrollable destruction of arable land, calling for barriers and limits to be placed on the installation of giant energy parks and for provisions to be taken to protect the environment that is literally being transformed. In addition, they dispute the characterization of the estates as productively degraded and claim transparency in the decisions of the authorities of the area.
Already the local agricultural associations have stood up and are pressuring the regions of Sterea and Thessaly to be frugal in granting new permits for the installation of photovoltaic parks on arable land. Finally, however, under the weight of requests and a more general reaction, proposals for intermediate solutions are submitted based on experiences from other European countries. It is proposed, for example, to raise the photovoltaic arches to allow intermittent fruit and vegetable cultivation, as well as grazing within the parks of small animals, mainly sheep, in an effort to serve both the purposes of the energy transition and the conservation of crops and pastures .
Be that as it may, the zone of Pyrrha and Deucalion is experiencing yet another transformation, this time environmentally and economically more violent than ever. The landscape changes, mirrors and glasses replace the changing colors of the seasons with those of the blinding reflection of the sun that cannot stand… It is perhaps the darkest side of progress, wars, geopolitical conflicts and the required energy transition.
#Transformation #plain #glass #STEP
