From Past to Future

This concluding chapter synthesizes the comparative insights of the book to outline the structural transformation of the Greek agrifood system across historical and contemporary contexts. It examines five analytical domains: imaginaries and visions of transition, material entanglements, mechanisms of lock-ins and lock-outs, the governance of quality and assetization, and the persistence of path dependencies in policy and practice. Building on the six case studies, the chapter demonstrates how the enduring imaginary of productivism has shaped the directionality of agrifood transitions–from early state-led self-sufficiency to technocratic intensification and, more recently, to the bureaucratic incorporation of sustainability under EU frameworks. It introduces a tripartite periodization of “proto-productivism,” “productivism of hubris,” and “certified humility,” capturing the evolving relations between science, policy, and agricultural practice. The analysis highlights how sustainability has been redefined through certification, auditability, and market differentiation rather than ecological redesign, producing new exclusions and inequalities. By linking past trajectories with current policy challenges, the chapter concludes that genuine transformation requires confronting entrenched sociotechnical path dependencies and reconfiguring the knowledge, power, and value systems that continue to constrain a sustainable agrifood future.