ABSTRACT
It was noted in the introduction to this study that Mediterranean agricultural systems often do not conform to Northern European models of production and economic efficiency. Indeed it was suggested that when these models were followed then considerable pressure was placed upon natural resources (Ruiz, 1988) and the local socio-economic structures that were reliant upon them. This chapter will look in more detail at the structural characteristics of agriculture in Greece as a whole, and the Argolid in particular, and in so doing will supplement the bio-physical and technical components of agricultural decisions with a socio-economic and cultural perspective. These will then be considered, in the following chapter, as the constituent attributes of a crop choice framework which represents the variation in decision making across the study area.
